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

Status
Not open for further replies.
  • #1,101
I wonder if the jury is as sick of Erin and her contradictory answers as I am?
 
  • #1,102
now11.26 AEST
Mandy asks Patterson about her reasons for hosting the fateful lunch on 29 July 2023.

Patterson says her kids had enjoyed seeing their grandparents when she hosted them for lunch in June and wanted to do it again. Earlier, she said she invited them to her Leongatha home in June because she had become worried about “some distance” between her and the Patterson family.

She says at the June lunch, Gail remarked that Heather would like to see her garden.

“Heather and Ian had been really good to me over the years. I wanted to have some more connection to them,” she says.

Patterson recalls asking Gail and Heather to come to lunch at church.

“They said they’ve love to,” Patterson says as her voice trembles.

Mandy asks why Patterson decided to cook a beef wellington dish.

Patterson says she made a shepherd’s pie when Don and Gail came to her place in June. She says they liked it but it “didn’t seem special enough.”

She says her mother had made beef wellington when she was a child.

“It was in my recipe book. RecipeTin Eats. I think that’s where I found it initially,” she says

She says in the lead up to the lunch, she bought the “majority” of ingredients from Woolworths in Leongatha. She says she also bought some ingredients at the IGA and Aldi.

Mandy asks if she followed the recipe for beef wellington in the Recipe TinEats cookbook.

She replies “roughly” but says she made some “deviations.”

She said she could not buy a single beef tenderloin so bought individual eye-fillet.
 
  • #1,103
1m ago
Erin describes making beef Wellington lunch to court

By Joseph Dunstan

The court is then shown the colourful cover of Nagi Maehashi's RecipeTin Eats 'DINNER' cookbook, then the beef Wellington recipe.

Erin says the following changes were made in her version:

There was no mustard
There was no prosciutto, because Don didn't eat pork
There was a call for a crepe layer as well, but Erin says that "looked a little bit complicated so I bought filo to use instead of the crepe"

Erin says she began preparing the Saturday lunch on the Friday by salting the meat steaks to try and get juices out of them.

"Shopping and reading the recipe, I think Googling tips on how to not stuff it up, that was probably the bulk of it," she says.

On the Saturday morning, Erin says she got to work early on the mushroom duxelles, which involved frying up garlic and chopped shallots.

She emptied some mushrooms from Woolworths into her Thermomix and chopped them up a bit, she says.

She can't remember the exact quantity of mushrooms, but it was "a lot".

She says she cooked it for a "very long time" to try and remove the water so the pastry wouldn't be soggy.

erm.... and death caps as well but let's not mention that apparently.
 
  • #1,104
So they wanted to see her garden??
What about the pressuring of Simon to come, because apparently it was really important and she might not have another opportunity because of the fake cancer???
 
  • #1,105
1m ago11.29 AEST
Patterson says if you make a beef wellington as individual steaks you need to use more mushrooms and puff pastry.

“That wasn’t the only change I had to make,” she says.

She says the recipe “called for making a crepe” and bought filo instead.

Patterson says she omitted mustard and prosciutto in the version she made.

She says this was because Don did not eat pork.
 
  • #1,106
If I’m following the lies correctly, the current one is that she was storing the stinky dried “Asian grocery” mushrooms in a Tupperware container with a mixture of mushrooms she had previously foraged and dehydrated.
It was from this mix of dried mushrooms, plus the fresh Woolworths mushrooms, that the beef Wellingtons were made.

It does seem odd that a mushroom connoisseur would just throw all different types and flavors of mushrooms into one container….but I don’t believe a word she says….as far as I can tell she is now just trying to make some lies fit together.
Plus if you put something smelly into Tupperware, you'll never get the smell out. It'll stay stinky forever.
 
  • #1,107
Just now
Erin concedes dried mushrooms may have been foraged

By Joseph Dunstan

She says that process took roughly 45 minutes and it was then that she made an addition to the Woolworths mushroom duxelles.

"As I was cooking it down, I tasted it a few times and it seemed a little bland, to me," she says.

"So I decided to put in the dried mushrooms that I'd bought from the grocer that I still had in the pantry.

"So I put them in, like a little, ... strainer with a handle ... and just roughly poured water over them to get the crispness out of them.

"I chopped them up and I, like, sprinkled them over the duxelles and pushed them in with an egg flip."

