Australian state offers US$1.3 million to compensate wrongly jailed woman
She was wrongfully jailed for 20 years over the deaths of her four young children
Australia’s state of New South Wales has offered compensation of A$2 million (US$1.31 million) to a woman wrongfully jailed for two decades over the deaths of her four young children, but her lawyer dismissed the figure as “unfair and unjust”.
Kathleen Folbigg, 58, was convicted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, and of manslaughter in the death of the fourth.
She was later pardoned, freed and had her convictions quashed in 2023, after an independent inquiry found new scientific evidence that the children could have died from natural causes or a genetic mutation.
On Thursday, the state’s Attorney General Michael Daley said the government had made an ex-gratia payment to Folbigg after “extensive consideration” of her compensation claim in July 2024.
Such a payment is a voluntary gift that does not arise from a legal obligation.
Folbigg’s lawyer Rhanee Rego called the payment “profoundly unfair and unjust” as it did not reflect the extent of pain and suffering endured by her client.