Made up with blue eye shadow, Kathleen Folbigg appeared at court by video link
Serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg was shocked, embarrassed and immediately remorseful that she had punched a fellow inmate inmate in a fight over a toaster.
Folbigg, who killed her four children between 1989 and 1999, was reacting to taunts about her crimes when she ‘snapped’ at Tara Mammen at Silverwater Women’s Prison on April 21.
The 50-year-old unsuccessfully sought to appeal against a further four month prison term on Wednesday, as details of the assault were revealed to the court.
Made up with blue eye shadow and lipstick and wearing prison greens, Folbigg loudly exhaled several times while appearing via video link in Newcastle.
Barrister Isabel Reed said her client had ‘snapped’ and ‘acted inappropriately’ after taunts from Mammen.
The pair had been at the Silverwater Women’s Prison’s protection wing on April 21 when they fought over a communal toaster.
About 8.30am Mammen walked out of her cell for muster, returned, then walked out again carrying a toaster.
Kathleen Folbigg, who was found guilty of killing her four children, was ’embarrassed’ over the toaster-related assault
Baby killer Kathleen Folbigg (right) with Major Joyce Harmer of the Salvation Army leaving the NSW Supreme Court in 2003
Folbigg snatched the toaster out of her hands, telling her: ‘You’re not allowed to take the f***ing toaster in the room.’
Mammen replied: ‘Well I didn’t know that. Don’t tell me what to do.’
Mammen then asked ‘What are you going to do about it then?’ and Folbigg punched her in the stomach.
Slightly winded, Mammen punched back at Folbigg, clipping her ear.
Mammen then said ‘We all know why you are here’.
Folbigg said ‘What did you say?’ and the pair engaged in name-calling.
Folbigg had an ‘exemplary record’ in prison and her behaviour had been completely out of character, her lawyer told the court.
‘Ms Folbigg was the first to admit that she was extremely embarrassed and immediately remorseful about what she had done,’ Ms Reed said.
‘It’s an unusual matter where the only conviction on her record is a very top shelf conviction,’ Ms Reed said.
‘Her immediate reaction to this was absolute shock and horror and embarrassment.’
‘And the fact that it’s been reported in the newspaper – I don’t know why.
‘She would never to put herself in this position again. This is something that is unlikely to happen again.’
Kathleen Folbigg (right) is supported by the Salvation Army’s Major Joyce Harmer outside the NSW Supreme Court in 2003
Ms Reed tendered two references from other inmates who wrote of the assistance Folbigg had given them in prison.
A fellow baby killer, Margaret Jalaty, wrote a character reference for Folbigg, which was tendered during the appeal on Wednesday.
The court heard that ‘Folbigg has been of significant assistance to’ Jalaty and another female inmate, Kirsty Wise, while in prison.
Jalaty is serving a maximum 20 year sentence for murdering her four-year-old daughter Alia, who died from a methadone overdose in 2004.
Three other referees who had known Folbigg since childhood gave further written evidence of her good character.
Judge Tanya Bright accepted Folbigg had previously been a model inmate but said assaults could not be tolerated in jail.
‘It is clear to me that the appellant has been of significant assistance to each of the inmates,’ Judge Bright said.
‘I accept this conduct was out of character.
Laura Folbigg (pictured) was 19 months old when she died at the hands of her mother Kathleen
‘And I accept that she is genuinely remorseful for her conduct which could perhaps be described as somewhat an overreaction to the situation with respect to the toaster.
‘The difficulty is that it occurred in a custodial environment.
‘Any assault that occurs in custody has the potential to escalate and disrupt the entire custodial environment.
‘In my view this offence could never be categorised as trivial.’
Judge Bright dismissed the appeal and upheld the original magistrate’s sentence.
Folbigg opened and closed her mouth following the decision. She said ‘Thanks, Your Honour’ before the video link was cut.
Corrective Services officers told police Folbigg had never caused trouble in prison previously and described the assault as ‘totally out of character’.
Folbigg had not believed her punch connected until shown CCTV footage of the assault, according to police.
‘The accused appeared genuinely remorseful in regards to her behaviour,’ police submitted.
‘The accused expressed that she believed the victim had targeted her with her ranting and raving about her alleged crimes and had expressed that she had read about her case in books and in papers.
‘The accused believed the victim was trying to incite others to participate in supporting her attack.’
Folbigg is 14 years into a 25-year minimum term for the killing of her four children.
She was found guilty in 2003 of murdering Patrick, eight months old, Sarah, 10 months old and Laura, 18 months old, between 1991 and 1999.
Folbigg was found guilty of the manslaughter of son Caleb when he was 19 days old in 1989.
Caleb Folbigg (pictured) was 19 days old when his mother killed him in the family’s Hunter Valley home
All the children died in homes Folbigg shared with husband Craig in the New South Wales Hunter Valley: Caleb and Patrick at Mayfield, Sarah at Thornton and Laura at Singleton.
The NSW Supreme Court heard Folbigg killed her children because she could not cope with the stress of raising them. She resented their intrusion on her life.
Folbigg had a troubled childhood. When she was about 18 months old her biological father Thomas Britton stabbed her mother Kathleen to death.
The young Kathleen was made a ward of the state after her mother’s murder and placed into foster care.
She left school at 15 and was about 20 when she married Craig Folbigg.
At Folbigg’s trial the Crown suggested she had murdered her babies by smothering them. Folbigg maintained the children died of natural causes including cot death.
Sarah Folbigg (pictured) was eight months old when killed by his mother Kathleen Megan Folbigg
Patrick Folbigg (pictured), the second of the Folbigg children to be killed, was eight months old when he died
There was no physical evidence against Folbigg in what was a circumstantial case which relied heavily upon journal entries she had made.
Of Laura she wrote: ‘Scared she’ll leave me now, like Sarah did.’
Of Sarah: ‘All I wanted her to do was shut up. And one say she did … I knew I was short tempered and cruel sometimes to her and she left – with a bit of help.’
Again of Laura: ‘She’s a fairly good natured baby, thank goodness – it saved her from the fate of her siblings.’
Folbigg also wrote: ‘Obviously I’m my father’s daughter.’
Kathleen Folbigg appeared in the NSW District Court in Newcastle where she appealed against her sentence for assault on Thursday
Her defence team relied on other parts of the journals to show her caring nature and concern for her children’s welfare. The incriminating passages were said to be the writings of a grieving mother.
Folbigg made no direct admissions and has always maintained her innocence.
She was originally sentenced to a minimum 30-year minimum term which was cut to 25 years upon appeal in 2005.
Supporters have been attempting to have the case re-examined, citing a lack of evidence against Folbigg and the existence of international examples of multiple cot deaths in the same family.