SUPPORTERS of Kathleen Folbigg say they'll continue to fight for her release from jail despite the convicted baby-killer failing in a bid to overturn the findings of a judicial inquiry that confirmed her guilt over the deaths of her four children.
In a ruling handed down on Wednesday, the NSW Court of Appeal found there was "no error of law" when former NSW District Court chief judge Reginald Blanch QC in 2019 found significant investigations had failed to find a reasonable natural explanation for any of the deaths of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, who all died before their second birthday in the decade to 1999.
Folbigg's own explanations and behaviour in respect of her diaries, which weren't available in any of the mother's criminal appeals, made "her guilt of these offences even more certain", Mr Blanch concluded. But the jailed woman challenged those conclusions in the NSW Court of Appeal, claiming Mr Blanch had failed in his obligation to conduct an inquiry that examined the potential the deaths could have been natural.
Her supporters say Sarah, Laura and their mother share a genetic mutation that has been linked to sudden deaths in young children - a theory Mr Blanch concluded didn't raise reasonable doubt. Newcastle justice advocate Helen Cummings, a long-time friend, said supporters of Folbigg would continue to fight for her release from jail.
"We're not going to give up ... this is definitely not the end," Ms Cummings said after the latest legal setback.
"I draw a lot of strength from Kathleen, who would have to be one of the most resilient women in the world right now."
Ms Cummings said she planned to visit Folbigg this weekend at Clarence Correctional Centre in Grafton, where she is serving a minimum 25-year sentence.
Folbigg and her supporters had been heartened by a list of 90 prominent scientists signing a petition calling for a pardon, saying genetic data was evidence she did not kill her four children.
The 90 signatories included Australian Academy of Science president John Shine, epidemiologist Professor Fiona Stanley, Nobel laureate Professor Peter Doherty and former chief scientist Professor Ian Chubb.
The petition is currently before NSW Governor Margaret Beazley, who served six years as President of the NSW Court of Appeal before her 2019 appointment to Government House.
"I honestly believe that the public and the media are more with us than the judicial world," said Ms Cummings, adding that a "lot of politics were involved".
"But it will be the medical world that gets her out in the end based on the evidence, which just can't be ignored."
In dismissing Folbigg's judicial review application, the appeal court said there was "ample basis" for Mr Blanch's ultimate conclusion.
"The judicial officer was required to consider evidence that, although the CALM2 abnormality in Ms Folbigg and the two girls involved a change in an amino acid in the vicinity of Gly114, their circumstances departed from the reported cases of deaths associated with CALM abnormalities," the court said.
The change in the affected amino acid was not the same, the change was hereditary and the girls had died at younger ages and, based on the evidence, not during exertion. Prior symptoms were absent and Folbigg had not developed cardiac manifestations commonly associated with the genetic abnormality. Thus, the girls' deaths were outliers in comparison to those reported in scientific literature.
The court, constituted by Justices John Basten, Mark Leeming and Paul Brereton, also ordered Folbigg pay the state's legal costs for February's two-day hearing.
Folbigg moved her eyes towards the ceiling as she learned of the decision from prison, where she's serving a 25-year minimum term.
A TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN KATHLEEN FOLBIGG'S LIFE:
* JUNE 14, 1967 - Kathleen Megan Donovan (later Folbigg) born
* JANUARY 8, 1969 - Folbigg's mother murdered by her father
* 1987 - Kathleen marries Craig Folbigg
* FEBRUARY 20, 1989 - Caleb Folbigg dies aged 19 days
* FEBRUARY 13, 1991 - Patrick Folbigg dies aged eight months
* AUGUST 30, 1993 - Sarah Folbigg dies aged 10 months
* MARCH 1, 1999 - Laura Folbigg dies, aged 18 months
* OCTOBER 24, 2003 - Folbigg sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder, non-parole period is 30 years. Later reduced on appeal to 30 years with a minimum of 25 years
* SEPTEMBER 2, 2005 - High Court refuses to grant special leave to appeal
* JUNE 10, 2015 - NSW governor David Hurley receives petition for review of convictions based on forensic pathology findings
* OCTOBER 28, 2018 - Former judge Reginald Blanch begins hearing inquiry into convictions
* MAY 2019 - An international medical registry reports that two US children have died of the mutation found in Sarah and Laura
* JULY 2019 - Blanch inquiry finds no reasonable doubt to Folbigg's convictions - v Validation of Folbigg mutation could not be completed before end of inquiry
* OCTOBER 2019 - Folbigg's lawyers apply for judicial review of the Blanch inquiry
* NOVEMBER 2020 - Likely role of CALM2 mutation in Sarah and Laura's death confirmed in world-leading study
* MARCH 3, 2021 - Scientists' petition for Folbigg pardon sent to NSW Governor Margaret Beazley
* MARCH 24, 2021 - NSW Court of Appeal dismisses challenge to Blanch inquiry, stating the conclusion was not at odds with the scientific evidence
