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

[MrJ]

2m ago
Another brief break

By Joseph Dunstan

As you might be able to tell from the length of these posts, the pace of information in today's hearing is pretty fast.

There's no question-and-answer rhythm, it's just an address directly from the prosecution to the jury.

There've been more frequent, shorter breaks being identified by Justice Beale, which is giving those involved in the hearing a chance to reset.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

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!

Yes, a friend of mine is over it. I try not to talk to him about the case now. It's great that there are like minded people on this forum that we can discuss it with.

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
Just now
Initial discharge from hospital was 'incriminating conduct', prosecutor tells jury

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then turns to Erin Patterson's presentation to Leongatha Hospital, about 8am on the Monday after the lunch.

Shortly after arriving, Ms Patterson discharged herself against medical advice before returning later that day.

The prosecutor recaps that a nurse at the hospital told the court she was concerned for Ms Patterson's safety as she tried to encourage her to stay for tests and potential treatment.

Dr Rogers says "there is nothing in [Ms Patterson's] demeanour" in CCTV footage captured at the hospital that suggests she was unwell.

She says there is one "logical" explanation for Ms Patterson's decision to leave hospital early:

"She realised that what she had done was going to be uncovered. She fled back to her house to try and work out how she was going to manage the situation and how she might explain why she wasn't sick like the lunch guests."

Dr Rogers says the accused could "only" have been comfortable leaving hospital without receiving the life-saving treatment staff were telling her was needed because "she knew" she had not eaten death cap mushrooms.

The prosecutor alleges this constitutes "incriminating conduct" and notes the judge will later provide instructions to the jury on how they could consider such alleged conduct in deliberating on their verdict.

 

[L_B]

The prosecutor alleges this constitutes "incriminating conduct" and notes the judge will later provide instructions to the jury on how they could consider such alleged conduct in deliberating on their verdict.

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
Accused was 'not truthful' in account of activity between hospital visits

By Joseph Dunstan and Judd Boaz

Dr Rogers then turns to what Erin Patterson did in her roughly 90-minute absence from Leongatha Hospital on Monday morning before she returned and agreed to be admitted as a patient.

Ms Patterson has told the court she went home, put the lambs away to protect them from foxes and packed her daughter's ballet bag before having a lie-down.

This was despite being warned about a potential threat from her life from ingesting death cap mushrooms.

Dr Rogers says instead, Ms Patterson used this window of time to decide on her next course of actions, as she realised she had been found out.

The prosecutor recaps that a doctor at the hospital called Ms Patterson three times during this time, when her phone had switched connection from the Leongatha base station to the Outtrim base station.

She summarises that the expert evidence was ultimately that the phone connections suggested the accused took the major road south-west of Leongatha, or the Bass Highway.

Dr Rogers says expert evidence also stated that a phone stationary in a home would not connect to a different base station.

"We say that you can be satisfied that the accused was not truthful in her accounts about her movements after she left the hospital," Dr Rogers says.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Prosecution says apparent stool samples not caused by death caps

By Joseph Dunstan

The prosecutor then takes the jury to the medical data gathered during Ms Patterson's time at Leongatha Hospital, including apparent stool samples.

A nurse who gathered them noted they were "watery, yellow-clear in colour, looks like urine, but patient saying it is a stool".

Dr Rogers tells the jury that the accused said to the nurse "it does look like a wee, but it is a bowel motion".

"You might find that an odd thing for the accused to say to [the nurse], seeking to reassure her that [this was a bowel motion and not urine]," Dr Rogers says.

She summarises that the evidence isn't clear on whether this was a stool or not, but alleges that it was not caused by eating death cap mushrooms.

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
Just now
Erin's reluctance to be treated is incriminating conduct, prosecution says

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then pivots to Ms Patterson's reluctance to be cannulated for potentially life-saving treatment at hospital.

"Her reluctance to receive medical treatment is inexplicable unless she knew she had not eaten what her lunch guests had eaten," Dr Rogers says.

She says it's another example of incriminating conduct, and again notes the judge will give directions on how the jury should consider that evidence.

 

[Lisa4]

I hope they highlight that IMO she would have well known she* could trust those guests not to tell people regarding her "cancer diagnosis", due to the children not yet knowing.

*if guilty

<modsnip - no names for children, please>

So her cancer story/secret was very safe with them.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
Ms Patterson's health symptoms outlined to jury

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then tells the jury she'll spend some time looking at the evidence of medical staff about Erin Patterson's health condition in the days after the lunch.

She breaks them up into the following categories:

Abdominal pain: Dr Rogers says when a doctor at Leongatha Hospital examined Ms Patterson on the Monday after the lunch, she noted "tenderness" in the abdominal area, which the doctor told the court was determined by checking a patient's reaction and verbal questioning. But Dr Rogers says this was largely reliant on the accused's reporting to the doctor.

Diarrhoea: The prosecutor says the "only" bowel motions documented in the evidence were at Leongatha Hospital and subsided after roughly 10:15am. There is not evidence the accused received medication to stop or slow bowel movements and did not receive anti-nausea medication until in the ambulance being taken to Melbourne for treatment that afternoon. Dr Rogers notes that the diarrhoea appeared to subside on Monday, in stark contrast to the symptoms experienced by one of the dying lunch guests.

