Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #10 *Arrest*

[MrJ]

2m ago

Police digital expert resumes giving evidence.​

By Melissa Brown​

Shamen Fox-Henry is the witness who took us through the group chat messages, images taken from Erin Patterson’s tablet and other data including searches.

Prosecutor Jane Warren is taking him back through the mobile phone report.

They're clarifying dates and times within the report.

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago

Early finish to today's evidence​

By Melissa Brown​

The court has adjourned for the week.

It heard just over an hour of evidence this morning and is scheduled to return on Monday.

Sole mushroom lunch survivor came 'very close' to dying, court told — as it happened

Erin Patterson is charged with murdering three relatives by serving them a beef Wellington meal that contained death cap mushrooms. Here's how it unfolded.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Old Soul]

Absolutely horrific to hear in details what the lunch guests had to endure. I would also like to know if EP was informed of their progress and what she was doing in the meantime (other than pretending to google for an “Asian grocer” that didn’t exist).

Well we know she was allegedly taking her dehydrator to the tip (August 2nd) and performing factory resets on her phone/s (August 2nd, 5th and 6th).

I notice she also allegedly factory reset her phone on February 2nd 2023. One wonders if this was to hide some other suspicious activity? Just speculating of course.

 

[Kemug]

I actually find it quite interesting that they did the transplant for Don. I'm not at all saying he shouldn't have had it, but I do know their is strict criteria to be eligible for transplants, and age and likely outcome factor in to it

It seems he was a big strong man, and very fit, they probably thought he had a chance. And I'm glad they gave it to him.

 

[Kemug]

And what was *she* doing while doctors were desperately trying to save lives?

RSBM
Trying to save her own skin.

 

[Kemug]

Absolutely horrific to hear in details what the lunch guests had to endure. I would also like to know if EP was informed of their progress and what she was doing in the meantime (other than pretending to google for an “Asian grocer” that didn’t exist).

And acting out her own "symptoms".

 

[Scooby-Doo]

It was only a short session of court in Morwell today.

The first witness was Professor Stephen Warrilow, a director of intensive care at Austin Health where the lunch guests were treated.

Then we very briefly heard from Victoria Police digital expert Shamen Fox-Henry who was on the stand for a minor clarification from yesterday's evidence.

Here's what we learnt this morning:


.Don Patterson received a liver transplant at the Austin Hospital but Professor Warrillow says he “got relentlessly worse” and it became clear he was dying.

.Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were both too unwell to undergo surgery, so did not receive a transplant.

.Ian Wilkinson came “very close” to dying but slowly started to improve after almost a week of treatment.

Professor Warrillow says the hospital doesn't have a specific test for Amaninta mushroom poisoning so the diagnosis of this cause of the illness for the Pattersons and Wilkinsons illness was based on factors including their consumption of mushrooms, their symptoms and that tests for other causes, such as viruses, were negative.

.Professor Warrillow says treatments for Amanita poisoning are not 100 per cent effective, and there's a high mortality rate, even with optimal care.

The court has adjourned for the week.

It heard just over an hour of evidence this morning and is scheduled to return on Monday.

 

[Porky1]

I think Simon did really well in not denigrating the mother of his children, when he testified. Not many people could do that after that person allegedly murdered his aunt and parents.

But maybe his upbringing and his care for his children kept him classy. As it did for Ian Wilkinson also.

If he was so "not nice" Erin could easily have divorced him, and got on with her life. It would have been a no-fault divorce. They had been separated for so long.

But she chose to keep him on a string, and chose to try to draw his parents into her problems that could easily have been sorted out in court with a mediator.

imo

I agree to a point but I have a different opinion re the level. On that first day, I sensed that he was hoping to reconcile but as it unfolded, it was clear that it had become dysfunctional and I think he had moved on. It started off respectful and being raised in a Christian household formed good values but it doesn’t absolve poor behaviour. The most pious people do bad things.

