Kathleen Folbigg’s conviction over the murder of three children and the manslaughter of a fourth came sandwiched between the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003, and Major General Michael Jeffery being named as Peter Hollingworth’s replacement as Governor-General in June 2003.
Indeed, it was 20 years ago last month. To Kathleen Folbigg, though, it must seem like an eternity.
At the cinemas, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Finding Nemo were bringing in big dollars. And we were bemoaning the annual median house price, which in Melbourne sat at $276,000.
Unleaded petrol hadn’t reached 92 cents per litre and John Howard was still Prime Minister.
Some things remain the same, perhaps, and in the year Kathleen Folbigg had a cell door slammed behind her, the Reserve Bank hiked official interest rates to 5.25 per cent.
As Folbigg sat in a jail cell, all alone and grieving the four babies who died in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1999, the world went into judgment overdrive.
Australia’s worst serial killer. A murderer who confessed a dark side in personal diaries. A mother who deserved not to be. The most hated woman …
Imagine that. Not only the injustice of being charged, tried and convicted – but also losing four of your children?
Not one. Not two. Not three. But all of her children. It’s incredible that madness didn’t creep in, and take over.
But Folbigg was used to travelling a hard road.
Her father stabbed her mother to death when she was just a toddler. Her husband dobbed her in to police, based on diary entries she’d penned. Some in her adopted family didn’t believe in her.
Folbigg must have got almost used to people leaving, not staying.
Of course, there were exceptions, and a few childhood friends deserve every accolade for the 20-year fight they waged, to see Folbigg walk free this week.
In 2003, the science that would help them was not even on the horizon.
Kudos to the scientists behind those gene discoveries, and the 100 global experts who joined forces, based on science, to demand she be pardoned.
All of those people and that work is exceptional. But the real star here is Kathleen Folbigg, who was falsely convicted of murder, confined to jail for two decades, but who friends say holds no grudge, nor hate in her heart.
How can that be?
Rather, she’s humbled. Grateful. Thankful to both science and the truth. And no doubt still grieving the four children she was blamed for killing.
This week, Folbigg could deliver us a dozen lessons around science, perseverance and the legal system.
But perhaps it’s the lesson in enjoying the simple things that rises to the top. A real bed. Pizza. Metal spoons. Patting a horse. Playing with a dog. A glass of Kahlua and Coke.
She is reportedly in “awe’’ of both the smartphone and digital streaming devices; both alien to the behind-bars world as she turned 40 and 45 and 50.
Her good friends should advise her to use social media with caution; to keep her friends list private, and only talk to those who want to know the real Kathleen Folbigg. She’s wasted enough time living with frauds.
My wish is that the simple things in life be extended to early sunrises and late sunsets, stories around a campfire. Ted Lasso is a must.
A library card will open another world. So will an early barefoot walk along a beach. A cold glass of Champagne. A massage, and an afternoon nap. A Sunday drive. Wordle is worth a few minutes each day.
And if Kathleen Folbigg can show no hate, we should all show a determination to find others like her, locked away in jail but potentially free with the help of science.
Her convictions need to be quashed, and the system of post-conviction review, which kept her in jail, needs to be examined.
This grave injustice – one of the worst imaginable in modern times – needs to be put right.
And while our legislators and courts do that, Kathleen Folbigg deserves a long, charmed life overflowing with those simple things.
