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

[MsMarple]

4m ago11.40 AEST
Mandy takes Patterson to messages between her and Simon the evening before the lunch. In the message, Simon said he felt uncomfortable about attending the lunch. Patterson said she was “disappointed” Simon would not attend and had spent a “small fortune on beef eye fillet” and had spent “hours” preparing for the lunch.

Paterson says apart from the fact she had spent a “small fortune” she was “exaggerating” in the message.

Mandy asks how many beef wellingtons Patterson made.

“I made six,” she says.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
Erin says she told lunch guests to grab a plate

By Joseph Dunstan

Back to plating up the lunch and Erin says she was preparing a ready-made gravy sachet to avoid any "gravy problem".

"I said, grab a plate, guys, I'm just going to finish off the gravy," she says.

She says she put the gravy in a serving pitcher, grabbed the final plate off the bench, then went and sat at the table.

She says she didn't see the other plates get to the table, but assumes "everybody grabbed a plate", but accepts Gail and Heather may have taken them over.

Erin says she doesn't remember which plate she had.

*shivers*

 

[Detechtive]

I have similar stories. I used to live in New York, and the Chinatown in Manhattan is a warren of side streets filled with small shops and restaurants that can be hard to navigate.

I've bought items there, and could never name the shop where I purchased them at. But, give me 15 minutes and I could wander around the general vicinity and find it. Even years later, I have memories of the location, the shop layout, etc. E.g., It was in one of the side streets off Canal, down a flight of stairs, with a fish counter in the front and steel shelves lining the aisles. The hot sauces are in the back left corner...

Or, of course you could simply check my credit card statement and see exactly where I bought the items.

When I think of New York's Chinatown, I picture a vibrant tapestry reminiscent of Sydney's own Chinatown—a bustling enclave teeming with the sights and scents of Asia. It's like Shanghai, with established shops against ramshackle narrow alleys with street vendors. Each shop is bursting at the seams with a myriad of Asian wares, the air is thick with the scent of Asian street food and seafood markets. There's quite a lot of Chanel and Gucci vendors there, too

However, the area Erin refers to doesn't quite match this lively image. Instead of a maze of bustling stalls, it is a handful of sleek, permanent Asian grocery stores, littered through suburbia and sandwiched between bakeries and chemists, hair salons and liquor stores.

 

[Cedars]

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.

So, after days of detailed testimony about irrelevant things, they finally come to the point: how did death caps get into the food...?

If I were on trial for deliberate poisoning and it was an accident, I would take all my testimony to laser-focus the jury on how I believe that accidental mix-up occurred. I would not keep adding inumerable details like that I used an egg flip, etc.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
A break in proceedings

By Judd Boaz

Justice Beale jumps in and calls for a break.

We'll be back with more soon.

 

[BreakingNews]

I’m not sure about that. Erin’s ‘challenging / traumatising’ life story would resonate with some people, and IMO she is banking on having at least one such person still on the Jury panel after the final ballot.

That is why guilt or innocence is not about what is the truth or lies. It's about how the barristers play the game within the law. A famous barrister were I live also writes crime novels.. Not much difference. It's in the game to reach an outcome.

Google Image Result for https://www.chrisnystbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Millen-Book-Chris-Nyst.jpg

 

[Lisa4]

I think

So, after days of detailed testimony about irrelevant things, they finally come to the point: how did death caps get into the food...?

If I were on trial for deliberate poisoning and it was an accident, I would take all my testimony to laser-focus the jury on how I believe that accidental mix-up occurred. I would not keep adding inumerable details like that I used an egg flip, etc.

I think the real point is, how did she not get dreadfully ill/die?

 

[ch_13]

Just now
Erin says she told lunch guests to grab a plate

By Joseph Dunstan

Back to plating up the lunch and Erin says she was preparing a ready-made gravy sachet to avoid any "gravy problem".

"I said, grab a plate, guys, I'm just going to finish off the gravy," she says.

She says she put the gravy in a serving pitcher, grabbed the final plate off the bench, then went and sat at the table.

She says she didn't see the other plates get to the table, but assumes "everybody grabbed a plate", but accepts Gail and Heather may have taken them over.

Erin says she doesn't remember which plate she had.

*shivers*

Hmm, why did she have to make the gravy at the last minute? Why not make it ahead of time and just keep it warm? Especially when it's ready-made. In fact, she earlier mentioned she had a Thermomix, which has a "keep warm" mode.

Could she have used the opportunity of making the gravy to ensure her plate was kept separate from the others? I.e., put out four plates and tell her guests to grab them, but leave the fifth one closer to her location at the stove?

 

[MsMarple]

1m ago02.56 BST
Patterson tells court she does not own any grey dinner plates

Patterson says her children were at the movies with a friend during the lunch.

Mandy asks Patterson about the lunch guests’ arrival at 12.30pm.