As they were strict Baptists, perhaps divorce wasn’t an easy path. Perhaps they were waiting for kids to mature, leave their Christian school, etc. Maybe the family were pushing to mediate at times but then stepped back with conflict. Families meddle.

 

[LinasK]

This may have long since come up, however I only just saw EP's text to Simon re his refusal of the dinner invite, and her very clear desire that he would attend.
The question came to mind - what colour plate would he have been given?? A moot point really at this stage, but if there had been a fifth grey plate intended for him that matched the other guests' plates, she could have used it herself when he didn't show up.

Just curious - how many people really only have 4 of a matching plate?

If she color-coded them as I'm suspecting, she'd have never given herself a grey plate. Those are the portions for the poisoned portions. Grey=lifeless.

 

[katydid23]

So now we've seen her texts showing the animosity she had been brewing against her inlaws was almost as bad as what she felt toward Simon. Still flabbergasting that she chose to invite them to a lunch of death cap mushrooms, but at least now we see how she really felt about them and sort of see her motive.

But what about the other couple? They were just Simon's aunt and uncle, godly people, saints almost! And from what we've seen so far, she had never had any sort of negative interaction with them at all. There has never been any mention of them being involved in "adjudicating" their separation. She couldn't possibly have had anything at all against these good people.

I guess it has to be she just wanted to hurt Simon as much as possible, but that explanation still doesn't work very well for me. I wonder what her thinking was there. I wonder how long before she invited them did she decide to invite them. Maybe it was spur of the moment just when she saw them at church and she didn't even think through what inviting them meant at all.

Collateral Damage?

 

[katydid23]

Or just fed up.

I don’t think for a second that Simon is ‘Mr Nice Guy’.

Remaining objective until the decision is handed down…..

It doesn't matter if he is a jerk or a deadbeat or anything like that. Even if he was physically/emotionally abusive, it doesn't make it OK to allegedly feed her in-laws Death Caps.

 

[katydid23]

Agreed re health officer investigation. It’s best to be safe and to be honest, this case aside, there has been cases in AU where there have been some suspicious dried mushrooms in the past.

In this case, I was trying to cancel my response.

I just wish there was a delete option. Sometimes it’s pointless responding when the conversation has moved on.

just erase it and then write DBM


[which means Deleted By Me]

 

[BreakingNews]

I actually find it quite interesting that they did the transplant for Don. I'm not at all saying he shouldn't have had it, but I do know their is strict criteria to be eligible for transplants, and age and likely outcome factor in to it

Unless they had a liver that needed to be used. I don't know how long they last. Image they don't have an ample stockpile. I've had 4 cornea transplants, but I've never had to wait, as the eye banks have worked out how to store eyes for a few days. Interesting that the survivor didn't need a liver transplant.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

I agree to a point but I have a different opinion re the level. On that first day, I sensed that he was hoping to reconcile but as it unfolded, it was clear that it had become dysfunctional and I think he had moved on. It started off respectful and being raised in a Christian household formed good values but it doesn’t absolve poor behaviour. The most pious people do bad things.

As they were strict Baptists, perhaps divorce wasn’t an easy path. Perhaps they were waiting for kids to mature, leave their Christian school, etc. Maybe the family were pushing to mediate at times but then stepped back with conflict. Families meddle.

Erin is an atheist.

 

[whiskia]

I wonder if Erin decided to invite Ian and Heather because she saw them as part of the problem as far as the negative effects of religion she was experiencing from the family eg "just pray for the children together". With them out of the picture (as well as Don, Gail and Simon), she would be truly free of the religious constraints and attitudes she was battling....

 

[Scuffy35]

<,snipped>
Interesting that the survivor didn't need a liver transplant.

I am not sure if this is correct.

The ABC live blog today does not explicitly say he did or didn't.
Also I am fairly sure that I have seen from the trial testimony so far that both men received liver transplants but neither of the women did. I can't find the reference at the moment.

 

[Doesitmakesense]

I am not sure if this is correct.

