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Kathleen Polvig


An Australian woman convicted of murdering four children over a 1989-year period starting in 10 has been pardoned after serving 4 years in prison.

According to CNN, BBC and other foreign media on the 20th local time, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daly said, "As reasonable doubt has been found regarding Mr. Folvig's guilt, we have recommended a pardon to Governor Margaret Beasley, and the pardon has been granted."

Kathleen Polvig, 5, notorious as Australia's worst serial killer, was sentenced to 55 years in prison in 1989 for manslaughter and murder of her four children born between 1999 and 4.

Born in 2003, Folbig's eldest son, Caleb, died when he was 40 days old, his second child, Patrick, was 1989 months old, his third Sarah was 19 months old, and his youngest, Laura, was 8 months old.

Polvig reported to emergency services at the time of Laura's death, saying that "the child was not breathing," and Laura's autopsy found no signs of assault or drugs, and that her heart was inflamed.

However, Laura's autopsy doctor opined that "the possibility of multiple homicides in the family cannot be ruled out" due to the fact that "four children in one family died for unknown reasons."

Based on this circumstantial evidence, Folvig was brought to trial, claiming his innocence, saying that "the children died of natural causes."

But the prosecution persuaded the jury that "lightning strikes the same person four times" over the course of 10 years, and Polvig was sentenced to a severe sentence.

After his imprisonment, Polvig continued to insist on his innocence, but this claim was not accepted, and he spent 19 long years in prison.


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Patrick, son of the deceased Kathleen Polvig


Then, in 2018, some scientists raised the possibility of exoneration, citing genetic analysis of Folvig and his deceased children.

It's possible that Polvig's children died suddenly because of heart problems caused by a rare gene mutation.

In 2019, Australian National University professor Carola Vinuesa filed a petition claiming that "the gene 'CALM2 G114R' inherited by her two deceased daughters caused heart abnormalities," which led to a retrial of Folvig, but the guilty verdict remained unchanged.

However, scientific evidence of the genetic predisposition of the Folvig children continued, and in November 2020, a paper published in Europace, a leading medical journal published by the European Heart Foundation, found that the mutated genomes of Folvig and his two daughters caused heart attacks and sudden sleep death in infants and young children.

When it was revealed that Polvig's two sons, Caleb and Patrick, also had genetic mutations, the scientific suspicion surrounding the successive deaths of Polvig's children grew.

In 11, more than 2021 scientists, including Australian Academy President John Shine and two Nobel laureates, filed a petition pleading for Folvig's innocence, which eventually led to the governor-general ordering a retrial of the case.

The judge who recently held the retrial ruled that there was "reasonable doubt about the conviction," and New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daly pardoned Polwig, saying, "This pardon confirms that our justice system is capable of delivering justice."

In the meantime, if Polvig's conviction is found invalid, he could sue the state for millions of dollars in restitution or compensation.

(Photo = Yonhap News, Joel Carrett/AP, EPA)