The Case Study of Kathleen Folbigg

Report and Opinion of The Folbigg Children Deaths

I had wished to explore the field(s) of Forensic Science and Criminal Law. In the process of finding local experts in their respected fields to consult, I came across the ‘Report of the Inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Megan Folbigg’. Which in turn is a 500-page court document describing the Inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Megan Folbigg from 2003. Kathleen Megan Folbigg was found guilty by jury of the following charges in respect of her four children:

1. the manslaughter of Caleb Gibson Folbigg, aged 19 days, on 20 February 1989;
2. maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm upon Patrick Allen Folbigg with intent to do grievous bodily harm, aged four months and 15 days, on 18 October 1990;
3. the murder of Patrick Allen Folbigg, aged eight months and 10 days, on 13 February 1991;
4. the murder of Sarah Kathleen Folbigg, aged ten months and 16 days, on 30 August 1993; and
5. the murder of Laura Elizabeth Folbigg, aged 18 months and 22 days, on 1 March 1999.

Ms Folbigg was sentenced on 24 October 2003 to 40 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years. This was later reduced on appeal to 30 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 25 years. [1]

As I spent time reviewing the document, I became bewildered by the case and as from only hearing fragments of the case over the years from wildly different sources I set out to investigate and discover the full story of Kathleen Folbigg. For close to 3 months now I have extensively researched, interviewed and examined resources for a better understanding of this case.

Interviewing Dr Robert Cavanagh and Ms Rhanee Rego, Ms Folbiggs current representatives confirmed to me their beliefs that ‘high level biased’ was involved in the 2003 trial. Although these allegations can not be confirmed without a criminal investigation.

In 2012 the infamous Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi faced heavy criticism as Peter McClellan, Chief Justice of the NSW Court of Appeals threw out the Gordon Wood murder conviction, ordering his release from jail immediately. The Gordon Wood Case was one of the largest cases of Mr Tedeschi professional career as a prosecutor.  Mr McClellan destroyed the prosecution case in which Mr Wood had been accused of hurling his girlfriend, Caroline Byrne to her death at The Gap, Sydney's most notorious suicide spot.

Peter McClellan was quoted as saying: “I have reviewed the whole of the evidence and have concluded that I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Gordon Wood murdered Caroline Byrne as charged.”

The most scathing review was saved for Mr Tedeschi accusing him of “failing his most basic obligations to put the case fairly to the jury… Mr Tedeschi had tried to bolster the Crown case by resorting to fiction, impermissible reasoning and innuendo, including rumours Wood had been in a sexual relationship with Rivkin and a series of unsophisticated experiments which were used to convince the jury Caroline Byrne could not have committed suicide.” [2]

This one appeal lead to a domino effect of people coming out claiming to be yet another victim of Mr Tedeschi’s tactics. The Legal Aid Commission had over the years recorded almost 50 complaints against Mr Tedeschi to the Bar Council, but nothing ever came of them.

Although these accusations would to many destroy an important public figures career the story soon vanished from the media and nearly nothing else was heard of Mr Tedeschi for 5 more years as he steadily continued in his profession of Senior Crown Prosecutor until December of 2017.

“In an email to his colleagues on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Tedeschi said he would now return to being a private barrister… "I feel that at my age, after 35 years as a Crown Prosecutor including 20 years as Senior Crown Prosecutor, one either should retire or, if one still has the energy to work, reinvent oneself. I have chosen the latter," he said.” [3]

More examples of Mr Tedeschi questionable tactics were found in a judgement of 2018 by NSW Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Fullerton in relations to the case 'Wood v State of New South Wales [2018] NSWSC 1247.'

"Whatever else Mr Tedeschi’s attitude to the prosecution of the plaintiff may reveal about his competence as a barrister or his capacity generally to abide by the Bar Rules, I am not persuaded that his persisting lack of insight into the flawed approach he took to the prosecution of the plaintiff, or his lack of insight into the fact that those flaws were ultimately productive of gross unfairness in the plaintiff’s trial, is sufficient to prove that at the time he initiated and maintained the prosecution he did so for a sole or dominant purpose ulterior to the processes and purposes of the criminal law." [4]

References;

[1] REPORT OF THE INQUIRY INTO THE CONVICTIONS OF KATHLEEN MEGAN FOLBIGG | © State of New South Wales 2019

[2] HIGH PROFILE PROSECUTOR FACES ACCUSATIONS | 7.30 Report, Posted Mon 12 Mar 2012 8:39pm

[3] MARK TEDESCHI QC STEPS DOWN AS SENIOR CROWN PROSECUTOR | The Sydney Morning Herald, Posted Dec 20 2017 10.38pm

[4] WOOD V STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES [2018] NSWSC 1247, POINT 1343. SECTION CONCLUSIONS ON THE ISSUE OF MALICE | New South Wales Caselaw, Aug 10 2018

The Folbigg Children's Life, Death and Aftermath

Caleb Folbigg - The First Child

Caleb Folbigg was born on the 1^st of February 1989. His birth weight was 3.28 kilograms. Concern was shown from his father, Craig of his loud breathing during feeding.  By the time they had left the hospital the concerns had faded away as Caleb showed signs improvements with his feeding.

On the 17^th of February, 2 days before his death Caleb was seen to have mild inspiratory stridor and slight costal recession it was much more apparent when he was laid down on his back or when he has crying. Craig and Kathleen, we’re both nervous first-time parents.

