Fourteen academics from law faculties in universities of NSW have co-signed a letter for the Attorney General, Mr Michael Daley, to immediately release Ms Folbigg from prison pending the further steps that will be taken for her complete exoneration.
The letter is reproduced in full below.
Mark Basa was convicted by a jury of murder on 3 August 2006. The conviction was for the death of Zane McCready in an emergency doorway area of the Ex-Services Club on Hanbury Street, Mayfield, Newcastle on 7 July 2005….
The legal rights outlined are particularly important in providing safeguards against abuses by governments and their agents. The fundamental rights, developed over hundreds of years, have been adopted in international treaties. Some of the rights along with the reasons for their existence are detailed to provide an understanding of their importance and fragility.
Mark Basa has been at the Villawood Detention Centre for several years. Without warning and in the middle of the night, he was recently taken from Villawood to Perth where he stayed for a number of weeks. Then, again in the middle of the night and without warning, he was taken in chains to Christmas Island.
The most important requirement in all criminal trials is that the onus of establishing guilt is to the standard of beyond reasonable doubt. This standard of proof stays immovably with the prosecution throughout a trial. In Kathleen Folbigg’s case an essential element that needed to be proved beyond reasonable doubt was that she intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to her children.
The prosecution said that she smothered them, but failed to prove this was the case.
A petition was signed on March 2 2021 and delivered to the Governor of NSW asking for the Ms Folbigg to be pardoned. The petition is presented below in full.
Summary This open memorandum, prepared by Professor Helen Fraser of the University of Melbourne and Professor Michele Ruyters of RMIT University, calls for an independent inquiry into the 1990 conviction of Stephen “Shorty” Jamieson, who is serving a life sentence…