DR LEAH WILLIAMS

Narelle Fraser Interviews

Kathleen Folbigg was convicted for the deaths of her 4 young children (all babies) in NSW over a 10 year period and in 2003 was convicted of the murder of 3 of them and manslaughter of one child.

Always maintaining her innocence, she was initially sentenced to 40yrs in prison (reduced to 30yrs on appeal) however after 2 decades in jail, she was pardoned and in Dec 2023 had her convictions quashed following a judicial inquiry that found there was reasonable doubt with regard to her guilt. That finding was informed by new scientific evidence that had been unavailable at the time of her trial and other crucial evidence relating to Folbigg’s diaries which were presented by the prosecution as akin to confessions.

We’ll chat a little about this case but what I’m more interested in is how Dr Williams feels about the way media cover criminal processes such as Kathleen Folbigg’s trials, how they portray criminals and the influence (and danger) they can have in swaying public opinion.

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