But no red flags were raised by doctors and/or health professionals as his conditions we’re known to resolve over time. Caleb seemed to be just a normal, healthy baby with the exception of the diagnoses of Laryngomalacia (floppy larynx).

On the 19^th of February 1989, Kathleen found Caleb lifeless and cold in his cot at 2:45am. Craig had been woken to Kathleen’s screams and had rushed into the adjoining bedroom and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation as Kathleen phoned an ambulance. After the ambulance crew arrival, they started the usual routine for the situation with resuscitation. Shortly after the crew confirmed Caleb was dead and ceased any further attempts of resuscitation. A post-mortem examination was performed by Dr. R Cummings on the same day at 11:45am. The cause of death was contributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Patrick Folbigg - The Second Child

Patrick Folbigg was born on the 3^rd of June 1990. His birth weight was 3.41 kilograms. Sleep studies were performed on the 14^th of June with the results concluding no problems. Although it was noted of the possibility of incoordination of shallowing caused by no gastro-oesophageal reflux.

After this point Patricks medical history becomes wildly complex and because of such I will not going into every detail of all the incidents in this report but will provide a separate document of the extent of Patrick’s medical history. But for now, will provide a summary in dot points:

• 17^th of October, Patrick had been found lifeless and not breathing. After admission into hospital with oxygen treatment he became more alert and subsequently the follow day was considered to be back to normal.
• 4^th of November, Patrick was admitted into hospital with a prolonged seizure which resolved itself after an hour and thirty minutes. Tests were preformed with results of generalised loss of brain substance. The possibility of a shaking injury was considered but nothing came of it.
• 10^th of November, Patrick was discharged with a diagnoses of a seizure disorder which was yet to be fully understood.
• 14^th of November, Patrick was admitted to hospital with a generalized seizure.
• 18^th of November, Patrick developed gastroenteritis and later tested positive for rotavirus.
• 22^nd of November, Patrick was discharged from hospital.
• 22^nd of December, Patrick suffered a oculogyric crisis and was admitted to hospital.
• 23^rd of December, Patrick was discharged from hospital.
• 12^th of February, Patrick had a fever during the night, but the following day was back to his normal self.
• 13^th of February, Craig left for work at 7:30am and by 10am had been called by Kathleen who was hysterical and told him it was happening again. After an ambulance was called and arrived taking Patrick to hospital. 20 minutes after arrival the resuscitation efforts had stopped. Patrick was pronounced dead at 10:40am on the 13^th of February 1991.

The cause of death was attributed to Asphyxia due to airways obstruction, Epileptic fits, Encephalopathic disorder.

Sarah Folbigg - The Third Child

Following their second loss, the couple moved to Thornton, New South Wales, a suburb of Maitland. Sarah Kathleen Folbigg was born on 14 October 1992, and died on 29 August 1993.

Laura Folbigg - The Fourth Child

In 1996, the couple moved to Singleton. On 7 August 1997, Laura Elizabeth Folbigg was born. On 27 February 1999, Laura died.

Forensic Evaluation of the Folbigg Childrens Death

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Possible Theories:

• Genetic Disorder
• Environmental Factors  
• Sudden Infant Death
• Homicide

Theory 1 - Genetic Disorder

Communications With Mrs. Folbigg

As I continued communications with Isabel Reed I questioned if I could interview Ms Folbigg in-person. She responded that Ms Folbigg is very hesitant/paranoid with interviews.

With her experience I completely understood her hesitances and said it was fine but Ms Reed said she would talk to Ms Folbigg and try to convince her. 

A day later she responded and said Ms Folbigg would be more than happy to write letters. I wrote up a letter and sent it to the address Ms Reed had given me and within a week I got a response from Ms Folbigg.

Ms Folbigg made it clear I could not share the contents of the letter with anyone or publish any details. I asked her a few questions and explained why I was writing to her. She responsed with a 7 page letter answering my questions in long and detail responses.

Conclusion of My Research

It is my belief that Crown Prosecution [ie. The Crown Prosecutor; Mark Tedeschi] had failed to create a cohesive and irrefutable case proving Ms Folbigg guilt and resorted to using corrupt tactics in order to successfully get a conviction. These tactics consisted of bring forth topics that did not have any place in a court setting, pre-conceded notions and idealistic, taking evidence/testimonies out of context or deliberately misleading the jury with deeply complex terminology and concepts of medical/scientific knowledge.

4. On 16 May 2007, this Court granted an application for leave to reopen the appeal against conviction (R v Folbigg [2007] NSWCCA 128). The appellant now pursues the following grounds of appeal:

1. The trial miscarried by reason of a juror or jurors obtaining information from the internet, which revealed that the appellant’s father had killed her mother.

2. The trial miscarried as a result of a juror or jurors informing themselves, away from the trial, as to the length of time an infant’s body is likely to remain warm to the touch after death. [1]

The Crowns case was that each of the victims had been smothered with some type of appliance (theories of a pillow or some type of linen from in the victims bassinet) by presumably Ms Folbigg. Each death occurred suddenly and unexpectedly with Ms Folbigg present. Each involved the cessation of breathing. The Crown case was circumstantial.

References;

[1] FOLBIGG v R [2007] NSWCCA 371 | NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL, Posted Dec 31 2007