Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #11 *Arrest*

[Ellery84]

I’m just going to get real with you guys; if I purchased mushrooms and I got them out to cook them and they smelled so pungent that I didn’t feel comfortable putting them in a pasta dish, I would throw them out.

I wouldn’t store them. I wouldn’t put them back in a container. I wouldn’t put them in the pantry, I would throw them in the bin.

I also don’t forage. I was always taught not to touch wild mushrooms and not to eat them. I’m sensible like that.

I’m also going to say that one of the worst decisions Ms Patterson has made during this trial is to take the stand. All my opinion only.

 

[Detechtive]

And it’s maddening that earlier she mentioned shopping at various Asian stores at various times yet couldn’t come up with a description of even one of them.

This is the supposedly intelligent woman who took courses and read books? She was able to describe building IKEA bookshelves from years ago. She remembered all the places she traveled to. But couldn’t remember one grocery store, not even its general vicinity? Good luck with that nursing degree, you’ll need a decent memory to pass your exams.

I've been trying to keep an open mind from the get-go, but it's become increasingly difficult.
In regards to the Asian Grocery store, I was trying to put myself in Erin's shoes, because I once bought a Sari for a party in a heavily Indian populated shopping strip in Western Sydney. I went to many Indian shops where they sold Saris until I found the one I wanted. I could remember vaguely where it was (I'm terrible with directions/geography), but because I am not familiar with the area I just couldn't remember where to tell a friend where I got it from weeks after the event. I told her the general street area I thought it was from, but I also couldn't remember the name of the particular shop because I think it was an Indian name which I couldn't read.

So I considered this for a moment when thinking about this "Asian store" tale. And I just couldn't get it across the line, because Erin GREW UP in the Glen Waverly area. Surely there were only a couple of places she could have gone to buy them that she was familiar with. Surely she could have narrowed it down to 2 or 3 places. Surely she could have remembered vaguely the streets she purchased them in. But no, she couldn't. No she didn't tell police roughly where it could have been.

Completely Unbelievable.

(Edit: This was before we all had mobiles, GPS and internet banking apps!)

 

[Ellery84]

I've been trying to keep an open mind from the get-go, but it's become increasingly difficult.
In regards to the Asian Grocery store, I was trying to put myself in Erin's shoes, because I once bought a Sari for a party in a heavily Indian populated shopping strip in Western Sydney. I went to many Indian shops where they sold Saris until I found the one I wanted. I could remember vaguely where it was (I'm terrible with directions/geography), but because I am not familiar with the area I just couldn't remember where to tell a friend where I got it from weeks after the event. I told her the general street area I thought it was from, but I also couldn't remember the name of the particular shop because I think it was an Indian name which I couldn't read.

So I considered this for a moment when thinking about this "Asian store" tale. And I just couldn't get it across the line, because Erin GREW UP in the Glen Waverly area. Surely there were only a couple of places she could have gone to buy them that she was familiar with. Surely she could have narrowed it down to 2 or 3 places. Surely she could have remembered vaguely the streets she purchased them in. But no, she couldn't. No she didn't tell police roughly where it could have been.

Completely Unbelievable.

I agree with all of that, and I also want to remind myself that according to previous evidence heard in this trial, Death Cap mushrooms don’t grow in China.

 

[MrJ]

I’m just going to get real with you guys; if I purchased mushrooms and I got them out to cook them and they smelled so pungent that I didn’t feel comfortable putting them in a pasta dish, I would throw them out.

I wouldn’t store them. I wouldn’t put them back in a container. I wouldn’t put them in the pantry, I would throw them in the bin.

I also don’t forage. I was always taught not to touch wild mushrooms and not to eat them. I’m sensible like that.

I’m also going to say that one of the worst decisions Ms Patterson has made during this trial is to take the stand. All my opinion only.

All of this, 100% agreed. OK, you got a dodgy pack of mushrooms. Chuck them out and try again with finding non-smelly mushrooms. Also re: foraging. The fact that Erin picked one, cut a bit off, fried and ate it without knowing what the species was just doesn't hold water to me. From what we've learned about her, I don't think she's naive at all.

The one positive thing about her taking the stand, though, is I've been thoroughly engrossed. I think she's opened herself to a world of trouble from the prosecution now.

 

[JLZ]

I agree, that's what I was trying to say in a previous post but you said it better than I did

I hadn't read that far when I posted, and then I saw you said the same thing, but faster.

 

[Eloise]

I agree with all of that, and I also want to remind myself that according to previous evidence heard in this trial, Death Cap mushrooms don’t grow in China.

they do have poisonous mushrooms of other types. They even have other amanita varieties. There have been some claimed death caps found in at least one article I read of dubious quality, but when I went through actual literature (rather than news articles), I couldn't find any confirmation of that ever happening (just other species). And as far as i know, its confirmed as Amanita phalloides poisoning specifically in this case.

 

[Salah11]

The sticking point for me is that nobody apart from the people she spent time slagging off got sick.

Is her Golden Labrador Bulimic as well?

 

[Sarahlou]

Just catching up with this thread. I'm glad she took to the stand, it confirmed what an awful person she is. Not that we didn't know that already.

 

[Detechtive]

The sticking point for me is that nobody apart from the people she spent time slagging off got sick.

Is her Golden Labrador Bulimic as well?

I laughed out loud at "slagging off". Very good point. I shouldn't laugh, those poor people, but it is true.

 

[Jess D]

Can't believe she is doubling down on the Asian Grocer story. Confounding.

As her defence did...

Can't believe she is doubling down on the Asian Grocer story. Confounding.

As did her defence...