Heart rate and blood pressure: Dr Rogers notes many things can cause the heart rate to go up and down, and notes some evidence to the court that some fluctuations detected in the accused's heart rate could be due to stress.

 

[Detechtive]

12.59pm

Nine seconds ‘not enough’: The timeline of toilet stops​

ByMarta Pascual Juanola and Erin Pearson
Erin Patterson has been taking notes with a blue pen as she sits in the dock while prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, presents her closing arguments to the jury.

Patterson is doing so, while members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, including Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch, listen to Rogers speak.

Rogers told the jury that when Erin Patterson went to Leongatha Hospital on July 31, 2023 – two days after the lunch – she told staff she had experienced diarrhoea all day the previous day.

Rogers said according to evidence given by Department of Health manager Sally Ann Atkinson, Patterson described her explosive diarrhoea continuing through the night on Saturday, July 29, 2023, and into the following Sunday, before it slowed down throughout Sunday.

“On the morning of Sunday, [her son] came downstairs to find the accused drinking coffee at the dining table. She told him she felt sick and had to go to the toilet a few times during the night. [The boy] said she looked normal,” Rogers told the jury.

She said that on the afternoon of July 30, 2023, Patterson’s son had a flying lesson scheduled in Tyabb, a 90-minute trip from their home in Leongatha.

“[The boy] said they didn’t have to go if she felt unwell but the accused was quite persistent,” Rogers said.

But when the flight instructor rang Erin Patterson asking to push the session back as he was running late, this was “yet another opportunity for the accused ... to cancel the lesson, but she did not”, Rogers said.

“They drove for one hour and five minutes before the instructor called to cancel the lesson due to poor weather,” she said.

Patterson’s son hadn’t mentioned in his evidence that his mother had to stop on the side of the road to empty her bowels in the bushes, the prosecutor said.

“We suggest that if his mother had had to make an emergency toilet stop on the side of the road, that is something he would have recalled when he was asked if she’d had to go to the toilet during this trip,” Rogers said.

Rogers also reminded the jury of the CCTV footage from the Caldermeade BP on that Sunday, that shows Patterson “leisurely” walking to the entrance of the service station, and that she was in the toilet for nine seconds before she left the toilet and bought food.

Nine seconds was “obviously not enough” time to got to the toilet, Rogers said.

“There was nothing in her behaviour on the CCTV to indicate that she was suffering [from an illness, let alone frequent diarrhoea],” she said.

Rogers said it would take more than nine seconds for Patterson to go to the toilet and clean herself.

“Or at the minimum wash her hands,” Rogers said.

Rogers said it was the prosecution’s case that it was very unlikely that Patterson would have chosen to take a two-hour car trip for an “entirely optional activity” on a day that she claimed she was experiencing explosive diarrhoea.

The only reason she was able to travel to Tyabb, the prosecutor said, is because Patterson did not have diarrhoea on the Sunday “at all”.

Erin Patterson murder trial: Accused ‘lied’ to multiple people, and repeatedly changed her story on sourcing mushrooms, prosecutor tells jury

Prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, is arguing to the jury that accused killer Erin Patterson faked a cancer diagnosis to her lunch guests and deliberately deviated from a beef Wellington recipe.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Detechtive]

12.59pm

Nine seconds ‘not enough’: The timeline of toilet stops​

ByMarta Pascual Juanola and Erin Pearson
Erin Patterson has been taking notes with a blue pen as she sits in the dock while prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, presents her closing arguments to the jury.

Patterson is doing so, while members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, including Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch, listen to Rogers speak.

Rogers told the jury that when Erin Patterson went to Leongatha Hospital on July 31, 2023 – two days after the lunch – she told staff she had experienced diarrhoea all day the previous day.

Rogers said according to evidence given by Department of Health manager Sally Ann Atkinson, Patterson described her explosive diarrhoea continuing through the night on Saturday, July 29, 2023, and into the following Sunday, before it slowed down throughout Sunday.

“On the morning of Sunday, [her son] came downstairs to find the accused drinking coffee at the dining table. She told him she felt sick and had to go to the toilet a few times during the night. [The boy] said she looked normal,” Rogers told the jury.

She said that on the afternoon of July 30, 2023, Patterson’s son had a flying lesson scheduled in Tyabb, a 90-minute trip from their home in Leongatha.

“[The boy] said they didn’t have to go if she felt unwell but the accused was quite persistent,” Rogers said.

But when the flight instructor rang Erin Patterson asking to push the session back as he was running late, this was “yet another opportunity for the accused ... to cancel the lesson, but she did not”, Rogers said.

“They drove for one hour and five minutes before the instructor called to cancel the lesson due to poor weather,” she said.

Patterson’s son hadn’t mentioned in his evidence that his mother had to stop on the side of the road to empty her bowels in the bushes, the prosecutor said.

