Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #12 *Arrest*

[drsleuth]

11.37am

‘No I didn’t’: Patterson says she didn’t intentionally put deadly mushrooms in meal​

By​

Erin Patterson’s defence lawyer Colin Mandy, SC, is now questioning his client on what he says is the prosecution’s case, including whether she knowingly included death cap mushrooms in the meal, and whether all the beef Wellingtons served on July 29, 2023, were the same.

Patterson replied that all the beef Wellingtons she served during the lunch were the same, and that she had not lied when she said she had purchased mushrooms from an Asian grocer that she used in the meal.

The mother of two said she did not pretend to be sick after lunch, and was telling the truth when she said her children had eaten the leftovers of the meal.

Asked by her lawyer whether she was reluctant to receive medical treatment at the hospital in Leongatha on July 31, 2023, Patterson said she was during her initial visit to the hospital, but not when she presented for a second time.

She said she was initially reluctant for her children to receive treatment because “they hadn’t eaten the mushrooms” but she was happy for them to be taken to hospital to be checked out once doctors explained their concerns.

Patterson said she had never intentionally picked death cap mushrooms or included them in the beef wellington she cooked on July 29, 2023.

Here are some of the questions just asked, including Patterson’s answers.

Mandy: Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Don Patterson by serving that meal?

Patterson: No I didn’t.

Mandy: Did you intend to harm him in any way at all?

Patterson: No.

Mandy: Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Gail Patterson by serving that meal?

Patterson: No.

Mandy: Did you intend to harm her in any way at all?

Patterson: No.

Mandy: Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Heather Wilkinson by serving that meal?

Patterson: No I didn’t

Mandy: Did you intend to harm her in any way at all?

Patterson: No.

Mandy:And did you intend to kill Ian Wilkinson by serving him that meal?

Patterson: No.

Mandy: Did you intend to harm him in any way at all?

Patterson: No.

Erin Patterson murder trial day 27 as it happened: ‘You thought the lunch guests would die’: A rare invitation and a ‘lie about cancer’

It was rare for Erin Patterson to host guests; having four people over for a meal was not an ordinary, casual event for the mother of two.

www.theage.com.au

 

[JennieM]

11.29am

‘I was just scared’: Patterson’s dehydrator lie​

By​

Inside courtroom 4 in Morwell, the jury that will decide accused killer Erin Patterson’s fate is being directed to a transcript of her police interview. In that interview, the 50-year-old was asked by officers if she had ever owned a dehydrator or dehydrated food.

Patterson told them she had not.

Today, she told the court that she lied when asked several times if she owned a dehydrator or if there was one in the house, and she had also lied when she was asked whether she had foraged for mushrooms.

“I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms that I’d foraged for the meal I’d prepared were responsible for making people sick,” she said.

Patterson said it was a stupid reaction, that she “digged deeper and kept lying”.

“I was just scared. I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.

Erin Patterson murder trial day 27 as it happened: ‘You thought the lunch guests would die’: A rare invitation and a ‘lie about cancer’

It was rare for Erin Patterson to host guests; having four people over for a meal was not an ordinary, casual event for the mother of two.

www.theage.com.au

“I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking that maybe police would find mushrooms that I’d foraged for the meal I’d prepared were responsible for making people die,” she said.

 

[Detechtive]

Crown begins cross-examination​

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC has risen to her feet to begin her cross-examination.
She begins by taking Erin to her August 5 interview with police in which lied about the dehydrator,
Ms Rogers: “It was a lie when you told the police on that occasion that you didn’t own a dehydrator?”
Erin: “Correct.”
Ms Rogers: “It was a lie when you said you didn’t know anything about a dehydrator in the house?”
Erin: “Correct.”
Ms Rogers: “It was a lie when you told police that you might have owned a dehydrator years ago?”
Erin: “Correct.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-accused-details-her-panic-after-lunch-guests-fell-ill/live-coverage/deceb01e56aa9aaef387eee386e98e7c#/entry/32052652

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Prosecution focuses on dumped dehydrator

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers is setting a cracking pace as she moves through more evidence the trial has heard about the dehydrator.

