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

[Salah11]

If EP is not convicted for intentional murder,
will she be put on trial for manslaughter or whatever the equivalent in Australia is?

I can imagine there would be one juror who thinks there's room for doubt.

JMO MOO

Yes she has obstructed the law by her actions so surely new charges could be brought as she has admitted she lied and her actions caused delays in the hospital giving the right treatment. Her actions were abhorrent after she poisoned her guests at lunch that day.

Imo

 

[Porky1]

If EP is not convicted for intentional murder,
will she be put on trial for manslaughter or whatever the equivalent in Australia is?

I can imagine there would be one juror who thinks there's room for doubt.

JMO MOO

It will depend on the Judges instructions, whether manslaughter is offered as an option following deliberations.

 

[potr]

It will depend on the Judges instructions, whether manslaughter is offered as an option following deliberations.

if it is not offered during this trial, i very much doubt that if she is acquitted that the crown can come back and try her again on a lesser but similar charge - i am pretty sure that strays into double jeopardy territory.......unless completely new and compelling evidence is discovered - (such as recovery of phone A maybe)

and even then - i think the crown has to apply somewhere for that to even happen

 

[Porky1]

if it is not offered during this trial, i very much doubt that if she is acquitted that the crown can come back and try her again on a lesser but similar charge - i am pretty sure that strays into double jeopardy territory.......unless completely new and compelling evidence is discovered - (such as recovery of phone A maybe)

and even then - i think the crown has to apply somewhere for that to even happen

I agree.

It was removed at the beginning but curious whether it will be reinstated.

I don’t recall lesser charges even hitting courts in Australia after a murder trial without new evidence. Need an Aust legal expert to chime in.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I think the lack of activity on here is indicative of the enthusiasm for judge's summing up. I've thought before that it seems to be needlessly detailed.

Once they do finally go in, what happens on here, is it now a free for all where we can give our opinion freely?

 

[Moll]

I think the lack of activity on here is indicative of the enthusiasm for judge's summing up. I've thought before that it seems to be needlessly detailed.

Once they do finally go in, what happens on here, is it now a free for all where we can give our opinion freely?

No, it isn't. You have to wait for the verdict. The first page of every thread on here has the details.

 

[Susjay]

I know that the judge is just stating a fact here .... but it sounds (in print) as if he is saying "C'mon officers, get enough faraday bags out to every police station".

imo

What Justice Beale is pointing out is that the data was not protected as phone was reset. So not sure if he is implicitly saying, “damn that shouldn’t have happened” or “damn it’s a shame that the data is now not available” or both.

 

[Kemug]

Yes for the victims of this tragedy I can not imagine the pain and suffering. Especially Simon who has also had so many health problems on top of all this stress and he also has two young children to worry about.

Isn't the son 16 now? Not exactly a young child. Although of course 16 year olds can often cause a lot more worry than their younger siblings!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Justice Christopher Beale, the presiding judge, began his second day of instructions to the jury on Wednesday at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, a former coal mining town whose best known tourist attractions until the trial were a rose garden and a regional art gallery.

Beale has said the process will take until at least the end of the day, meaning the 14-member jury will retire to consider their verdict on Thursday at the earliest. Their decision must be unanimous.

"I am a true crime fanatic," said Philip Mayers, a social worker who got up at 5am and drove two hours from Melbourne, the state capital, to get his place in the court.

"It's the uniqueness of it, you don’t hear it every day."

"Even though it's not great circumstances, it has been very good for our community because it's brought people from outside the area," she said.

Journalists, podcasters and documentary crews from domestic and international media have descended on the town for the proceedings, which British magazine The Spectator dubbed "Australia's trial of the century".

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-prepares-verdict-mushroom-murder-trial-2025-06-25/

 

[Kemug]

Very useful, thanks. This is a reminder that judges aren't just free to talk at will!
I fear I won't be taking them to bed though...

What, the judges?!

 

[Salah11]

Isn't the son 16 now? Not exactly a young child. Although of course 16 year olds can often cause a lot more worry than their younger siblings!

I have not kept track of their ages but I doubt they have remained unscathed from all this trauma so Simon can’t be finding it easy when he is also dealing with his only grief.

Moo

 

[Moll]

What, the judges?!

Oops!

