Australian woman Kathleen Folbigg acquitted in deaths of her four children after 20-year fight

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- An Australian woman had her convictions for murdering three of her children and the manslaughter of the fourth quashed on appeal Thursday, six months on from being freed after spending more than 20 years in prison.

New scientific evidence not available at the time of Kathleen Folbigg's 2003 trial and the use of diary entries as admissions of guilt made the convictions unsafe, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled.

"While verdicts at trial were reasonable upon on the evidence then available, there is now reasonable doubt as to Ms. Folbigg's guilt which warrants each of the convictions being quashed and verdicts of acquittal being entered," the Criminal Appeals division of the court said.

The quashing of Folbigg's convictions came after the 56-year-old was freed in June after a special commission of inquiry threw serious doubt on her convictions for the murders of Patrick, Sarah and Laura and the manslaughter of Caleb.

The Inquiry's report found a "reasonable possibility" that the children died of natural causes due to a rare genetic condition, known as CALM2-G114R, and that the diary entries were not confessions, but those of a grieving mother blaming herself.

As she walked from court, Folbigg said she welcomed the verdict but attacked the legal system for ignoring and dismissing evidence of her innocence for decades.

"The system preferred to blame me rather than accept that sometimes children can and do die suddenly and unexpectedly and heartbreakingly," Folbigg said.

Folbigg added she was "grateful that updated science and genetics has given me answers as to how my children died" but added "legal answers to prove my innocence" were available even when she was convicted.

"[Prosecutors] took my words out of context and turned them against me. I hope that no one else will ever have to suffer what I suffered," she said.

The children were aged between 19 days and 18 months when they died suddenly and inexplicably between 1989 and 1999.

Folbigg was jailed for 40 years in a 2003 trial in which prosecutors argued she had smothered the children, using circumstantial evidence from her diaries to portray her as an unstable mother, predisposed to explosive outbursts of rage.

She managed to get her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal in 2005, but she spent almost another two decades battling, unsuccessfully, to clear her name.

Her legal team confirmed it would seek recompense from the state government for wrongful conviction with lead lawyer Rhanee Rego saying the claim would be "bigger than any substantial payment that has been made before".

Only a record sum would suffice, said NSW University Law School Prof. Gary Edmond who slammed the Supreme Court for failing to apologize to Folbigg and offering any accountability.

"What would rival it? People are suing others for millions of dollars for damage to their reputations as we speak. This woman's been in prison for decades. It's incommensurable.