Erin does not say if she tasted the dish again after adding the dried mushrooms.

She says at the time, she believed the dried mushrooms were the ones she'd bought from Melbourne.

"Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well," she says, closing her eyes and blinking as her voice cracks.
 
  • #1,108
  • #1,109
Key Event
1m ago
Erin says she was 'hurt' by estranged husband's rejection

By Joseph Dunstan

Mr Mandy then asks Erin how she felt about Simon's rejection of her invitation to the lunch on July 29.

She confirms she was "a bit hurt", then Mr Mandy reads a text she sent back to him where she outlined her disappointment and spoke about how much effort had gone into preparation for the lunch.

"Why did you send Simon that message?" Mr Mandy asks.

"I was hurt he didn't want to come but I was also really anxious and stressed about this upcoming procedure that I was going to have, and I just wanted to know that it would be sorted and I wouldn't have to worry about whether I would have help with the kids or not, so I just wanted him to come so I could talk to him about that," she says.

When asked about the exaggerations in the message, Erin says they were made because she really wanted him to attend the lunch.

"I shouldn't have done any of that, but that's what I was thinking at the time," she says.

Erin says she wanted Simon to feel "a little bit bad about cancelling at the last minute after he would've known that I would've done a lot of preparation".

Erin admits she'd not really done the "many hours" of preparation she had told Simon had gone into the lunch.

"No, it wasn't true," she says.
 
  • #1,110
1m ago
We return to the preparation of the deadly lunch

By Joseph Dunstan

We're back on the meal preparations, as Erin outlines how she fried the steaks on both sides, then let them rest.

Then she assembled the beef Wellingtons.

"I used the egg flip again to, I guess, lift a little bit [of the duxelles] out of the oven try and put on each steak ... and then wrapped each one in filo, and then wrapped each one in puff pastry," she says.

She says she made six of the individual beef Wellingtons.

"At the appropriate time, I put them in the oven ... I wanted them to be out and resting by 12:30 [when guests arrived]," she says.
 
  • #1,111
"I remembered on really important occasions my mum would make beef Wellington when I was a kid and I thought ... I'll give it a go," she says.
Forgive my armchair psychology, but i find it interesting that it's a dish she associated with her mother - someone we know she had at least a slightly difficult relationship with, and possibly someone she felt rejected by.

Very symbolic to bring it out at a time when she was feeling rejected by someone she claims she now saw as her mother.... for potentially nefarious purposes.
 
  • #1,112
Key Event
1m ago
Erin says she was 'hurt' by estranged husband's rejection

By Joseph Dunstan

Mr Mandy then asks Erin how she felt about Simon's rejection of her invitation to the lunch on July 29.

She confirms she was "a bit hurt", then Mr Mandy reads a text she sent back to him where she outlined her disappointment and spoke about how much effort had gone into preparation for the lunch.

"Why did you send Simon that message?" Mr Mandy asks.

"I was hurt he didn't want to come but I was also really anxious and stressed about this upcoming procedure that I was going to have, and I just wanted to know that it would be sorted and I wouldn't have to worry about whether I would have help with the kids or not, so I just wanted him to come so I could talk to him about that," she says.

When asked about the exaggerations in the message, Erin says they were made because she really wanted him to attend the lunch.

"I shouldn't have done any of that, but that's what I was thinking at the time," she says.

Erin says she wanted Simon to feel "a little bit bad about cancelling at the last minute after he would've known that I would've done a lot of preparation".

Erin admits she'd not really done the "many hours" of preparation she had told Simon had gone into the lunch.

"No, it wasn't true," she says.
I wish there was a vomit emoji 🤢
 
  • #1,113
2m ago02.36 BST
Mandy turns to preparations for the meal.

Patterson says she “did a bit on the Friday” including salting the steaks and “Googling tips for how to not stuff it up.”

Patterson says on the day of the lunch she started preparing the mushroom duxelle for the beef wellington at about 9.30am-10am.

“I fried up garlic and chopped shallots,” she says.

She says she emptied “two tubs” of mushrooms from Woolworths into a blender.

“It was a lot,” she says.

I cooked that for a very long time.

You’ve got to get almost all of the water out so it won’t turn your pastry soggy.”
She says she tasted it and it tasted “bland.”

