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Mark Speakman said he would not be recommending a pardon to the NSW Governor because “it’s not appropriate against the backdrop of what has happened nor fairness and transparency”.
This decision comes despite a petition lodged by her legal team and a group of scientists.
“It would be undermining confidence in the judicial process and our justice system if I, as a politician, recommend behind closed doors to the governor that there be a pardon,” Speakman said on Wednesday afternoon.
Speakman has instead recommended another inquiry into Folbigg’s conviction.
“I have opted to recommend a public inquiry. This is more likely to get to the bottom of the scientific evidence rather than an adversarial process before the court of criminal appeal,” he said.
“There is no other option for some kind of renewed chance for Folbigg given the way this scientific evidence has emerged and the nature of the scientific evidence.”
Speakman apologised to Folbigg’s ex-husband for the inquiry and the “re-traumatisation” it could cause.
Folbigg was convicted of killing her three children Patrick, Sarah and Laura as well as the manslaughter of her firstborn Caleb, between 1989 to 1999.
The babies were aged between 19 days and 19 months.
Prosecutors argued that Folbigg smothered her children during periods of frustration and asserted that some of her diary entries were admissions of guilt.
A petition for the release of Folbigg was delivered in March last year to the NSW Governor Margaret Beazley.
The petition came about after 90 medical and scientific experts pushed for Folbigg to receive a full pardon and argued she is not responsible for the death of her four children.
All other appeals against her convictions have so far been denied and an inquiry in 2019 upheld her conviction.
Folbigg has maintained she is innocent and argues her children died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
She has been in a NSW jail since 2003.
A solicitor for Folbigg said last week she is “very confident” her client will be acquitted based on new genetic evidence.
“They concluded the genetic mutation is as lethal as other mutations known to kill children in the past,” Rego told Today.
“So, they submitted their research to a prestigious Oxford University journal and concluded this was the cause of the girls’ deaths. That is why we’re asking the Attorney- General to pardon Kathleen Folbigg.”
