Kathleen Folbigg has broken her silence after the 55-year-old was released after serving 20 years behind bars for killing her four children.
Elena Couper and Aisling Brennan
https://www.couriermail.com.au/journalists/aisling-brennan
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/elena-couper
Kathleen Folbigg has shared her gratitude over her release from prison after she spent more than 20 years behind bars after being convicted for killing her children.
For the first time in 20 years, Folbigg woke up in a bedroom rather than a prison cell after she became a free woman.
“I’m extremely humbled and extremely grateful for being unconditionally pardoned and released from prison,” Ms Folbigg shared on Tuesday.
“My eternal gratitude goes to my friends and family, especially Tracey and all of her family and I would’t have survived this whole ideal without them.”
“Today is a victory for science and especially truth.”
Ms Folbigg said her four children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, have remained front of mind for her every day while she was in jail.
“And for the last 20 years, I’ve been in prison I have forever and will always think of my children, grieve for my children and I miss them and love them terribly,” she said.
She spent her first night of freedom with friends and family, celebrating with pizza washed down with kahlua and coke.
The 55-year-old enjoyed pizza in her pyjamas before washing it down with a kahlua and coke after she was seen running into the arms of her friend and biggest supporter, Tracy Chapman.
When questioned why kahlua was the drink of choice, Ms Chapman reassured media it was a “flashback” to what the old friends used to drink.
“I just want to reassure everyone that’s exactly what everyone was drinking 20 years ago at the clubs,” Ms Chapman said.
Folbigg’s lawyer Rhanee Rego has revealed the next mission for her client – attempting to get the ashes of her children back.
“Kathleen wants to be able to visit her children and take her best friends and all the people that loved them to visit,” Ms Rego told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
Ms Rego said Folbigg’s ex-husband, Craig Folbigg, is believed to be in possession of the ashes.
Ms Chapman told the media on Tuesday the day before had been “surreal”, with both her and Folbigg left with sore faces from smiling so much, while Folbigg was able to “sleep properly” for the first time in 20 years.
She also revealed that the duo failed to eat T-bone steaks as planned, instead enjoying some garlic bread, pizza, and kahlua with coke as Ms Folbigg marvelled at the change in common technology over the past two decades.
“She was saying, ‘oh my god, look at the television, it has so many capabilities’,” Ms Chapman said, as Folbigg discovered streaming platforms for the first time.
“She’s made a cup of tea with a real cup and real crockery, which probably sounds pretty basic … but she’s grateful.”
Ms Chapman said both she and her friend had been running on adrenaline, but Folbigg was grateful to be surrounded by friends and family.
Ms Rego said it was “a bit too early” to be talking about compensation, or anything other than having Folbigg’s convictions quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
“In terms of compensation, which I know is on everyone’s mind, it’s too early right now,” she said.
“Kathleen is still having a cup of tea, acquainting herself with normal life, and we’re just getting used to not speaking to her in a prison.”
It is estimated that she could claim damages of up to $20m.
The lawyer confirmed her team had requested Mr Bathurst, the retired chief justice who headed the inquiry, to refer the matter directly to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
“If Mr Bathurst does not refer it, we will be asking the Governor to refer it because she has that power,” Ms Rego said.
“Failing that, we will be making an application to the Court of Criminal Appeal.”
Ms Chapman said she had been “disappointed personally” by comments made in the media by the father of Folbigg’s four children and her ex-husband, Craig Folbigg, whose lawyers have petitioned for Kathleen’s convictions to be upheld.
“But at the end of the day that’s between Craig and… well, she probably won’t speak to him,” Chapman said.
As for her next legal steps, Folbigg has two options: she can either pursue civil action against the state or make an application to the government for an ex gratia payment.
“We haven’t spoken to scholars about this, she’s very much trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not rushing,” Ms Rego said.
“She has just been waiting to feel the grass on her feet, look at the sky and watch a sunrise for the first time in 20 years.
“We won’t be rushing her and pushing her to do anything she does not want to do until she’s ready.”
Ms Chapman said a lot of things “could have been done better” with the case, and that Folbigg would like to see “significant” reform in the system.
“(She’d like to see) a lot more empathy in that space,” she said.
“More humanity.”
Ms Chapman on Monday shared videos of Folbigg decked out in a set of comfy pink pyjamas, celebrating the ability to use a metal teaspoon as she made a cup of tea.
“This is Kath making a cup of tea in her slippers,” Chapman in the video obtained by 7 News.
“A spoon,” Folbigg cried, exclaiming she hadn’t been able to use one “for years”.
She was surrounded by family and her closest friends, with reports she had a “pyjama party” on Monday night.
While Folbigg was desperate to have a T-bone steak, she celebrated with pizza and kahlua mixed with coke.
The 55-year-old, previously labelled Australia’s worst female serial killer, was convicted in 2003 of murdering her three children, Sarah, Laura and Patrick, as well as the manslaughter of her son Caleb, between 1989-99.
On Monday morning, two decades into her 25 year sentence, Folbigg walked out of Clarence Correctional Centre at Grafton as a free woman.
“I can’t thank everybody enough for all of the support and all of the hard work that’s gone into reaching this moment,” she told 9 News.
“I am beyond happy, it’s ridiculous.”
Just hours earlier the NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley revealed the decision to pardon Folbigg.
“This morning I met with the governor. I recommended that the governor should exercise the royal prerogative of mercy and grant Ms Folbigg an unconditional pardon,” he told reporters on Monday morning.
The governor agreed.
“Ms Folbigg has now been pardoned.”