She brings up the invoice for the dehydrator, which Erin bought on April 28, 2023, and Erin confirms she bought it on that date, took it home and used it.

A photo from the police search of Ms Patterson's Leongatha home is brought up, which shows the instruction manual for the dehydrator that was found by police.

She then moves to the evidence about Erin disposing of the dehydrator at the Koonwarra Landfill and Transfer Station. Erin is asked if a photo showing a dumped dehydrator in a skip was hers.

"I presume so, yes," Ms Patterson says.

When asked why it's a "presumption" by Dr Rogers, Erin says because her fingerprints were found on it.

Dr Rogers brings up stills from CCTV at the tip on August 2, 2023, which shows a red car in the carpark.

Erin agrees the next series of stills show her getting out of the car and taking the dehydrator to the e-waste bin.

 

[drsleuth]

now11.42 AEST
Rogers asks Patterson about the questions she gave in her police interview about not owning a dehydrator:

It was a lie when you told police on that occasion that you didn’t own a dehydrator. Correct?

“Correct,” Patterson says.

Rogers says Patterson told her Facebook friends, some of whom have testified in the trial, in an online chat she had purchased a dehydrator in early 2023. Patterson agrees.

Rogers takes Patterson to a tax invoice for a Sunbeam dehydrator from an appliances store in Leongatha. The jury is shown the invoice which is dated 28 April 2023 - three months prior to the lunch.

Patterson agrees this is what the invoice shows. She agrees she subsequently used the dehydrator.

Erin Patterson trial day 27 – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[drsleuth]

11.40am

Cross-examination of Erin Patterson begins​

By​

Senior Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers has started her cross-examination of the witness.

To begin, she asks Erin Patterson about the lies she had told the police about owning a dehydrator during the police interview.

Rogers said evidence from online friend Daniela Barkley was that she discussed the dehydrator sometime in 2023 and shared photos of dehydrated mushrooms to a Facebook group with online friends.

Patterson tells the jury that she bought the dehydrator on 28 April 2023, took it to her home in Leongatha, and used it.

Asked by Rogers about a manual for a dehydrator found by police during a search of her house, Erin agreed the manual was for the dehydrator she had purchased on April 28, 2023.

The jury has been shown an image of a dehydrator taken at the Koonwarra Transfer Station.

Patterson said she presumed that was her dehydrator, given there was “evidence that my fingerprints were on it”.

Erin Patterson murder trial day 27 as it happened: ‘You thought the lunch guests would die’: A rare invitation and a ‘lie about cancer’

It was rare for Erin Patterson to host guests; having four people over for a meal was not an ordinary, casual event for the mother of two.

www.theage.com.au

 

[tmar]

From previous thread by @JBowie, "
"But I thought, 'I wonder if they've been silly enough to leave it connected to the internet', so I hit factory reset to see what happened and it did."

This is horrid.
She shows no respect for anyone.
She is so SMART, and I hope this causes more problems, in the cross: revealing her stupidity with continual lies.

 

[Cedars]

“I was just scared. I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.

I notice that she admits to doing these things - lying, concealing evidence - but always provides an excuse that childishly justifies them, the way a mother would cover for her little toddler: she's not deceitful, she just felt hurt; she wasn't covering up a murder, she just felt scared.

Adults are capable of living with integrity in spite of bad feelings - they feel fear but do the right thing anyway, they don't want to look bad, but admit to the truth.

 

[drsleuth]

1 minute ago - 11:45 AMMax Corstorphan

‘My fingerprints’: Patterson responds to dehydrator evidence​

Ms Patterson was asked if the dehydrator at the tip was her Sunbeam food dehydrator.

“I presume so, because of the evidence my fingerprints were on it,” she said.

The accused then confirmed she purchased an “e-waste” bag.

She confirmed the CCTV imagery shown to her in court was of her driving her car to the tip to dispose of the food dehydrator.

When asked if it was hers again, Ms Patterson said she “presumed”.

Ms Patterson said she presumed it was hers, adding: “Unless somebody else put in a dehydrator.”

