Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #14 *Arrest*

[lazymaiden07]

So far I am impressed with Dr Nanette Rogers' methodical, forensic closing statements for the prosecution, collating evidence and EP's statements well.

Me too. I was wondering how they would surmise all the information, competing evidence, etc that EP was putting forth...love how she drilled it down to four main points for the jury.

 

[Little Jack]

Oh no. I didnt notice any mention that no mushrooms other than button mushrooms were seen in the paste, indicating that the death caps must have been powdered. This evidence supporting the prosecutions theory that they were powdered is the strongest to me, and I may have missed it entirely in all the masses of evidence without this forum.

I think it is a mistake and a crucial oversight to not mention in summing up.

 

[Detechtive]

Oh no. I didnt notice any mention that no mushrooms other than button mushrooms were seen in the paste, indicating that the death caps must have been powdered. This evidence supporting the prosecutions theory that they were powdered is the strongest to me, and I may have missed it entirely in all the masses of evidence without this forum.

I think it is a mistake and a crucial oversight to not mention in summing up.

Dr Rogers is definitely implying it - she can't say it outright, though. IMO

 

[Little Jack]

Dr Rogers is definitely implying it - she can't say it outright, though. IMO

Can't she remind the jury of the testimony from the hospital worker who analyzed the left overs and saw nothing but button mushroom?

 

[Detechtive]

Can't she remind the jury of the testimony from the hospital worker who analyzed the left overs and saw nothing but button mushroom?

Yeah, hopefully she does!

 

[L_B]

"In other words, visiting these areas was not something that the accused usually did. These potential visits were not part of her normal activities."

love they called out she didnt usually go to these places

 

[Little Jack]

I think this summary of the phone ping evidence is very good. Iwas so confused by that evid3nce honestly. This makes sense now.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Prosecution tells jury mushrooms on scales are death caps

By Joseph Dunstan

After a brief break, Dr Rogers launches back into her closing address, where she's telling the jury about Erin Patterson's "opportunity" to gather death cap mushrooms for the lunch.

The prosecutor acknowledges to the jury that the cell tower evidence was "a little bit tedious", but alludes to the fact that it's important they are aware of what the evidence states and does not state.

Dr Rogers then takes the jury to several photos extracted from devices in Ms Patterson's home, showing mushrooms on the dehydrator rack, balanced on scales.

She also puts to the jury that from the search done at Erin Patterson's house a week after the lunch, it's clear the scales and bench are those from her Leongatha home.

The prosecutor says two of these photos have the appearance of being fresh mushrooms, but are "clearly foraged", the prosecution suggests.

"Even the accused acknowledged in her evidence that, quote, 'they're not looking good at all'," Dr Rogers tells the jury.

"We suggest that you can infer that the accused took these photos of her dehydrator on her kitchen bench and that she took them with her phone that was in a pink phone case."

She says you can also infer from the timestamps that button mushrooms were the first ones dehydrated in what the prosecution alleges was a test run for death caps.

She notes that Dr May identified mushrooms in at least one of the photos as death caps, with a high degree of confidence, noting other mushrooms could appear similar when presented in that way.

 

[MrJ]

Don't worry @Little Jack! Dr Rogers has mentioned the powder.

3m ago
Erin blitzed mushrooms and hid them, prosecution says

By Joseph Dunstan

She sums up that from all of the evidence, the jury can "safely infer" that the accused went to Loch to source death cap mushrooms and that the photos taken from a Samsung tablet "show the very death cap mushrooms she collected from the Loch Reserve, in the process of being dehydrated".

"At some stage, she blitzed them into a powder, as she admitted doing for other mushrooms, and in that form, hid them [in the beef Wellingtons]," Dr Rogers says.

She says the jury can infer Ms Patterson included the powder in the meal for the purpose of concealing the ingredient.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Prosecution addresses conflicting accounts of lunch plates

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then moves to the evidence given by surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson, who she says was a "compelling witness".

Ian described the guests eating off grey plates, while their host ate from an orange-coloured plate.

"You will have no trouble in being satisfied that he is a reliable witness and you can confidently accept what he told you about the details of the lunch, including the four grey plates and the fifth, odd plate," Dr Rogers says.

She tells the jury Ian was not the only one to notice the plate, recapping that his wife, Heather Wilkinson, told people after the lunch that she had noticed the different-coloured plates.

"Heather even mentioned it a second time during the car trip from Korumburra Hospital to Leongatha [as per Simon Patterson's evidence]," Dr Rogers says.

