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Decision upheld
Kathleen Folbigg appearing via video link during a convictions inquiry at the NSW Coroners Court . Picture : Joel Carrett / AAP
ANU expert witness voices disappointment over Folbigg appeal outcome .
By Wade Zaglas
An expert witness who gave evidence during the 2019 judicial inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Folbigg has voiced her disappointment at the NSW Court of Appeal ’ s decision to uphold the 2019 findings .
Australian National University Professor Carola Vinuesa , department head of pathogens and immunity at The John Curtin School of Medical Research , called the decision “ unfortunate ”.
“ Today , the incorrect conclusions about the genetics evidence found by the Commissioner of the 2019 inquiry were adopted by the NSW Court of Appeal in their conclusion ,” Vinuesa said .
“ The evidence set out in The EP Europace paper , which validates the findings of the mutation in Sarah and Laura Folbigg and were published after the 2019 inquiry displaces the findings and non-scientific reasoning at the Inquiry .”
Folbigg – who has always maintained her innocence – was convicted by a jury of killing her babies Caleb , Patrick , Sarah and Laura between 1989 and 1999 and sentenced in 2003 to a minimum jail term of 25 years .
In the 2019 inquiry , the Honorable Reginald Blanch , QC , ruled that the evidence heard made Folbigg ’ s “ guilt of these offences even more certain ”. Part of the evidence provided during the inquiry was a report detailing a scientific explanation for the deaths of Folbigg ’ s two girls .
“ As pointed out in our report to the 2019 Inquiry ( which was endorsed by international calmodulin and cardiac genetics experts ), the International Calmodulin Registry and peer-reviewed literature document that the Folbigg girls ’ deaths were not outliers with regards to already known CALM-related sudden unexpected deaths ,” Vinuesa said .
“ It is unfortunate that incorrect statements regarding these facts have once again been given such weight .”
Three Supreme Court judges upheld the inquiry ’ s decision , ruling there was ample basis for it .
“ The scientific evidence raised a theoretical possibility that there were innocent explanations for the deaths of the two girls ,” the appeal court ruled .
However , the judges went on to say “ their deaths were at odds with other reported cases in several aspects , which included that the girls died at a younger age and while asleep , not during exertion ,” and the boys ’ genomes provided “ no common cause ”, Nine News reported .
In making their ruling , the Supreme Court judges said Folbigg ’ s diary entries , when combined with the scientific evidence ,
Scientific evidence raised a theoretical possibility that there were innocent explanations for the deaths .
provided “ ample basis ” to support the head of the judicial inquiry ’ s findings .
The Europace paper that Vinuesa refers to was published in 2020 and concluded that both Sarah and Laura Folbigg “ carried a previously undiscovered variant in a maternally-inherited gene that is likely to cause sudden unexpected death in infancy and childhood ”, the ANU reported in August 2020 . The CALM2 variant , G114R , was first discovered by Vinuesa and Dr Todor Arsov by genome sequencing Folbigg in 2018 and was “ predicted to cause lethal cardiac arrhythmias ”.
“ We have found the CALM2 variant was the likely cause for the deaths of Kathleen Folbigg ’ s two children , Sarah and Laura ,” Vinuesa said after the paper ’ s publication . One of the world class experts who co-authored the paper , cardiologist and expert in inherited cardiac arrhythmias Professor Peter Schwartz , also stated : “ A fatal arrhythmic event in both Sarah and Laura may have been triggered by their intercurrent infections .
“ Sarah had a croupy cough and had been started on antibiotics , and Laura also had a respiratory infection and was found to have florid myocarditis on autopsy .”
The paper ’ s authors concluded that the findings provided “ a reasonable explanation for a natural cause of their deaths ”.
While Folbigg ’ s two boys did not carry the CALM2 variant , researchers said that both suffered illnesses that can cause or aggravate respiratory arrest .
“ Caleb died at 19 days . He had a floppy larynx and breathing difficulties and was diagnosed with laryngomalacia . Patrick died at eight months from airway obstruction in turn due to epileptic fits ,” Vinuesa said .
Close to 100 medical and scientific professionals have signed a petition in recent weeks calling for Folbigg to be pardoned on the basis that evidence surrounding the genetic mutation has strengthened since the 2019 inquiry .
The attorney-general will provide advice to the governor before a decision to pardon Folbigg can be made . ■
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