Legal Hour | Gender, Genes and Wrongful Convictions

Gender, Genes and Wrongful Convictions: Implications of the Kathleen Folbigg Case

Join our panel of experts as they discuss the wrongful conviction of Kathleen Folbigg and her subsequent pardon twenty years later.

What can be learned from Ms Folbigg’s case, now recognised as one of Australia’s worst miscarriages of justice? Our panel will delve into the evidence and implications of the case- from conviction, to appeal, to the two recent Inquiries, and the cutting-edge genetic evidence that led to Ms Folbigg’s release.

The panel will raise crucial questions, including:

• what this case can tell us about the effectiveness of our criminal appeals and review processes
• the gendered nature of wrongful convictions in Australia and the impact of media portrayal
• how we can improve the way that scientific evidence is presented in criminal cases
• what are the next steps for Ms Folbigg and the criminal justice system
• whether it is time to establish a Criminal Cases Review Commission in NSW

There will also be an opportunity for audience members to ask the panel questions in a Q&A segment.

Following the panel, guests are invited to join the panel and fellow guests for networking drinks and canapes.

Joining the conversation

Panel Chair | Professor Emerita Eileen Baldry AO FASSA FRSN is Professor of Criminology at UNSW Sydney, where she was appointed the first female and inaugural Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity Diversity and Inclusion in 2017. Her research and publications focus on social justice and include mental health and cognitive disability in criminal legal systems; criminalised women, Indigenous women and youth; education, training and employment for prisoners; homelessness and transition from prison; community development and social housing; and disability services.

Panellists (See below for full bios)

• Andrew Haesler SC - Judge of the District Court of NSW
• Anna-Maria Arabia - Chief Executive of the Australian Academy of Science.
• Dr Leah Williams - Lecturer, UNSW Law & Justice
• Mehera San Roque - Associate Professor, UNSW Law & Justice

About the Folbigg case

On 21 May 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of the manslaughter of her first baby (Caleb) and the murder of her three infant children (Patrick, Sarah and Laura). Twenty years later, on 5 June 2023, after multiple appeals and two separate Inquiries in 2019 and 2022/3, Katheen Folbigg was granted a free pardon in respect of all of her convictions. In announcing the pardon, the NSW Attorney General accepted the advice of the Hon. Tom Bathurst AC KC (Commissioner for the 2022 Folbigg Inquiry) that reasonable doubt now exists as to the guilt of Ms Folbigg.  

While new developments in the genetic evidence altered the evidentiary landscape of the second Inquiry, the emergence of novel medical and scientific evidence alone cannot explain the starkly different conclusion reached at trial, on appeal and in the 2019 and 2022 Inquiries. Nor can it explain why Folbigg’s case was treated so differently to comparable cases, such in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, in the early 2000s. 

Read more:

• 2022 Inquiry into the Convictions of Kathleen Megan Folbigg

• Press Release from Attorney General Daley, Chronology of Events and Memorandum to the Attorney-General from Commissioner Bathurst AC KC (5 June 2023)

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About the Panellists

Professor Emerita Eileen Baldry AO FASSA FRSN is Professor of Criminology at UNSW Sydney, where she was appointed the first female and inaugural Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity Diversity and Inclusion in 2017. Her research and publications focus on social justice and include mental health and cognitive disability in criminal legal systems; criminalised women, Indigenous women and youth; education, training and employment for prisoners; homelessness and transition from prison; community development and social housing; and disability services.

Judge Andrew Haesler SC has been a Judge of the District Court of NSW, since September 2010. After graduating from UNSW in 1981, he worked as a Solicitor with the Redfern Legal Centre, the Aboriginal Legal Service in Alice Springs and the Legal Aid Commission in Wollongong.

Andrew was admitted to the Bar in 1990 and appointed Senior Counsel in 2004. From 1995 he practised as a Public Defender and later as a Deputy Senior Public Defender.  In 1999-2000 he was the Director of the Criminal Law Review Division of the NSW Attorney General’s Department.  In 2010 he received the UNSW Alumni Award for his services to the community. Andrew has written and presented on a variety of topics concerned with the criminal law, including complex DNA evidence.

Anna-Maria Arabia is the Chief Executive of the Australian Academy of Science and a strategic advocate for science, social justice, and diversity and inclusion. Anna has over 20 years’ experience in the science sector and is currently leading the Australian Academy of Science, an independent not-for-profit organisation that provides authoritative and influential scientific advice, represents Australia on key international scientific bodies, builds public awareness and understanding of science, and champions and supports excellence in Australian science.  In this role Anna-Maria has led significant reform in global science engagement, in science policy matters, and in improving diversity and inclusion in science. Starting her career as a neuroscientist, Anna-Maria undertook medical research in Australia and abroad, before applying her skills to policy development both in the Australian public service and in politics where she has provided policy advice across many social and economic portfolios. She has held several senior executive positions in the science sector as CEO of Science and Technology Australia and Deputy Director at Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre. In these roles, Anna-Maria has worked extensively with parliamentarians, the business and community sectors, and the media.

Dr Leah Williams is a Lecturer in the School of Law, Society and Criminology in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW. She teaches criminal law courses across the Law and Criminology Programs, and has an interest in legal education, criminalization, and the representation of crime and criminal justice processes in the media. Her doctoral research examined the ways in which gender norms are reinforced and amplified through the reporting of criminal trials and the relationship between those gender norms and notions of deviance.

Mehera San Roque is an Associate Professor in the Faculty or Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney and an expert in evidence law and the feminist analysis of law, with research interests in law and surveillance/visual cultures, and the newly emerging field of law and sound. She is a member of the Evidence-Based Forensics Initiative at UNSW, a multi-disciplinary group of researchers working on improving the reliability and evaluation of evidence in criminal trials and was a member the governing Council of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences from 2017 – 2022.