She tells the jury they should "reject" the suggestion from the accused that there were no grey plates.

"You should also reject any suggestion that the accused just happened to eat from the different plate to her guests," Dr Rogers says.

"She allocated herself the different plate by picking it up and carrying it to her place at the table."

She recaps evidence from Erin's son, who recalled "white dinner plates" after the lunch.

She notes that while Ian wasn't sure about dessert plates, the evidence of Erin's son should not dissuade the jury from accepting Ian's account.

"The accused deliberately served herself on a different plate to the others in order to identify which of the meals was not poisoned and which she would then serve to herself," Dr Rogers says.

"The only reason she would do that is because she knew that there were poisonous mushrooms in the other meals, because she put them there, and to ensure that she could identify the sole non-poisonous meal."

 

[MrJ]

BBM: I love the phrasing employed by Dr Rogers.

Key Event
1m ago
The third deception alleged by prosecution: Erin's apparent sickness

By Joseph Dunstan

Nanette Rogers SC then brings the jury to the third deception the prosecution says formed part of Erin Patterson's acts of murder: her symptoms after the lunch.

The prosecution claims that Ms Patterson feigned to medical staff and family "that she was very unwell as a result of the lunch".

"The only reason she would do something like that — pretend to be suffering from the same illness as the others— is of course, because she knew she had not been poisoned, knew she was not going to exhibit symptoms of poisoning [and how suspicious that would look]," Dr Rogers says.

"Her good health, in other words, would give her away."

 

[Deleted member 363451]

The prosecutor says there is "no direct evidence as to where the accused sourced the death cap mushrooms".

But Dr Rogers says Ms Patterson was aware of the iNaturalist website that could be used to source them.

"There is evidence in the trial that the accused was familiar with iNaturalist and with its map feature," she says.

She outlines to the jury the various visits made to the website in May 2022 from a computer in Ms Patterson's home.

This included a world map with death cap sightings.

"The accused did not navigate to other types of mushrooms, she did not meander about the website. She went directly to death cap mushrooms," Dr Rogers says.

Live: Prosecution details four alleged deceptions at heart of Erin Patterson case

Prosecutors have begun their closing address to the jury as Erin Patterson's Supreme Court trial enters its eighth week. Follow today's hearing live.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Prosecution says much of Erin's evidence 'not consistent'

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then pivots to the detailed evidence the trial has heard about the symptoms of Erin Patterson after the lunch.

She starts by noting the accused gave an account of being unwell on the night after the lunch, but this is "not consistent" with other witness accounts.

The prosecutor notes that Ms Patterson had described to a doctor having "explosive diarrhoea" every 10 minutes on the night after the Saturday lunch.

Dr Rogers notes on Saturday night, Ms Patterson undertook a roughly 30-minute round trip to drop her son's friend home.

"She did not say anything [to her children] about feeling unwell," Dr Rogers says, suggesting to the jury the actions are not consistent with a person who "genuinely feared pooing her pants" in front of her son and his friend.

The prosecutor notes the court has heard different timelines of diarrhoea symptoms were given by Ms Patterson to her estranged husband, a child protection worker and a health department official.

This included telling a child protection worker she'd sat in the car on Saturday night while dropping her son's friend home in a hope the position would act as a "cork" to prevent a diarrhoea accident.

But Dr Rogers notes Ms Patterson allegedly later told a health worker that she had started to feel unwell slightly before midnight.

"The simple explanation ... is that she couldn't keep her story about when she got unwell because she hadn't in fact been sick [on the day of the lunch]," Dr Rogers says.

 

[dothetime]

As a verified expert on British crime dramas, they have cameras on every single street corner in the nation, except for when inconvenient to plot purposes.

I feel like if I'm in the UK I would always be thinking I have to look good for the camera.

Just wear a big floppy hat!

 

[Little Jack]

Don't worry @Little Jack! Dr Rogers has mentioned the powder.

3m ago
Erin blitzed mushrooms and hid them, prosecution says

By Joseph Dunstan

She sums up that from all of the evidence, the jury can "safely infer" that the accused went to Loch to source death cap mushrooms and that the photos taken from a Samsung tablet "show the very death cap mushrooms she collected from the Loch Reserve, in the process of being dehydrated".

"At some stage, she blitzed them into a powder, as she admitted doing for other mushrooms, and in that form, hid them [in the beef Wellingtons]," Dr Rogers says.

