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

[MrJ]

1m ago
We return to court proceedings

By Joseph Dunstan

We're back from the break and lead prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC is back into her closing address to the jury.

She's continuing to outline the evidence the trial has heard on Erin Patterson's health condition in the days after the lunch.

 

[Kemug]

Good question. Could be for any reason but I suppose the word abruptly is implying fired / walked off the job / left in some form of dispute or at least quit without having given advance notice, could be for any reason, family emergency, medical situation etc.

JMO

May have been given the choice of resign or be fired. I wouldn't be surprised if it was like that. Being amazingly rude to managers does not go down well, and nor should it.

 

[JBowie]

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

Yet another example of EP trying to tell medical staff their job.

 

[ch_13]

I know that you can't base everything on body language and personally I find statement analysis quite often more accurate, but notice in this clip of Erin outside her house before she was arrested, that every time she says what good people Gail and Don were, that she shakes her head in a no motion as she says it?

I've watched this video a dozen times, and only now did I clock that at the end she grabbed a grocery bag out of the car.

So, after hearing that her lunch guests were dying, she went to the supermarket to do a little shopping?

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
'Not one' medical professional observed Erin Patterson to be unwell, prosecutor tells jury

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers tells the jury that the abnormal blood test results documented for Ms Patterson in the days after the lunch included low levels of potassium and slightly elevated blood-clotting factor, but these abnormal results resolved.

The prosecutor says on the evidence before them, the jury could infer stress was a likely cause of some of these test results.

She summarises an expert advised that other test results indicated Ms Patterson could have had a mild level of dehydration, and Dr Rogers submits to the jury that only mild dehydration was not consistent with a significant diarrhoeal illness.

Dr Rogers then contrasts Erin Patterson's symptoms with those of her lunch guests in the days following the lunch.

A doctor told the trial that by the Tuesday after the lunch, there was no sign of death cap poisoning in Ms Patterson but all four of her lunch guests were in induced comas.

"In total, the accused spent just over 24 hours in hospital care," Dr Rogers says, adding that "not one" medical professional observed her to be unwell.

She says the jury can infer the accused was not sick with death cap mushroom poisoning.

 

[JBowie]

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.

Notes: I hope she doesn't mention Phone A.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

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.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

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

"It was a house not an apartment."

 

[Detechtive]

'No evidence of amanita poisoning' in Erin's medical tests​

The jury has returned after the lunch break and Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC is continuing her closing address.

Dr Rogers takes the jury to the evidence of intensive care specialist Professor Andrew Bersten who said Erin’s test results showed there was nothing to suggest she had suffered an acute illness like the other guests.
He also said there was “no evidence of amanita (death cap) poisoning or any other toxic substance” found in Erin’s tests.
The jury previously heard Erin had experienced elevated fibrinogen and haemoglobin – proteins in the blood – as well as low potassium while at hospital.
Professor Bersten said such results were consistent with mild dehydration and could also be a result of stress.
“The prosecution suggest these results were not caused by frequent diarrhoea but were mostly likely to be caused by stress,” Dr Rogers said.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/erin-patterson-trial-live-closing-addresses-expected-in-mushroom-murder-trial/live-coverage/299fa80376bd369a989157187008c323#/entry/32246819

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Further contrast of Erin Patterson's symptoms with those of her guests

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then delves further into contrasting Erin Patterson's health condition after the July 29 lunch with that of her guests.

She recounts to the jury the evidence given to the trial about how Ian Wilkinson, Heather Wilkinson, Don Patterson and Gail Patterson had suffered severe symptoms late Saturday night and went to hospital on the Sunday morning.

She says that was the same Sunday morning when Erin Patterson's son told the court he saw his mother drinking a coffee downstairs, and the same day that she drove to Tyabb for a flying lesson.

By Sunday night, Don Patterson was suffering significant kidney damage and was admitted to the ICU.

"This was the same evening that the accused apparently served herself and the children leftovers of the beef Wellington," Dr Rogers tells the jury.

 

[Kemug]

But Simon didn't attend, so her plan for him attending is irrelevant. She could simply have not mentioned about the cancer once he changed his mind, but she still did and they could still have told him (as well as multiple others) straight away about the cancer.

RSBM
The victims were all people of undisputed integrity. If Erin had asked them (and I believe she very well could have) to not mention her cancer/dissolving elbow syndrome/whatever to others, they would have honoured that request

 

[JBowie]

If EP further pulverized foraged mushrooms, why??????? For what reason would anyone need powdered mushrooms????? Dehydrated mushrooms, sure. But powdered????

