VERDICT WATCH Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #16 *Arrest*

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  • #41
Yes, to me that issue is very important as well. If he knew at that time, in the hospital (either as a result of finding out from Erin on that day or with his own previous knowledge) about the dehydrator, wouldn't he immediately have told others, e.g hospital staff, family members, etc. Yet, no one else connected with the hospital or family members mentioned that he had talked to them about the dehydrator at that time. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'd be extremely surprised if he had any prior knowledge of the dehydrator...
 
  • #42
I believe that Judge Beale is doing his job well. Having heard several judge directions to a jury, this appears to be the norm.
It may sound bias, but we have to remember that EP does not have to prove her innocence. It is up to the prosecution to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. How believably was the prosecutions case? The defence certainly put some holes in it. Again, I have only ever looked at this case through the eyes of the law. Nothing to do with my own thoughts.

Sadly Websleuthing and this pointy end of a case may be worlds apart.

Beyond Reasonable doubt, jury directions and the onus of proof | Rule of Law Education Centre Beyond Reasonable doubt, jury directions and the onus of proof | Rule of Law Education Centre
 
  • #43
I thought the judge wanted the jury to give their verdict based on the facts and not their judgement of her morals or character.

You know, on the facts of the case.
 
  • #44
I believe that Judge Beale is doing his job well. Having heard several judge directions to a jury, this appears to be the norm.
It may sound bias, but we have to remember that EP does not have to prove her innocence. It is up to the prosecution to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. How believably was the prosecutions case? The defence certainly put some holes in it. Again, I have only ever looked at this case through the eyes of the law. Nothing to do with my own thoughts.

Sadly Websleuthing and this pointy end of a case may be worlds apart.

Beyond Reasonable doubt, jury directions and the onus of proof | Rule of Law Education Centre Beyond Reasonable doubt, jury directions and the onus of proof | Rule of Law Education Centre
The prosecution highlighted many discrepancies, acknowledged lies from the accused (and questionable behaviour from her also) throughout this trial and did so in an excellent, concise and organised manner.

We'll wait and see...
 
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  • #45
How do you accidentally poison them?

There's no Asian store selling those mushrooms otherwise; there would be reported hospital admissions and deaths, so it has to be foraged.

She has looked up deathcap mushrooms before going to the places she hadn't been and had no reason to go to.

And she had to have made a separate mix of mushroom paste for her roll, if you whisk them in a food processor, you are all getting the same amount of poison.,

Yet she was in the hospital, not sick at all, and discharged herself that day.

While her relatives lay dying


But why would you then scrape off the mushrooms from the Beef Wellington for your children?


*** The jury heard Patterson had previously dehydrated mushrooms for her daughter and put them in muffins without telling her.

Patterson claimed she did this because her daughter said that she didn't like mushrooms.

Patterson wanted to prove her daughter liked mushrooms because she enjoyed the muffins which contained dried mushrooms over the muffins that didn't.

Patterson also secretly put dehydrated mushrooms into her children's chocolate brownies.
 
  • #46
Not sure if anyone's going to do the live feeds but the jury has entered the courtroom. I am unable to do it, sorry.
 
  • #47
  • #48
Key Event
1m ago
Judge turns focus to digital forensics evidence
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

Justice Beale clarifies a few points he made yesterday for the jury and then moves on to Shamen Fox-Henry's evidence as an expert witness.

Mr Fox-Henry is a digital forensics expert with Victoria Police.

His evidence focused on various devices seized from Erin Patterson's home and some messages that were extracted from those devices.
 
  • #49
Key Event
2m ago
We're given a detailed account of Mr Fox-Henry's qualifications
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

Justice Beale tells the jury that in cross-examination, Mr Fox-Henry said he first received these devices for examination in about the middle of August 2023.

At that time, the judge says, Mr Fox-Henry did not hold some of the qualifications he now holds today.

"The only training in data collection was from experience in audio visual," Justice Beale says.

He tells the jury that Mr Fox-Henry followed instructions from his peers to assess the devices in this case.