She says the jury can infer Ms Patterson included the powder in the meal for the purpose of concealing the ingredient.

I just wish she'd specifically reminded everyone that if Erin's account were true, and the desthcaps not deliberately hidden in powdered form, they would have been found when the leftovers were analyzed and they were not.
I just really wanted it hammered home that an accidental inclusion was truly impossible.

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
Prosecution claims emergency roadside toilet stop was a fabrication

By Joseph Dunstan

The prosecutor then pivots to a claim from Ms Patterson that her diarrhoea symptoms forced her to go to the toilet in the bushes by the side of a highway.

Ms Patterson alleged this occurred while driving her son from Leongatha to Tyabb for a flying lesson the day after the lunch.

"[Her son] did not refer to any such stop occurring on the trip to Tyabb. He was sitting in the front passenger seat," Dr Rogers says.

"We suggest that if his mother had to make an emergency toilet stop on the side of the road that is something he would recall [when asked]."

Dr Rogers then moves to the stop that occurred at BP Caldermeade, where Ms Patterson made a brief stop and bought some food.

The prosecutor notes the accused claimed she went into the toilets for nine seconds to dispose of a bag of tissues she had used during her roadside toilet trip and to "clean myself up a little bit".

"We suggest that if she really did have diarrhoea in the bush and this was the first bathroom she had access to after that, it would take more than nine seconds," Dr Rogers tells the jury.

She says at a minimum, more time would be required to wash one's hands.

"You should reject that it had anything to do with having diarrhoea in a bush on the side of the road to Tyabb," Dr Rogers says.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
Ms Patterson's claim she took diarrhoea medication also fabricated, prosecution says

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then addresses a claim from the accused that she had taken immodium in a bid to treat the diarrhoea.

If she had "truly" taken immodium and it had failed to be effective, that is something she would have told to Leongatha Hospital on the Monday morning, Dr Rogers tells the jury. But she did not.

The prosecutor says therefore the jury can reject the claim that Ms Patterson took immodium on the Sunday as an attempt to explain why she took a two-hour car trip with diarrhoea.

During this part of her address the prosecutor has also noted CCTV from the station which captured the accused did not show signs of illness and suggested it was "very unlikely" someone suffering nausea, cramping and recurrent diarrhoea would embark on a two-hour car journey.

"She did not have diarrhoea on the Sunday, at all," Dr Rogers says.

 

[Kemug]

I joined this forum based on wanting to talk to people about my thoughts about the case. I have a couple of people who know about it, but they're not as interested as I am. It's been very useful, and you find out a lot of things you wouldn't get just off a podcast, as well as interesting insights that you wouldn't get either.

I generally don't talk to friends about this case, or others. When I have tried, they often haven't even heard about it, or are just not interested. And may even think I'm weird (as if!) I believe I am far from the only one of us who experiences this. But I was born wanting to know, and you are my people!

 

[Kemug]

Saw a post there that made a good point, about how she said she tasted the duxelle and was bland so she added mushrooms from the container. She's suggesting that's where the poison came from. But she surely would have tasted the duxelle again after she added the container mushrooms. So she should have been sick before anybody else.

Great point! Yes, not after the others, but before!

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Key Event
1m ago
Prosecution claims emergency roadside toilet stop was a fabrication

By Joseph Dunstan

The prosecutor then pivots to a claim from Ms Patterson that her diarrhoea symptoms forced her to go to the toilet in the bushes by the side of a highway.

Ms Patterson alleged this occurred while driving her son from Leongatha to Tyabb for a flying lesson the day after the lunch.

"[Her son] did not refer to any such stop occurring on the trip to Tyabb. He was sitting in the front passenger seat," Dr Rogers says.

"We suggest that if his mother had to make an emergency toilet stop on the side of the road that is something he would recall [when asked]."

Dr Rogers then moves to the stop that occurred at BP Caldermeade, where Ms Patterson made a brief stop and bought some food.

The prosecutor notes the accused claimed she went into the toilets for nine seconds to dispose of a bag of tissues she had used during her roadside toilet trip and to "clean myself up a little bit".

"We suggest that if she really did have diarrhoea in the bush and this was the first bathroom she had access to after that, it would take more than nine seconds," Dr Rogers tells the jury.

She says at a minimum, more time would be required to wash one's hands.

"You should reject that it had anything to do with having diarrhoea in a bush on the side of the road to Tyabb," Dr Rogers says.

Go Nanette!