The first hearing block in the Kathleen Folbigg inquiry commenced on 14 November 2022 and was listed to run for two weeks.

However, it was adjourned today for three months to allow experts time to review new evidence that has been presented.

Genetic experts Mette Nyegaard and Michael Toft Overgaard travelled from Denmark to give evidence at the Inquiry. They are co-authors of research published in March 2021, which found a rare inherited genetic mutation, CALM2-G114R, may cause cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death in children.

The genetic mutation was found in Kathleen’s daughters Laura and Sarah. Their research discovered that the rare genetic mutation interferes with sodium and calcium levels, which are important for heart function. 

“Would you say if it was ‘likely’ that the girls died by reason of the variant?” junior counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Roy, asked the scientists.

“We think it is likely this mutation could have caused the death,” Overgaard said.

“It looks like a bad variant,” Nyegaard agreed.

Read an explanation of why CALM2-G114R can be deadly in Cosmos Magazine.

Chief justice Tom Bathurst has adjourned the inquiry until February 2023, noting that the parties involved in the inquiry needed time to process the evidence.

He described it as “new and quite exceptional” information.

We are hoping the truth – and science – will finally set Kathleen free.

As Kathleen’s friend Tracy Chapman notes about the new evidence: “Beyond reasonable doubt? Hell yes!”