Ex ‘would have had beef Wellington too’ if he’d come

LIVE UPDATES: Erin Patterson says she would have served ex-husband Simon Patterson a beef Wellington, too, if he had turned up to the deadly lunch.

thenightly.com.au

 

[Detechtive]

'My fingerprints were on it': Erin​

Dr Rogers takes Erin to Facebook messages with friends in which she shared photos and discussed the dehydrator.
Erin admits she posted the photos and messages.
The prosecutor takes her to the tax invoice for the dehydrator, with Erin admitting she purchased and used it.
She then shows her a picture of Erin disposing of the device at the Koonwarra tip and asks if the dehydrator was hers.
“I presume so, yes,” she says.
Asked why she presumed, Erin says because her fingerprints were on it.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-accused-details-her-panic-after-lunch-guests-fell-ill/live-coverage/deceb01e56aa9aaef387eee386e98e7c#/entry/32052859

 

[MrJ]

No way.

Key Event
Just now
Prosecution goes on the attack

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers puts to Erin that she lied to police about never owning a dehydrator because she knew she'd used it to prepare death cap mushrooms for the lunch.

Erin denies this.

"You knew that they were death cap mushrooms that you'd been dehydrating, correct?" Dr Rogers asks.

"No, I didn't know that," Erin replies.

"And you were very keen to dispose of any evidence that might connect you with the possession of death cap mushrooms, correct?"

"No, I didn't."

During the intense and rapid questioning, Erin Patterson is maintaining her focus on Dr Rogers, turning occasionally to the screen before her to view the many exhibits being brought up.

 

[Detechtive]

1 minute ago - 11:45 AMMax Corstorphan

‘My fingerprints’: Patterson responds to dehydrator evidence​

Ms Patterson was asked if the dehydrator at the tip was her Sunbeam food dehydrator.

“I presume so, because of the evidence my fingerprints were on it,” she said.

The accused then confirmed she purchased an “e-waste” bag.

She confirmed the CCTV imagery shown to her in court was of her driving her car to the tip to dispose of the food dehydrator.

When asked if it was hers again, Ms Patterson said she “presumed”.

Ms Patterson said she presumed it was hers, adding: “Unless somebody else put in a dehydrator.”

Ex ‘would have had beef Wellington too’ if he’d come

LIVE UPDATES: Erin Patterson says she would have served ex-husband Simon Patterson a beef Wellington, too, if he had turned up to the deadly lunch.

thenightly.com.au

Not 'because I dumped it' - but because 'I can't deny the evidence'. Still no admissions. Still dancing around the truth.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Here we goooooooooooooo. Toilet rolls and tissues for Erin please!!



Dr Rogers puts to Erin that she lied to police about never owning a dehydrator because she knew she'd used it to prepare death cap mushrooms for the lunch.

Erin denies this.

"You knew that they were death cap mushrooms that you'd been dehydrating, correct?" Dr Rogers asks.

"No, I didn't know that," Erin replies.

"And you were very keen to dispose of any evidence that might connect you with the possession of death cap mushrooms, correct?"

"No, I didn't."

During the intense and rapid questioning, Erin Patterson is maintaining her focus on Dr Rogers, turning occasionally to the screen before her to view the many exhibits being brought up.

 

[drsleuth]

'My fingerprints were on it': Erin​

Dr Rogers takes Erin to Facebook messages with friends in which she shared photos and discussed the dehydrator.
Erin admits she posted the photos and messages.
The prosecutor takes her to the tax invoice for the dehydrator, with Erin admitting she purchased and used it.
She then shows her a picture of Erin disposing of the device at the Koonwarra tip and asks if the dehydrator was hers.
“I presume so, yes,” she says.
Asked why she presumed, Erin says because her fingerprints were on it.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-accused-details-her-panic-after-lunch-guests-fell-ill/live-coverage/deceb01e56aa9aaef387eee386e98e7c#/entry/32052859

This exchange just goes to show she can't answer with a straight yes ( she knows she dumped it )

To me it's a smart arse answer.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Erin's Facebook posts about dehydrating mushrooms raised

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers says the evidence from Erin's Facebook friends was that Ms Patterson had told them she'd been dehydrating mushrooms. She says there was no mention of other foods.