 

[Jess D]

It sounds like she is aledging that someone tampered with one bag of Asian grocery mushrooms? I.e some bad person put death caps in this one bag that she happened to purchase.

Yes, she keeps emphasising their pugent smell. Well why would she put them into an expensive lunch which she took so much time to prepare?

 

[Baby baby Jane]

Buying a dehydrator to regularly dry Woolworth’s mushrooms doesn’t make sense. It’s a waste of money and time (dehydrate, store and rehydrate)..
Button mushrooms are always available & inexpensive.
(Tho it makes sense to use Woolies mushrooms to test the machine before you dry the mushrooms you spent time searching for foraging. I would expect her to have kept track of which mushrooms she foraged, and from where. So she would know which ones she liked and where to find next time. Using her phone to make a log with photos & location.)

IMO she bought dehydrator for her “little experiment” of making people sick as punishment for withdrawing affection.

Does she mention drying other foods? My neighbor dried fruits, meats jerky style - she was often drying things & sharing. The fruits were seasonal from her garden which made sense to preserve this way.

(Nursing idea might have also been part of strategy to access methods of hurting others. Though possibly not quick enough for ErinErinErin as education & training is long. Possibly wanting to make others sick and then nurse them so they are grateful, can’t leave and love her? IMO … )

 

[BreakingNews]

but traces of death caps were on the dehydrator; why would she dehydrate already dried mushrooms?

Didn't she say they were still a bit soggy in the middle?

 

[katydid23]

11.19am

‘Overanxious mother’: The moment that shattered Erin Patterson’s trust in the health system​

By​

The accused can be seen occasionally grinning and fiddling with her hands.

Her lawyer, Colin Mandy, SC, has moved to a new line of questioning: his client’s health history.

Patterson said she had never been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or had a biopsy on her elbow, but she confirmed she had raised concerns she might have cancer with doctors. “I’d been having for a few months a multitude of symptoms. I felt very fatigued, I had ongoing abdominal pain, I had chronic headaches. I put on a lot of weight in quite a short period of time ... my feet and my hands seemed to retain a lot of fluid,” she said.

Patterson said that what sent her “over the edge” to go to the doctor was that her wedding ring would no longer fit. She said she had gone to get it resized but it did not fit again within a short period. “I consulted with Dr Google,” she said.

“I had a family history of it on both sides of my parents. I’d had an ovarian cyst myself in about 2002 and my daughter had an ovarian mass when she was a baby.″⁣

Patterson said her daughter would cry for long periods of time, so she decided to take her to the doctors, who told her she was an “overanxious mother” and she should relax. “She was eight months old by the time it was actually diagnosed,” she said.

Patterson said she discovered the mass while massaging her daughter’s abdomen after a bath in August 2013.

“They still dismissed me, even then. They thought she just had a very full bladder,” she said.

But the lump remained.

It was that experience, that moment, Patterson says, that considerably damaged her faith in the health system.

Patterson said she didn’t like hospitals before, but the experience made her distrust health professionals. “I didn’t want to lose her,” she said.

In January 2015, when she discharged herself from the hospital, Erin said her experience played a part in her decision. “I didn’t want to be there,” she said.

Patterson said that after the removal of the mass from her daughter’s ovary, she continued to have ongoing pain and gastrointestinal issues. “She got to a point where she was four and they finally did an X-ray on her which showed that she was completely backed up,” she said.

Patterson said the experience was distressing for her daughter. “She’s 11 and she still remembers that.”

Day 25, as it happened: Patterson concedes death cap mushrooms were in beef Wellington she fed guests

Accused killer cook Erin Patterson has conceded death cap mushrooms were in a beef Wellington she fed her lunch guests after telling a jury she often foraged for fungi and enjoyed buying exotic varieties because they tasted better.

www.theage.com.au

It is REALLY a shame that she feels she needs to discuss her 11 yr old child's gastric health in public---and for what? How is this relevant to the poisonous lunch?

I'm sure she could speak about her lack of faith in hospitals without giving minute details of her little girls bowel issues.

 

[Jess D]

Exactly right. If she admits that she accidentally foraged Death Caps and fed them to her guests, she is at least on the hook for manslaughter.

Her defence have versed her well. She's going to walk, I'm telling you.

 

[Detechtive]

Didn't she say they were still a bit soggy in the middle?

She was talking about button mushrooms from Woolworths.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

I agree with all of that, and I also want to remind myself that according to previous evidence heard in this trial, Death Cap mushrooms don’t grow in China.

And … commercial mushrooms are grown in a polytunnel. In Asia and anywhere else. Cultivated, grown in clean environment in a cost effective easy to harvest polytunnel. Professional farming, It’s not Asian people foraging random mushrooms and sending them to Oz.

 

[Detechtive]

Her defence have versed her well. She's going to walk, I'm telling you.

Really?

There is no chance she is going to walk, IMO. Particularly now she is taking the stand and will be absolutely obliterated in cross.

 

[Jess D]

I’m just going to get real with you guys; if I purchased mushrooms and I got them out to cook them and they smelled so pungent that I didn’t feel comfortable putting them in a pasta dish, I would throw them out.

I wouldn’t store them. I wouldn’t put them back in a container. I wouldn’t put them in the pantry, I would throw them in the bin.

I also don’t forage. I was always taught not to touch wild mushrooms and not to eat them. I’m sensible like that.

I’m also going to say that one of the worst decisions Ms Patterson has made during this trial is to take the stand. All my opinion only.

Of course you would throw them out! Her defence are desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures...

 

[Jess D]

Really?

There is no chance she is going to walk, IMO. Particularly now she is taking the stand and will be absolutely obliterated in cross.

I really hope that you're right Detechtive.