Pardoned ex-prisoner Kathleen Folbigg could be vindicated after spending close to two decades in jail over the deaths of her four children when a court rules on quashing her convictions.
She was granted an unconditional pardon and released from jail in June after an inquiry heard there was reasonable doubt about her guilt following new scientific discoveries.
In a final report released in November, inquiry commissioner Tom Bathurst KC found there was an "identifiable cause" for three of the deaths and Folbigg's relationship with her children did not support the case that she killed them.
The former NSW chief justice added the mother's diary entries - controversially used during her trial to help secure her convictions - did not contain reliable admissions of guilt.
Folbigg consistently told police and a previous inquiry the entries reflected her feelings of failure as a mother after the deaths of three of her children.
Mr Bathurst referred the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal to consider quashing her convictions with the judges scheduled to deliver their decision on Thursday morning.
Folbigg was convicted in 2003 and ordered to serve a minimum 25-year sentence for the suffocation murders of three of her children and manslaughter of a fourth.
The children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, died between 1989 and 1999 at ages ranging from 19 days to 18 months.
"(I) grieve for my children and I miss them and love them terribly," Folbigg said in a video following her release in June.
A rare genetic variation was a "reasonably possible cause" of Sarah and Laura's deaths, according to cardiology and genetics experts.
Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, was another possible cause of Laura's death.
Patrick may have died from a neurogenetic disorder, which could have also hospitalised him before his death, experts told the inquiry.
Reasonable causes for their deaths undermined the tendency reasoning used to convict Folbigg of Caleb's manslaughter.
Folbigg's lawyers have previously indicated the possibility of seeking compensation from the state.
How a decades-long ordeal unfolded
Kathleen Donovan was born on June 14, 1967.
She married Craig Folbigg in 1987.
- February 20, 1989 - Caleb Folbigg dies aged 19 days
- February 13, 1991 - Patrick Folbigg dies aged eight months
- August 30, 1993 - Sarah Folbigg dies aged 10 months
- March 1, 1999 - Laura Folbigg dies aged 18 months
- October 24, 2003 - Kathleen Folbigg is sentenced to 40 years in jail with a non-parole period of 30 years. This is reduced on appeal to a minimum of 25 years
- June 10, 2015 - NSW Governor David Hurley receives petition for review of convictions based on forensic pathology findings
- October 28, 2018 - Inquiry into convictions opens
- May 2019 - An international medical registry reports that two US children have died of the mutation found in Sarah and Laura
- July 2019 - Inquiry finds no reasonable doubt to Folbigg's convictions. Validation of Folbigg mutation could not be completed before end of inquiry
- November 17, 2020 - Likely role of CALM2 mutation in Sarah and Laura's death confirmed in world leading study
- March 3, 2021 - Petition for Folbigg pardon sent to NSW Governor Margaret Beazley
- November 14, 2022 - Hearings for second Inquiry conducted by Thomas Bathurst KC begins
- April 26 and 27, 2023 - Closing submissions made at Inquiry
- June 5, 2023 - NSW Attorney General Michael Daley unconditionally pardons Folbigg
Australian Associated Press
