The police prosecutor at the helm of the Kathleen Folbigg investigation denies the high-profile case compares to the trial of Lindy Chamberlain.
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Daniel Maher, a former Maitland police prosecutor and Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology member has expressed concern over new claims the prosecution of both women shared similarities.
In Mothers Who Murder – released today – forensic anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett states that: “Like Lindy Chamberlain before her, Kathleen Folbigg is despised by huge swathes of the Australian population.
“The question I would ask those involved with prosecuting her [Folbigg] is – have we learnt nothing from the Chamberlain case?” she questioned.
Mr Maher said the Folbigg case was the complete opposite of Chamberlain’s where the entire investigation was under the most intense international scrutiny.
“To say we learnt nothing from Chamberlain shows, with respect, an ignorance of the development of evidence law in circumstantial cases since Chamberlain,” he said.
Mr Maher said that at the time of Folbigg’s trial there was no congenital, viral or other condition identified as possibly responsible for the children’s deaths.
“And there remains none identified today,” he said.
“Unfortunately, proof beyond reasonable doubt is not proof beyond all doubt.
“The greatest challenge is to eliminate ignorance, bias and prejudice from within the community who make up the jury.”
Folbigg is serving a reduced sentence of 25 years after she was convicted in 2003 of murdering her children Patrick, eight months, Sarah, 10 months, and Laura, 19 months, between 1991 and 1999, and the 1989 manslaughter of her son Caleb, aged just 19 days.
She has always maintained her innocence.
“My personal view, and the outcome I expected at trial, was a finding of facts less than monstrous,” Mr Maher said.
“The law has long recognised infanticide and the effect of postnatal depression.
“If this was the reality (and only Kathleen knows), Kathleen Folbigg should serve as a motivation to families, communities and governments to provide support for mothers to care for their children, and be alert for children who may need protection from those closest to them.”
