She is free!

My friend Kathleen Folbigg will spend her first night in a proper bed in 20 years tonight after she was pardoned this morning.

She will eat her first proper meal surrounded by people who have loved and supported her over the years.

Little did Kathy – or any of us – know that the Minister for Corrections had been informed on Sunday night of the decision to free her and was putting the wheels in motion for her release this morning.

The first public hint came when a media alert was issued at 10am, announcing that the Attorney General of NSW, Michael Daley, was holding a press conference at 11.30am in NSW Parliament.

It seemed promising, but there have been so many false hopes that I didn’t want to presume anything.

I went into a big meeting at 11am and as the minutes ticked past 11.30am I kept anxiously wondering what had happened.

And then my phone started lighting up with message after message and I knew that she must be free!

But I couldn’t read the messages because I knew I would cry, so I had to wait until the meeting was over.

I am still shaking more than an hour later.

The NSW Attorney General Michael Daley made the recommendation of a pardon to the NSW Governor at 9.30am this morning and she accepted it.

It was incredibly moving to read the summary findings prepared by the Hon Thomas Bathurst AC KC, who has been leading the Inquiry into her convictions.

Bathurst stated he had reached “a firm view that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Ms Folbigg for each of the offences for which she was originally tried.”

Key points from Bathurst’s memorandum to the Attorney General include:

• There is a reasonable possibility that three of the children died of natural causes.
• In the case of Sarah and Laura Folbigg, there is a reasonable possibility a genetic mutation known as CALM2-G114R occasioned their deaths.
• Bathurst was “unable to accept… the proposition that Ms Folbigg was anything but a caring mother for her children.”
• In relation to the death of a fourth child, Bathurst found that “the coincidence and tendency evidence which was central to the (2003) Crown case falls away.”
• In relation to Kathleen’s diary entries, evidence suggests they were the writings of a grieving and possibly depressed mother, blaming herself for the death of each child, as distinct from admissions that she murdered or otherwise harmed them.

I will just repeat the sentence that stuck in my mind: Bathurst was “unable to accept… the proposition that Ms Folbigg was anything but a caring mother for her children.”

While Kathleen has been pardoned, her convictions have not been quashed. The only body that can do that is a Court of Criminal Appeal.

“The effect of a pardon is that she will not have to serve the rest of her sentence,” Daley said.

At least she is finally free. I cannot begin to imagine how Kathy is feeling right now.

I am blown away by how hard my friend Tracy Chapman has fought for Kathy’s release. What an incredible woman! I am so thrilled by the thought of them celebrating her freedom together.

And now there’s a photo …

More tears!