 
  • #50
14:26

Justice Beale resumes charge to the jury after delay​

Justice Christopher Beale has recommenced his charge later than expected and is now taking the jury back to the evidence of Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad investigator Shamen Fox-Henry (pictured).
Justice Beale drew laughter after he asked the jury if it is 'cold in here' and then said his staff member 'Mr Hastings could do something about it'.
Mr Fox-Henry was tasked with analysing electronic devices seized from Patterson's Leongatha home on August 5, 2023.
Patterson, who is today wearing a pink shirt and a tan jumper, listened as Justice Beale told the jury Mr Fox-Henry extracted certain messages between the accused and her Facebook friends in December 2022.
Justice Beale told the jury about Mr Fox-Henry's experience and qualifications and discussed the technology cyber police use to analyse data.


14:32

Cybercrime officer's experience laid bare in court​

The jury was told Mr Fox-Henry had limited training on computer software that helped him with extractions performed on the seized devices which included two Samsung phones and a Galaxy tablet.
Justice Beale said Mr Fox-Henry had training from his peers on how to use an investigative tool known as Forensic Explorer and had used another tool known as Magnet Axiom which he had no formal training and but had previously used.
Mr Fox-Henry has since gained further qualifications and experience since he was initially tasked with analysing Patterson's devices.

 
  • #51

1m ago
The jury is given a refresher on data extraction
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

The judge tells the jury that Mr Fox-Henry extracted and processed the data from a computer seized from Erin Patterson's home.

In his evidence, Mr Fox-Henry explained a process by which he created two portable cases. One of these contained data from a key word search which included terms like "death caps" and "death cap mushroom".

Justice Beale is running through a list of things Mr Fox-Henry did while extracting the data and, essentially, how he prepared his report.

Again, all of this information is already known to the jury and was presented during the expert's evidence.
 
  • #52
18 minutes ago

Jury enters the courtroom
The jury has entered the courtroom for the first time today.
Justice Beale told the jurors the parties and him had some matters they had to discuss this morning “in depth”.
He then asked them if it was cold in the courtroom, which prompted some nods from the jury box.
“Maybe Mr Hastings can do something about that,” he joked, referring to his tipstaff.
Mr Hastings then made his way to the heater to crank it up.

6 minutes ago

The topic of expert evidence
Justice Beale has returned to the topic of expert evidence, which he started yesterday.
He spoke to the jury about the evidence of digital forensics expert Matthew Sorell and has now turned to the evidence of senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry from Victoria Police, who examined devices seized from Erin’s house.
“Overall, since October 2020, in relation to the extraction of data … he has worked on hundreds of cases,” Justice Beale said of Mr Fox-Henry.
He reminded the jury that Mr Fox-Henry moved across to the cybercrime squad in July 2023 and did not have any of the qualifications he now holds when he received the devices in August 2023.
“The only training in data collection was his experience in the audiovisual unit,” Justice Beale said.
“He followed instructions from his peers,” he added.

 
  • #53
Key Event
2m ago
We're given a detailed account of Mr Fox-Henry's qualifications
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

Justice Beale tells the jury that in cross-examination, Mr Fox-Henry said he first received these devices for examination in about the middle of August 2023.

At that time, the judge says, Mr Fox-Henry did not hold some of the qualifications he now holds today.

"The only training in data collection was from experience in audio visual," Justice Beale says.

He tells the jury that Mr Fox-Henry followed instructions from his peers to assess the devices in this case.


That’s interesting. He wasn’t actually qualified at the time. Digital evidence shouldn’t be reliant on one person to verify, I’d expect peer review in a case like this.

Both Fox-Henry and Dr Sorrell could have solved the case with their evidence but both were lacking an absolute certainty. Iam hoping Dr Sorrell is more confident with the Samantha Murphy/Patrick Stephenson’s case. Technology is great but it’s not absolute yet.

There is too much uncertainty around the pings and realistically whether she was in those towns or just connected to a different tower at her home. I feel for both witnesses, there are limitations in their field at present.
 
  • #54
14:42

Cyber investigation detected iNaturalist website visit​

Justice Beale said Mr Fox-Henry analysed a computer seized from Patterson's home and prepared a report which contained more than 2 million artefacts found on the device.
The jury heard Homicide Squad detectives asked Mr Fox-Henry to look into a number of those artefacts and he found iNaturalist was accessed for about three minutes on May 28, 2022 which the Cybercrime expert agreed occurred about 7.23pm.

 
  • #55
1m ago
Judge turns to iNaturalist site visits
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

Justice Beale tells the jury that there were more than 2 million artefacts on the seized computer.

Mr Fox-Henry was asked to look at between 60 and 70 of those.