She says the group went into the garden before returning to the kitchen.

Patterson says she started serving mashed potato, beef wellingtons and beans.

Mandy asks what plates she used.

“Just the dinner plates I had,” she says.

I think there are 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.

Mandy asks if she owns any other plates or grey plates. Patterson replies “no” to both questions.

Earlier in the trial, Ian Wilkinson said Patterson served beef wellingtons for her guests on grey plates while she ate from an “orangey-tan” coloured plate.

Patterson says she plated up five beef wellingtons and put the oven tray with the remaining beef wellington in the oven to “worry about later.”

Patterson says at this point Gail asked if she was coming to an upcoming birthday celebration.

Patterson told Gail she would attend, the court hears.

Patterson says she assumed “everybody grabbed a plate”.

She says she accepts Ian’s evidence that Gail and Heather “took two plates each” to the table.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

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.

There's just nothing left for her to say as a witness given that the evidence is so extensive and incriminating.

She's cold and calculated, not panicky, lies at every stage of the investigation and amended them to become more contorted and implausible in an effort to incorporate new facts being gradually uncovered by the police.

Even the basic premise of her current defence is insulting to the jury's common sense. She "accidentally" killed her in-laws, but not herself or her kids? Yeah, right.

If she's found guilty, she'll be going down for the rest of her life.

 

[Cedars]

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.

People make mistakes all the time. They may not kill anyone, but they can seriously mess up, and so I think we all know how we would react.

As well, she is choosing to put in all the details. I've heard court proceedings where the defense asks personal questions and they proceed at a fast clip, because the witness comes straight to the point in answering the question.

 

[MsMarple]

So why did Heather question about the ONE mismatched plate that Erin ate from? Was Heather a liar too?

 

[Detechtive]

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.

Wait, I thought she previously claimed (somewhere) that she rehydrated the mushrooms? That is not how you rehydrate mushrooms. Sprinkling them with some water doesn't quite cut it.

How to rehydrate mushrooms​

Put the dried mushrooms in tepid water for at least 15 minutes, depending on how thick the dried mushrooms are. I like a narrow tall bowl to soak them in. This concentrates any potential debris or sand in the bottom of the bowl, leaving the rehydrating mushrooms floating in the clean water above.

Sounds like the Beef Wellington duxelle had a bunch of sand and dirt in it, too. Appetising.

Rehydrating Dried Mushrooms

Wine Forest Wild Foods instructions for rehydrating the premium quality dried wild mushrooms in your kitchen before cooking

wineforest.com

 

[Scuffy35]

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.

I think her son testified by way of the video recording something similar about the plates and their colour. But we already know that the son lied about not knowing anything about the foraging of mushrooms. Erin testified that she took the kids with her when foraging.

He might have thought he was helping her by saying he knew nothing about the mushroom foraging. I think he did a similar thing here by lying about having not seen any grey plates.

IMO

 

[da_worm]

ok... so in terms of lunch timing.

She said that she started preparations at around 9:45am on Saturday
+45min to prepare the mushroom duxelle + lets add another 15 minutes to add the dried ones she had to rehydrate a bit.

Its now 10:45am
She then has to fry the individual steaks (all six of them) so lets add 5 minutes per steak + 10 minutes resting time, so thats another 40 minutes in the day

Its now 11:25am
Now time to construct the beef wellingtons - its layers of pastry + duxelle + filo pastry + steak. Lets say that takes her 5 minutes per beef wellington - so we are adding another 30 minutes

Its now 11:55am
Individual beef wellingtons probably take 20minutes or thereabouts to cook in a preheated oven, so she would need to get them into the oven straight away so that they have time to be removed and resting by her 12:30pm deadline

 

[da_worm]

Q: Do we know how her children got to the movie cinema on the day of the lunch?

 

[Detechtive]

Hmm, why did she have to make the gravy at the last minute? Why not make it ahead of time and just keep it warm? Especially when it's ready-made. In fact, she earlier mentioned she had a Thermomix, which has a "keep warm" mode.

Could she have used the opportunity of making the gravy to ensure her plate was kept separate from the others? I.e., put out four plates and tell her guests to grab them, but leave the fifth one closer to her location at the stove?

"Making the gravy" in this case means putting the gravy satchel into the microwave for 40 seconds. It was premade gravy in a plastic satchel that you reheat.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

The dehydrator will be interesting, with her fingerprints and death cap residue inside, which has been used.

She lied as usual to the police, saying she didn't own one, but while her relatives were dying in the hospital, she raced down to the tip to dump it

But she's saying she bought some mushrooms from the Asian store, stored them in a container to be used straight for the meal?

She is not mentioning using the dehydrator?




"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."

 

[Lisa4]

We have never heard whether the dehydrator also had traces of normal mushrooms or any other foods, have we?

 

[iridized]

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.

So why did she send the kids off to the movies?