“We suggest that if his mother had had to make an emergency toilet stop on the side of the road, that is something he would have recalled when he was asked if she’d had to go to the toilet during this trip,” Rogers said.

Rogers also reminded the jury of the CCTV footage from the Caldermeade BP on that Sunday, that shows Patterson “leisurely” walking to the entrance of the service station, and that she was in the toilet for nine seconds before she left the toilet and bought food.

Nine seconds was “obviously not enough” time to got to the toilet, Rogers said.

“There was nothing in her behaviour on the CCTV to indicate that she was suffering [from an illness, let alone frequent diarrhoea],” she said.

Rogers said it would take more than nine seconds for Patterson to go to the toilet and clean herself.

“Or at the minimum wash her hands,” Rogers said.

Rogers said it was the prosecution’s case that it was very unlikely that Patterson would have chosen to take a two-hour car trip for an “entirely optional activity” on a day that she claimed she was experiencing explosive diarrhoea.

The only reason she was able to travel to Tyabb, the prosecutor said, is because Patterson did not have diarrhoea on the Sunday “at all”.

Erin Patterson murder trial: Accused ‘lied’ to multiple people, and repeatedly changed her story on sourcing mushrooms, prosecutor tells jury

Prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, is arguing to the jury that accused killer Erin Patterson faked a cancer diagnosis to her lunch guests and deliberately deviated from a beef Wellington recipe.

www.theage.com.au

I would like to tell Erin to put the pen down. It is too late to invent new stories, IMO.

 

[L_B]

Erin Patterson has been taking notes with a blue pen as she sits in the dock while prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, presents her closing arguments to the jury.

Erin's notes: Disagree. Incorrect. Incorrect. Disagree. No. I don't recall that.

 

[MrJ]

I would like to tell Erin to put the pen down. It is too late to invent new stories, IMO.

I envision her passing a note to Mandy: SHE IS BEING MEAN

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Court breaks for lunch

By Judd Boaz

At this point, Justice Beale calls for the lunch break in the day's proceedings.

The court's expected to resume about 2:15pm.

 

[Detechtive]

I envision her passing a note to Mandy: SHE IS BEING MEAN

THIS ISN'T FAIR!!! They know everything!!!

 

[Detechtive]

Erin's notes: Disagree. Incorrect. Incorrect. Disagree. No. I don't recall that.

Your dates are wrong Dr Rogers.

 

[Detechtive]

Sorry, I am a bit delayed.

'It makes no sense she would go home and lay down'​

Dr Rogers said there was “no independent evidence” about what Erin did after she discharged herself from hospital against medical advice.
Nurse Kylie Ashton gave evidence that she needed to leave to organise things for her children. She said she told Erin she needed to bring her children back with her to get checked out and emphasised that she needed to return to hospital as soon as possible.
Erin told hospital staff she would be back in about 20 or 30 minutes.
“In fact, she was away for more than three times that – an hour and 38 minutes,” Dr Rogers said.
Simon Patterson gave evidence that Erin had told him she lay on the floor and fell asleep for about 45 minutes when she returned home.
“It makes no sense she would go home and lay down for any amount of time,” Dr Rogers said.
“She had been provided with urgent advice not to be away (from hospital for too long) as she might have ingested fatal poison.”
“Even if you accept she fell asleep, that does not account for the amount of time she spent away from hospital.”

Erin Patterson said she lay down on the floor and fell asleep for 45 minutes after discharging herself from hospital. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Dr Rogers again took the jury to Erin’s phone records.
After she left the hospital, her phone connected with the Leongatha base station from about 8.30am-8.55am, then to the Outtrim base station.
The evidence of Dr Sorell was that this “shows a trend” that her phone moved towards the Outtrim postcode.
Dr Rogers said any suggestion from the defence that this could be explained by a momentary flicker to that tower made no sense.
“If there was a ‘sweet spot’ in her home, you might expect to see more frequent connections to the Outtrim base station, but Dr Sorell said in 18 months of records, there were only 21 connections to the Outtrim base base station,” Dr Rogers said.
This was consistent with “passing by” the tower, she said, rather than a momentary connection.
Dr Sorell gave evidence that a phone will not flicker to another base station when it is sitting on a bedside table, a flicker implies some movement.
“You can be satisfied the accused was not truthful about her accounts when she left hospital,” Dr Rogers said.
Dr Rogers said the CCTV footage from outside the hospital also showed Erin was “not affected by illness”.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-closing-addresses-expected-in-mushroom-murder-trial/live-coverage/299fa80376bd369a989157187008c323#/entry/32244816

 

[Lisa4]

I would like to tell Erin to put the pen down. It is too late to invent new stories, IMO.

Lol. Or pencil, a lot of erasing going on.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

12.59pm

Nine seconds ‘not enough’: The timeline of toilet stops​

Not even a guy sneaking one behind the lemon tree can get things done that quick.

 

[Detechtive]

Rogers said it would take more than nine seconds for Patterson to go to the toilet and clean herself.

“Or at the minimum wash her hands,” Rogers said.

Dr Rogers is definitely lurking on WS, IMO