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

[Jake18]

"We went out mushrooming before breakfast" - that's what I would say, and expect to be understood.

Very Enid Blyton

 

[katydid23]

This case is the first time I'd heard of picking mushrooms referred to as mushrooming.

I had always known it as a term to describe something growing and expanding.
Ie: mushrooming out of all proportion.

the activity of gathering mushrooms.
"mushrooming makes you see and appreciate the woodland differently"

What does it mean to go mushrooming?


Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom foraging, and similar terms describe the activity of gathering mushrooms in the wild. This is typically done for culinary purposes, although medicinal and psychotropic uses are also known.

Mushroom hunting - Wikipedia​

Wikipedia

 

[L_B]

I don't think she realized that she'd be caught disposing of it or that she left her fingerprints on it. She did say "if it's the only dehydrator that was left that day". She probably didn't have enough time to clean it by then. She also left her manual for the dehydrator in her kitchen.

I was wondering if she had washed the trays, but the residue was on the inside of the walls, I don't think I would have thought to wipe that out....

 

[L_B]

Text from Simon: “Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mum, dad, Heather and Ian tomorrow, but am happy to talk about your health and implications of that at another time if you’d like to discuss on the phone,” he wrote to Erin at 6.54pm, according to a text shown to the court.

Reply from Erin: “It’s important to me that you’re all there tomorrow and that I have the conversations that I need to have.

Text messages in lead-up to deadly mushroom lunch revealed as Erin Patterson’s estranged husband testifies

Murder accused urged Simon Patterson to change his mind about not attending ‘special meal’, Victorian court hears

www.theguardian.com

How come Simon knew there would be talk of health and implications if Erin didn't mention a reason.... this isn't just a recall of a conversation, it's a text they have evidence of! Liar liar..

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Today has been like watching a series of train crashes, one after the other.

It would be funny if it wasn't such a serious matter.

Little wonder Simon did a runner years ago. Who could blame him. Run Simon run.

I'm not medically qualified to diagnose EP but you don't need to be to conclude that she is a danger to society and probably herself.

 

[Detechtive]

Today has been like watching a series of train crashes, one after the other.

It would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

I'm not medically qualified to diagnose EP but you don't need to be to conclude that she is a danger to society and probably herself.

For anyone who is championing her innocence, I would ask them one question to sort the oppositional people from the rational - would you eat a meal served by Erin Patterson?

The answer to this should be illuminating.

 

[Two SCents]

Leaving residue in the dehydrator actually points to her not knowing there was anything harmful in it.

I think a guilty person would have carefully washed and disposed of all contents much earlier.

Exactly. She had dehydrated mushrooms in it and later added them to spaghetti, lasagna, stews and soup which no doubt the children would have eaten. And yet death cap residue from April/May was still in the dehydrator in August when it was found at the tip.

 

[Detechtive]

Exactly. She had dehydrated mushrooms in it and later added them to spaghetti, lasagna, stews and soup which no doubt the children would have eaten. And yet death cap residue from April/May was still in the dehydrator in August when it was found at the tip.

You do know that you can dehydrate mushrooms in the oven too, right?

It’s not a given that she dehydrated those in the same death cap spoiled appliance.

 

[Ellery84]

Today has been like watching a series of train crashes, one after the other.

It would be funny if it wasn't such a serious matter.

Little wonder Simon did a runner years ago. Who could blame him. Run Simon run.

I'm not medically qualified to diagnose EP but you don't need to be to conclude that she is a danger to society and probably herself.

She is a danger to society, I agree.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

"She has obviously been well tutored by her team on how to answer the questions."

And how to avoid answering the questions...

It reminds me of someone who doesn't want to get sued, so uses "I think", "I believe", "To the best of my knowledge" type language to ensure they don't get into trouble.
Erin, Erin, Erin.

 

[JBowie]

It reminds me of someone who doesn't want to get sued, so uses "I think", "I believe", "To the best of my knowledge" type language to ensure they don't get into trouble.
Erin, Erin, Erin.

Hopefully the jurors will see all this for what it is: deliberate evasiveness and flat out lying.

 

[JBowie]

For the


For anyone who is championing her innocence, I would ask them one question to sort the oppositional people from the rational - would you eat a meal served by Erin Patterson?

The answer to this should be illuminating.

If I were to sit down to a meal with EP, I would do the same thing as if I were at a meal with Putin: swap plates with mine when they were not looking.

 

[southgoldengirl]

Leaving residue in the dehydrator actually points to her not knowing there was anything harmful in it.

I think a guilty person would have carefully washed and disposed of all contents much earlier.

I don't think it does. It just means she like most criminals she is not as clever as she thought and made a mistake.

She never expected the medical staff and Health Dept to so quickly identify the source of their illness.
The amanitin toxic can only be detected for a very short time after ingestion.

I'm confident she had done her research on the affects of death caps just like she did for where they were grown and all her fake ailments.