I decided to put in the dried mushrooms which I bought from the grocer which I still had in the pantry.
She says she put them in a strainer, poured water over them to remove the “crispness”, chopped them up and “sprinkled over the mushroom duxelle” and pushed them in “with an egg flip, something like that”.

Patterson says she believed the container with the dried mushrooms contained only store-bought mushrooms from a grocer in Melbourne.

“Now I think there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,” she says as her voice breaks.

A visibly emotional Patterson dabs her eyes with a tissue.
 
  • #1,114
Snipped for clarity of my response

If she were innocent, and this was just a horrible mistake. She would be genuinely upset, terribly distressed, and not talk about her life history. To get sympathy from the jury
Scooby-Doo, with respect, none of us know how we would feel nor react to a horrible mistake. I would probably freeze and be incapable of doing anything. As for talking about her life, she was only answering questions put to her. She may have chosen to testify, but her barrister will be doing what he thinks is best for her.
 
  • #1,115
1m ago
Erin says her children were not home during lunch

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin says the guests were punctual in arriving, and she was getting "really nice feedback" about the house and garden.

"Then we came back in and I got ready to serve and that's when Heather and Gail had a look inside the pantry," she says.

Ms Patterson says her children weren't present and were at the movies.

She says in an earlier conversation she'd explained to her daughter that the lunch was happening and asked her if she wanted to join the lunch or see a movie with her brother.

She says the movie appealed more to her daughter, so she later discussed it with her son.

Erin says this conversation was had while her son was playing computer games with a friend, and that she explained the movie plan to him.
 
  • #1,116
Erin says she was going to use the mushrooms she bought from an Asian grocer in Melbourne in April 2023, but they were "very pungent" and so she put them in a container and ultimately stored them at her Leongatha home


If Erin bought these mushrooms from an Asian shop and then placed them straight into the meal from a container...

Why was her dehydrator used and dumped at the tip with her fingerprints and death cap mushroom poisoning residue inside?



More lies..! They were picked, put through the dehydrator for lunch
 
  • #1,117
She’s totally changing all the prior testimony!

IOW calling Ian and Simon liars.
 
  • #1,118
1m ago
Erin discusses the plates used at lunch

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin says after arriving, Don and Ian were standing by the bookshelf and while she was mashing potato, Gail and Heather went to look at her pantry.

Ms Patterson says she had "mixed" emotions about this, as she was "proud" of the pantry, but it was "a little bit messy".

She says Gail and Heather said the pantry "looked great" and they would love to have a similarly big pantry.

Erin says she had the beef Wellingtons resting to the side and had mashed the potato in a pot before serving up on plates, then adding the beans at the end.

She says she used "just the dinner plates I had" to serve.

"I think there's a couple of black, a couple of white, one that's red on top and black underneath, and then I've got one that [my daughter] made at kindergarten," she says.

She says she didn't own any other dinner plates and didn't own any grey plates.

This conflicts with testimony from lunch guest Ian Wilkinson, who claimed lunch was served on four grey plates and one tan-orange plate.
 
  • #1,119
"As I was cooking it down, I tasted it a few times and it seemed a little bland, to me," she says

Erin does not say if she tasted the dish again after adding the dried mushrooms.

Coming up: the excuse for not tasting it once the dried mushrooms were added. IMO

Edit: Oh but no that can't work...

I think she willl have to say she did, but that it was only an extremely tiny taste. She will have to say she ate the same mixture.
 
Last edited:
  • #1,120
Key Event
1m ago
Erin made 'deviations' to beef Wellington recipe

By Joseph Dunstan

Mr Mandy brings the questioning to the beef Wellington recipe from the RecipeTin Eats book. He asks whether she followed the recipe exactly.

"Roughly. I did have to make some deviations," she says.

"The primary one was, I couldn't find, you know, the big log that the recipe called for ... so I had to use individual steaks so I had to adapt to that," she says.

IMO: I'd say she'd made pretty big deviations. This is chilling.
Mr Mandy brings the questioning to the beef Wellington recipe from the RecipeTin Eats book. He asks whether she followed the recipe exactly.

"Roughly. I did have to make some deviations," she says.


That's the understatement of the Century!!! :rolleyes:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
101
Guests online
2,022
Total visitors
2,123

Forum statistics

Threads
632,526
Messages
18,627,960
Members
243,181
Latest member
SeroujGhazarian
Back
Top