“Respect the scientific and medical evidence that provide ample justification for the pardon of Kathleen Folbigg and demonstrate that you take seriously your responsibility to provide justice to the people of NSW.”
This is the call by three Nobel Laureates and the outgoing and incoming Presidents of the Australian Academy of Science in a letter sent to the NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman this week.
The new appeal for Ms Folbigg’s immediate release from jail comes one year after the NSW Attorney General was provided with sufficient medical and scientific evidence that provides an alternative explanation for the deaths of Ms Folbigg’s children.
The evidence and the grounds for a pardon were laid out in a petition signed by ninety eminent scientists, which has been awaiting advice from the NSW Attorney General since March 2021. An additional 66 Royal Society of NSW Fellows backed the petition last year.
The outgoing President of the Academy, Professor John Shine, said Ms Folbigg’s continued incarceration is untenable.
“It is time that the NSW legal system accepts that a miscarriage of justice has occurred,” Professor Shine said.
“Ms Folbigg has been incarcerated for almost two decades despite scientific and medical evidence that provide reasonable explanations for the death of her children.
“We understand that the materials being considered are complex and detailed and our offer to the NSW Attorney General to facilitate a scientific briefing remains.
“I, along with colleagues, have written to the NSW Attorney General to express our deep concern about the disregard of scientific evidence in this case.
“The obligation of the NSW Attorney General is to ensure the NSW legal system is just and efficient. To avoid further exacerbating this miscarriage of justice, the NSW Attorney General must expedite this matter and advise the NSW Governor to pardon Kathleen Folbigg and release her from jail.”
“The power rests with the NSW Attorney General to not only right this wrong but to bring about the legal reform required so that no person finds themselves in a similar situation,” Professor Shine said.
Read a copy of the letter to the NSW Attorney-General. This video by the Australian Academy of Science explains the latest science.
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