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Once branded “Australia’s worst mother” but now considered the victim of one of its greatest miscarriages of justice, Kathleen Folbigg has been offered A$2m (\u00a3975,580, $1.3m) in compensation for 20 years of wrongful imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Ms Folbigg was convicted over the deaths of her four babies in 2003, but freed in 2023 after a judicial review of her case found they may have died of a genetic condition.<\/p>\n
Legal experts had estimated that the 58-year-old could expect one of the highest compensation payouts in Australian history, likely upwards of $10m.<\/p>\n
However, on Thursday Ms Folbigg’s lawyer said the she had been offered $2m by the government, which they called “profoundly unfair and unjust”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“The sum offered is a moral affront \u2013 woefully inadequate and ethically indefensible,” Rhanee Rego said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The system has failed Kathleen Folbigg once again.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley said the decision was based on “thorough and extensive” consideration of Ms Folbigg’s application for compensation.<\/p>\n
“At Ms Folbigg’s request, the Attorney General and government have agreed to not publicly discuss the details of the decision.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ms Folbigg’s four infant children – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah, and Laura – each died suddenly between 1989 and 1999, aged between 19 days and 18 months. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors at her trial alleged she had smothered them, relying on circumstantial evidence – including Ms Folbigg’s diaries – to paint her as an unstable mother, prone to rage.<\/p>\n
In 2003, she was sentenced to 40 years in jail for the murders of Sarah, Patrick and Laura, and the manslaughter of Caleb, later downgraded to 30 years on appeal.<\/p>\n
Ms Folbigg has always maintained her innocence, and in 2023 a landmark inquiry into her case found her children could have died of natural causes because of incredibly rare gene mutations.<\/p>\n
Ms Rego said the payment offered to Ms Folbigg did not fairly take into account the suffering she had endured.<\/p>\n
“When Lindy Chamberlain was exonerated in 1994, she received $1.7 million for three years in prison,” she said, referencing another mother falsely convicted of murder after her infant daughter was taken from an outback campsite by a dingo.<\/p>\n
“Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, yet for her wrongful imprisonment she has been offered $2 million.”<\/p>\n
After her release, forensic criminologist Xanthe Mallett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she “wouldn’t be surprised” if compensation awarded was upwards of A$10m.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Professor Gary Edmond, from the University of NSW, told the Guardian Australia that Ms Folbigg’s compensation payout “would have to be” the largest in the country’s history.<\/p>\n
Other local media reported that she could receive damages of up to A$20m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n