The ABC live blog today does not explicitly say he did or didn't.
Also I am fairly sure that I have seen from the trial testimony so far that both men received liver transplants but neither of the women did. I can't find the reference at the moment.

I did read something that said "after his procedure" but no reference to what the procedure actually was

 

[SouthAussie]

I am not sure if this is correct.

The ABC live blog today does not explicitly say he did or didn't.
Also I am fairly sure that I have seen from the trial testimony so far that both men received liver transplants but neither of the women did. I can't find the reference at the moment.

From what I have read Ian did not have a liver transplant. The surgical procedure he had on August 4th was a laparoscopy.


The jury was told by August 4, Mr Wilkinson's condition had deteriorated and he underwent a laparoscopy to check his bowel, although there were no significant abnormalities.
Dr Warrillow said Mr Wilkinson then made slow but significant improvements between August 5 and 7.
"It was very slow because he was coming from extreme clinical illness but he did improve," he told the jury.

'Going to die': how mushroom lunch almost killed four

Doctors thought Ian Wilkinson was going to die in hospital after consuming a lunch served by mushroom cook...

www.newcastleherald.com.au

A laparoscopy is a form of keyhole surgery.
Laparoscopies only need small incisions and usually result in faster recovery and less pain than traditional 'open' surgery.
Laparoscopies can be used to both diagnose and treat conditions.

Laparoscopy

A laparoscopy is a type of keyhole surgery usually performed in the abdominal (belly) area. Learn more about this minimally invasive surgery.

www.healthdirect.gov.au

 

[katydid23]

Snipped.

I'm curious to see what the defense actually claims when it's their turn.

In theory, they could say that Erin didn't lie about the source of the mushrooms. Rather, she picked the death caps, dried them at some time in the past and stored them in her pantry.

But I don't think they could say anything like that unless she takes the stand. Nobody else could know that but her, and her attorney can't give a speech like that----it has to be some kind of admitted evidence, or first hand testimony. IMO

Later she confused them with some mushrooms she purchased. That's why she told the health officials they came from an Asian grocery.

But if she was truthfully trying to help the health officials, why not tell them about her foraged mushrooms from the start? She never divulged that vital info, even while her guests were dying.

Something like that wouldn't contradict what Mandy said in his opening statement (based on the reporters' notes). And it would allow them to sidestep claims that she deliberately prevented her in-laws from getting the proper medical treatment.

I don't think she could sidestep those claims though. She did prevent them from getting immediate antidote because she could have told them that she had foraged some mushrooms, right from then start. But she kept talking about Woolis and Asian marke5ts---no mention of the other obvious possibility.

If as you say, she 'confused' one batch of mushrooms with the other, there should have been the 3rd batch of mushrooms still in the pantry---the ones from the Asian market.

If she accidentally mixed them up with the foraged mushrooms and used the foraged ones instead, then the Asian ones would still be there.

 

[ch_13]

But I don't think they could say anything like that unless she takes the stand. Nobody else could know that but her, and her attorney can't give a speech like that----it has to be some kind of admitted evidence, or first hand testimony. IMO


But if she was truthfully trying to help the health officials, why not tell them about her foraged mushrooms from the start? She never divulged that vital info, even while her guests were dying.


I don't think she could sidestep those claims though. She did prevent them from getting immediate antidote because she could have told them that she had foraged some mushrooms, right from then start. But she kept talking about Woolis and Asian marke5ts---no mention of the other obvious possibility.

If as you say, she 'confused' one batch of mushrooms with the other, there should have been the 3rd batch of mushrooms still in the pantry---the ones from the Asian market.

If she accidentally mixed them up with the foraged mushrooms and used the foraged ones instead, then the Asian ones would still be there.

Oh, I agree. The prosecution could certainly poke holes in this claim, should she make it. I was just suggesting an alternative to the defense admitting that Erin lied about going to an Asian market by them saying that she both visited the market and picked the death caps.

I'm truly curious about how they will frame her defense.