 

[katydid23]

Let’s hope the prosecution can come up with hard tangible evidence, cause this is turning into a bit of a circus of ‘perhaps I lied and didn’t mean to and who knows what I did or didn’t do cause I can’t recall’ and unless there is clear fact evidence of placing the death caps in the beef Wellington then it’s all assumption.

Erin Patterson appears to have the steel of a psychopath

SO IAN IS A LIAR NOW?

Key Event
Just now
Erin Patterson denies telling lunch guests she had cancer

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers asks Erin if she told people at the beef Wellington lunch that she had cancer and Erin denies she did.

"I can't remember the precise words but I do know what I was trying to communicate was that ... that I was undergoing investigations around ovarian cancer and might need treatment in that regard in the future," Erin says.

"I can't say that that was the specific words that I used but ... that was what I was meaning to communicate."

Dr Rogers says Ian Wilkinson testified that Erin told the group she was concerned about telling the children.

Erin says she recalls saying she "didn't want to tell" the children about her supposed health issue.

But she repeats that she "did not" tell the guests she had cancer and says she doesn't believe she said the things that Mr Wilkinson recalled her saying in his evidence.

"I can't remember the precise words but I do know what I was trying to communicate was that ... that I was undergoing investigations around ovarian cancer and might need treatment in that regard in the future," Erin says.

OK, get real. She admitted she said:

'I am undergoing investigations concerning ovarian cancer and I may need treatment for that in the future'

Isn't that^^^^ saying you may have cancer? Why is she denying and quibbling over everything?



The same with the question of telling the children. Ian had said she wanted help concerning what to tell the children.

She denies that emphatically but then says she does recall saying 'she did not want to tell the children.'

So how does that refute anything Ian said?

 

[JBowie]

'I am undergoing investigations concerning ovarian cancer and I may need treatment for that in the future'

Translation: "I am Googling ovarian cancer, as I might have to fake its symptoms in future."

 

[Brooklyn127]

What is the status of the custody of her children? Does anyone know? (Or have they since come of age.) As this was a key driver in all of this deception.

 

[katydid23]

I'm a bit worried it's all going to be a she-said-prosecution-said at this point. But I think the fact that she is lying so much and coming across as a habitual liar is helping the prosecution's case.

Yes, a lot of it is 'he said/she said.' But there is also a lot of evidence going against her denials.

She can say that she was feeling 'very unwell' after the lunch, but then we can look to the evidence showing that when EP was starting to 'feel much better' her lunch guests were near death, intubated and in comas.

The only evidence of EP's illness was her vague description of it. No evidence of it and some evidence to the contrary.

She claims that she fed her children leftover meat that had mushrooms scrapped off---if that was true they would have been very ill. So that's another lie, imo.

There was trace evidence of death caps on her tipped dehydrator, so we know there was some there at some point. IMO that nails it down that the death caps came from her kitchen.

She claims it was accidental, just a mix up. But how did she not end up as severely ill as her guests? Nor her kids or the family dog?

She seemed to have a lot of anger and resentment towards her ex and his parents. She expressed that colourfully in her group chats. She denies it but there is evidence that she did feel that way at times.

So I never expected that the Prosecution was going to get her to admit she intentionally poisoned them. But she is having to admit to her many manipulative lies and deceitful actions and behaviours.

 

[MsMarple]

Pretty brazen of Erin to essentially call Simon and Ian liars and claim she never said she had cancer. Will the jury believe her or will it backfire if they can’t resolve two people testifying under oath with the same recollection?

Why would Simon and Ian lie? What would either of them gain from lying? Only Erin benefits.

 

[Two SCents]

You do know that you can dehydrate mushrooms in the oven too, right?

It’s not a given that she dehydrated those in the same death cap spoiled appliance.

Seven tubes of debris from the dehydrator were tested - two contained death cap mushroom traces. 5 were something other than death cap mushrooms indicating the dehydrator was used to dehydrate more than death cap mushrooms.


PLANT Health Australia Manager of Diagnostics, David Lovelock to the stand to end the third week of the trial.

In August 2023, he was asked to examine and analyse two samples of the beef wellington lunch, as well as the fruit platter and jug of gravy. He also told the court that he received seven tubes which included debris from the dehydrator.

He said a visual inspection was made on the fruit platter revealing no mushrooms, while an examination of the gravy also returned no results.

Dr Lovelock told the court that the two samples of beef wellington only returned traces of button mushrooms.

He told the jury that two of the seven tubes containing debris from the dehydrator detected death cap mushroom traces, adding the positive results had a 99 per cent similarity to the DNA.

Test results of beef wellington lunch revealed: Patterson trial

By TOM HAYES and STEFAN BRADLEY RESULTS of toxin tests were revealed and explained to the court during Erin [...]

latrobevalleyexpress.com.au

 

[MaxDecimus13]

You do know that you can dehydrate mushrooms in the oven too, right?

It’s not a given that she dehydrated those in the same death cap spoiled appliance.

If you had a purpose bought dehydrator, do you not think you would use it for dehydrating?

Ever since I've had an air-fryer, there are certain things I don't use the oven for because the air-fryer is better for them.