During his evidence, he agreed the data included interactions with the iNaturalist website on 28 May, 2022, which lasted about three minutes.

He also agreed the records showed the same computer visiting the Korumburra Middle Pub website a few minutes after a visit to the iNaturalist website.

The court had previously heard at least two people had uploaded details of death cap mushroom sightings in the Gippsland area to iNaturalist.

The judge reminds the jury that Erin Patterson gave evidence that she could not remember this internet search.

 
  • #56
14:49

Patterson 'likely' made iNaturalist search​

Justice Beale is now taking the jury through the evidence of Patterson who said she couldn't remember if she looked up the iNaturalist website.
The jury was told Patterson said she couldn't remember making the search but conceded it was likely it was her and not her children who made the search.
Patterson, during her evidence, said she couldn't remember if she had an interest in death cap mushrooms on May 28, 2022 but said she wanted to know if death caps grew in South Gippsland.
'I wanted to know if death cap mushrooms grew in South Gippsland, and I found out that they didn't,' Justice Beale said Patterson previously told the jury.
The jury was reminded the iNaturalist May 28 search was for a death cap sighting at Bricker Reserve in Moorabbin.

 
  • #57
23m ago14.28 AEST
Justice Christopher Beale begins to outline the evidence of digital forensics expert Shamen Fox-Henry, from Victoria police’s cybercrime unit.

He reminds the jury that Fox-Henry gave evidence about the data found on several devices police seized from Patterson’s house a week after the beef wellington lunch.

2m ago05.48 BST
Beale tells the jury Fox-Henry testified that he extracted data from a Cooler Master computer seized from Patterson’s house.

He said he used keywords to search the data. These included “death cap”, death cap mushrooms”, “mushroom” and “poison.”

The court previously heard that electronic records taken from a computer seized by police from Patterson’s house indicated that it had been used to visit webpages listing sightings of death cap mushrooms.

Patterson said it was “possible” the visits to the iNaturalist were done by her but that she could not remember it, Beale says.

She said she wanted to know if death cap mushrooms grew in South Gippsland, the court hears.

 
  • #58
Just now
Erin Patterson's evidence on the searches
Mikaela Ortolan profile image
By Mikaela Ortolan

In her evidence, Ms Patterson said she couldn't remember various searches on her devices but it was possible she was responsible for them, Justice Beale reminds the jury.

"She said she wasn't disagreeing with the cross-examiner but she couldn't remember," the judge says.

He reminds the jury that Ms Patterson also said she "had no idea that she had an interest in death cap mushrooms"; her only interest was to find out if they grew in South Gippsland.

She agreed that someone visited the Korumburra Middle Pub website, but said she couldn't remember if it was her and wasn't suggesting it was her children either.


 
  • #59
3 minutes ago

'She wasn't disagreeing, she just didn't remember'
Justice Beale summarised Mr Fox-Henry’s evidence about the Cooler Master computer used to visit the citizen science website iNaturalist on May 28, 2022, including navigating to a sighting of death cap mushrooms in Melbourne’s southeast.
He then turned to Erin’s evidence about the computer.
He said she testified that she did not remember visiting the website, but it was possibly something she did.
“She said she wasn’t disagreeing with the cross-examiner, but she just didn’t remember,” Justice Beale said.
He reminded the jury that she testified that she did want to find out at one stage during 2022 whether death caps grow in Gippsland and “finding out they did not”.

 
  • #60
14:49

Melissa Brown profile image

14:49

Patterson 'likely' made iNaturalist search​

Justice Beale is now taking the jury through the evidence of Patterson who said she couldn't remember if she looked up the iNaturalist website.
The jury was told Patterson said she couldn't remember making the search but conceded it was likely it was her and not her children who made the search.
Patterson, during her evidence, said she couldn't remember if she had an interest in death cap mushrooms on May 28, 2022 but said she wanted to know if death caps grew in South Gippsland.
'I wanted to know if death cap mushrooms grew in South Gippsland, and I found out that they didn't,' Justice Beale said Patterson previously told the jury.
The jury was reminded the iNaturalist May 28 search was for a death cap sighting at Bricker Reserve in Moorabbin.

'I wanted to know if death cap mushrooms grew in South Gippsland, and I found out that they didn't,' Justice Beale said Patterson previously told the jury.

I don't understand this statement from EP? Death Cap mushrooms DO grow in South Gippsland. Loch and Outtrim are towns in South Gippsland.
 
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