Payment for the mother who is wrongly imprisoned for “” inadequate “deaths of babies

Formerly marked “the worst mother of Australia”, but now considered the victim of one of his biggest miscarriages of justice, Kathleen Folbigg was offered $ 2 million (£ 975,580, $ 1.3 million) in compensation for 20 years of unjustified imprisonment.

Ms. Folbigg was found guilty of the death of her four babies in 2003, but released in 2023 after a judicial examination of her case found that they could have died of a genetic condition.

Legal experts had estimated that the 58 -year -old man could expect one of the most paid payments in Australian history, probably more than $ 10 million.

However, Thursday, Ms. Folbigg’s lawyer said she had been offered $ 2 million by the government, which they called “deeply unfair and unfair”.

“The amount offered is a moral affront – terribly inadequate and ethically indefensible,” said Rhanee Rego in a statement.

“The system has again failed Kathleen Folbigg.”

In a press release, the South New Wales Attorney General Michael Daley said that the decision was based on “in-depth and in-depth” consideration of Ms. Folbigg’s remuneration request.

“At the request of Ms. Folbigg, the Attorney General and the Government agreed not to discuss details of the decision.”

The four bay children of Mrs. Folbigg – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – died suddenly between 1989 and 1999, aged 19 and 18 months.

The prosecutors of her trial allegedly alleged that she had stifled them, based on circumstantial evidence – including the intimate newspapers of Ms. Folbigg – to paint her as an unstable mother, subject to rage.

In 2003, she was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murders of Sarah, Patrick and Laura, and the manslaughter guilty of Caleb, later in 30 years on appeal.

Ms. Folbigg has always maintained her innocence and, in 2023, a historic investigation into her case found that her children could have died of natural causes due to incredibly rare genetic changes.

Ms. Rego said that the payment offered to Ms. Folbigg had not taken into account the suffering she had endured.

“When Lindy Chamberlain was exempt in 1994, she received $ 1.7 million for three years in prison,” she said, referring to another mother who was guilty of murder after her little daughter was taken to an Outback campsite by a dingo.

“Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, but for her unjustified imprisonment, he was offered $ 2 million.”

After her release, the medico-legal criminologist Xanthe Mallett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that she “would not be surprised” if the remuneration granted was more than $ 10 million.

Meanwhile, Professor Gary Edmond, of the University of NSW, told Guardian Australia that the payment of the remuneration of Ms. Folbigg “should be” the greatest in the history of the country.

Other local media have indicated that it could receive damages up to $ 20 million.