Erin says there were other foods she was "sure" she would have told them about.

"What kind of foods?" Dr Rogers asks.

"I tried to dry apples, um, bananas, um, quite a lot of different types of fruit," she says.

"And did you take photos of them?"

"I don't remember, I might've, I don't remember," Ms Patterson replies.

Erin Patterson is composed as Dr Nanette Rogers asks her these questions about dehydrating mushrooms.

 

[JennieM]

1 minute ago - 11:45 AMMax Corstorphan

‘My fingerprints’: Patterson responds to dehydrator evidence​

Ms Patterson was asked if the dehydrator at the tip was her Sunbeam food dehydrator.

“I presume so, because of the evidence my fingerprints were on it,” she said.

The accused then confirmed she purchased an “e-waste” bag.

She confirmed the CCTV imagery shown to her in court was of her driving her car to the tip to dispose of the food dehydrator.

When asked if it was hers again, Ms Patterson said she “presumed”.

Ms Patterson said she presumed it was hers, adding: “Unless somebody else put in a dehydrator.”

Ex ‘would have had beef Wellington too’ if he’d come

LIVE UPDATES: Erin Patterson says she would have served ex-husband Simon Patterson a beef Wellington, too, if he had turned up to the deadly lunch.

thenightly.com.au

So even though she drove and disposed a dehydrator she owned, she only presumes it is hers but doesn’t know for sure?

 

[drsleuth]

5m ago11.46 AEST
Rogers shows the jury a photo, previously tendered, of a dehydrator manual in Patterson’s kitchen drawer. The photo was taken by police on 5 August 2023 during a search of Patterson’s Leongatha hospital.

Patterson agrees it is the manual for the dehydrator she purchased in April 2023.

Rogers shows the court a photo of a dehydrator police found at the Koonwarra transfer station and landfill.

Roger asks: “That is your dehydrator?”

“I presume so,” Patterson says.

Asked to explain her answer, Patterson says she has heard evidence her fingerprints were found on the dehydrator.

Patterson agrees a photo of a red four-wheel drive vehicle captured at the Koonwarra transfer station and landfill on 2 August 2023 is her car.

Patterson agrees a black Sunbeam dehydrator was the only item she disposed of at the tip’s e-waste section on that day.

Erin Patterson trial day 27 – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[katydid23]

That is Consciousness of Guilt, IMO....she knew that the dehydrator would have potential evidence against her because she had dried foraged mushrooms in it.

So at the same time she was tipping it, she was also lying to Public Health officials about it----still denying that any foraged mushrooms were involved.

There should be some accountability and some punishment for that, imo.

If it was truly an accident she could have said so immediately and we wouldn't be here right now.

 

[MrJ]

She just admits it. Holy oh boy.

Key Event
1m ago
Prosecution suggests Erin was testing how to hide mushrooms
Joseph Dunstan profile image
By Joseph Dunstan

The court is then shown a Facebook message Erin sent to her friends where she talked about "hiding powdered mushrooms in everything" including brownies.

"The kids had no idea," she told her friends in the message.

Dr Rogers asks her how she blended up the mushrooms.

"I think I used the Thermomix," Erin says.

Dr Rogers puts to her that she was testing to see how she could hide mushrooms in food without them being noticed.

"Yeah, that's fair," Erin says.

 

[drsleuth]

1 minute ago - 11:51 AMMax Corstorphan

Patterson admits she was experimenting with ways to hide mushrooms in food​

Ms Patterson told the court she also dehydrated “apples” and “bananas” in her Sunbeam device; however, she couldn’t recall if she took photos of it.

She then confirmed she told her Facebook friends that she dried mushrooms, used a “Thermomix” to reduce them into powder and hid them in food.

She said it “was fair” to say she was testing ways to hide mushrooms in food.

The prosecution accused Ms Patterson of only using the food dehydrator to dry mushrooms.

“I do disagree,” Ms Patterson said.

Ex ‘would have had beef Wellington too’ if he’d come

LIVE UPDATES: Erin Patterson says she would have served ex-husband Simon Patterson a beef Wellington, too, if he had turned up to the deadly lunch.

thenightly.com.au