IMO, it was part of her experimenting with concealment.

Recall that she told people that she put powdered mushrooms into meals she fed her kids without their realizing it.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Dr Rogers is definitely lurking on WS, IMO

I'm sure she is.

 

[MrJ]

Just now
'Inexplicable' differences in level of illness between Erin and her guests, prosecution says

By Joseph Dunstan

By the Tuesday after the lunch, all of the guests had been transferred to ICU in a Melbourne hospital in an advanced state of organ failure, Dr Rogers tells the jury.

The same day, Erin Patterson was discharged from hospital.

"It's not in dispute that all four lunch guests suffered from death cap mushroom poisoning and that this caused the deaths of Don, Gail and Heather," Dr Rogers says.

She says she anticipates that the defence will argue that the accused was simply "less sick" than her guests, but that it was "inexplicable" why four of five people who apparently ate the same meal fell ill but a fifth did not.

"Only one person, the person who prepared the meal, did not," Dr Rogers says.

 

[L_B]

By Sunday night, Don Patterson was suffering significant kidney damage and was admitted to the ICU.

So glad they are highlighting the stark contrast of how unwell the victims were vs Erin "I didn't consume a deathcap" Patterson

 

[Lisa4]

RSBM
The victims were all people of undisputed integrity. If Erin had asked them (and I believe she very well could have) to not mention her cancer/dissolving elbow syndrome/whatever to others, they would have honoured that request

They would at least have waited until the children had been told...

 

[Detechtive]

RSBM
The victims were all people of undisputed integrity. If Erin had asked them (and I believe she very well could have) to not mention her cancer/dissolving elbow syndrome/whatever to others, they would have honoured that request

Their integrity is beyond anything I have seen in the media about them. They were literal saints. I mean that seriously as an atheist.

They volunteered in Botswana back in the late 70s and early 80s when flights were super expensive and nobody could afford to do aid work with their own funding - as missionaries to teach the African children English.
They held regular Saturday zoom calls with all of the cousins to catch up about their weeks.
Don taught Erins son physics and maths as a tutor. They volunteered their time to social causes.
Gail held regular "garden exploration" treasure hunts for the grandchildren and taught them about different plants and the cycle of nature.

They were not typical "Evangelical Christians" with a right-wing agenda (like we see the radicals in the USA). They always spoke about equality between men and women and poor and wealthy and different races, gay and straight. They were truly amazing people.
They took in children who didn't have parents.
They were aghast at displays of wealth and privilege and lived a very humble frugal life. They gave so much to their community - a global community.
It is an absolute travesty, IMO.

 

[JBowie]

The prosecution and defence will both sum up their case for why the jury should find in their favour when they deliberate on their verdict.

In some jurisdictions, such as USA, the prosecution gets to reply in rebuttal to the defence's closing, but not in VIC (nor in Oz generally, methinks).

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Jury told to discount Ms Patterson's claim she only ate part of the meal

By Joseph Dunstan

Dr Rogers then moves to address claims she tell the jury she anticipates will be made by the defence, starting with a claim that Ms Patterson ate less of her meal than guests.

She says Ms Patterson's evidence on how much she ate varied and reminds them that Gail Patterson also ate about half of her portion and had died from the death cap poisoning.

She alleges that the accused has manufactured an explanation for why she was not as unwell as her guests and says the jury should reject any attempt to minimise the amount of the meal she consumed.

The jury is then taken to photos of leftovers from the beef Wellington lunch that have been introduced as exhibits in the trial.

"They are clearly two halves, albeit broken up ... of one pastry," Dr Rogers says.

She says the jury can be satisfied that the leftovers were the sixth prepared beef Wellington, which they allege Ms Patterson intended to serve to her estranged husband had he attended the lunch.

Andshe concludes therefore the jury can be satisfied that Ms Patterson ate one whole beef Wellington parcel.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

'Inexplicable' differences in level of illness between Erin and her guests, prosecution says​

By the Tuesday after the lunch, all of the guests had been transferred to ICU in a Melbourne hospital in an advanced state of organ failure, Dr Rogers tells the jury.

The same day, Erin Patterson was discharged from hospital.

"It's not in dispute that all four lunch guests suffered from death cap mushroom poisoning and that this caused the deaths of Don, Gail and Heather," Dr Rogers says.

She says she anticipates that the defence will argue that the accused was simply "less sick" than her guests, but that it was "inexplicable" why four of five people who apparently ate the same meal fell ill but a fifth did not.

"Only one person, the person who prepared the meal, did not," Dr Rogers says.