 

[Susjay]

1m ago07.19 BST

Refusal of medical treatment​

Beale begins by outlining the evidence about Patterson refusing medical treatment.

He says Simon testified that Patterson had a history of discharging herself from hospitals against medical advice.

Dr Chris Webster when Patterson arrived at Leongatha hospital her told her she had been exposed to a potentially lethal poisoning when she presented at Leongatha hospital, the court hears. Nurse Kylie Ashton testified that she tried to convince Patterson to stay at the hospital to be medically assessed, warning “her life was at risk”. Dr Veronica Foote recalled Patterson saying if she was going to be admitted she needed to return home first.

Patterson told the jury that when she arrived at Leongatha hospital Dr Webster told her there was a concern she had been exposed to death cap mushroom poisoning.

Patterson said she was confused as she could not understand why death cap mushrooms would be in the meal.

She said she arrived expecting to be at the hospital for a few hours, the court hears.

Patterson disputed Ashton’s evidence that she told the accused her life was at risk.

Beale says the prosecution argued Patterson discharged herself because she knew she was not unwell.

The defence said a reasonable explanation of Patterson’s conduct was because she had not come prepared to be admitted overnight, needed to make arrangements for her children and pets and had not been told the full picture about the guests’ illness.

The defence also said her conduct needed to be viewed in the context of her habit of discharging herself against medical advice.

Erin Patterson mushroom trial day 37 – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

Still cannot work out why mobile phone data shows the accused heading south on the Bass Highway after she left the Leongatha hospital against medical advice that day. Said she was going to her house in Gibson St, Leongatha (about 5-10 mins drive away) to organise ballet bag and animals. Heading south along Bass Highway is opposite direction to her house. Prosecution questioned her about this and she said she went home and had a lie down.

 

[Spectrix]

Still cannot work out why mobile phone data shows the accused heading south on the Bass Highway after she left the Leongatha hospital against medical advice that day. Said she was going to her house in Gibson St, Leongatha (about 5-10 mins drive away) to organise ballet bag and animals. Heading south along Bass Highway is opposite direction to her house. Prosecution questioned her about this and she said she went home and had a lie down.

Erin Patterson's phone records indicate a connection with the Outtrim mobile tower on Monday 31st, between 8:55 am and 9:23am. The prosecution suggests this data is consistent with her driving along the Bass Highway towards Outtrim. The defence contends that the brief connection with the Outtrim tower could be explained by her phone connecting to a tower with a better signal from her Leongatha home, rather than indicating travel to Outtrim .

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Still cannot work out why mobile phone data shows the accused heading south on the Bass Highway after she left the Leongatha hospital against medical advice that day. Said she was going to her house in Gibson St, Leongatha (about 5-10 mins drive away) to organise ballet bag and animals. Heading south along Bass Highway is opposite direction to her house. Prosecution questioned her about this and she said she went home and had a lie down.

This is something that was brought up that was skirted over I think, and there hasnt been much speculation about it.

I was really surprised to find that Loch had been pinged a number of times across the course of a year or so for EP. My first thought was that this massively undermined the prosecution's case, after all if she goes there for different reasons then it increases the chance of coincidence.

It then begs the question of why she didnt give a plausible explanation for why she was there? If I travel to a specific place, I usually have a fair idea why.

The only thing I can think of, is that the defence have decided it's a better strategy not to acknowledge that the cell tower pings could be correct. I suspect similar to the Asian grocer, that specifics could lead to possible CCTV searches or receipts etc and that they don't want any of this.

 

[Spectrix]

This is something that was brought up that was skirted over I think, and there hasnt been much speculation about it.

Since that phone data regarding the possible Outtrim trip was mentioned by Dr Rogers I was sure that she was going to bring this theory up during Erin's cross, but maybe she decided against it given the phone data was vague.

Theory - Erin attended hospital on the Monday morning and discovered that doctors had already figured out death caps were involved, AND were insistent on Erin being admitted for treatment & blood tests.

Knowing that she wasn't at all sick, Erin panicked, checked herself out of hospital and drove to Outtrim looking for more deathcaps to micro-dose herself.
I can't think of any other reason for her to rush to Outtrim instead of starting treatment. It certainly wasn't to pack a ballet bag or have a nap.

If she had succeeded and found more deathcaps, she would have soon developed real symptoms, perhaps the three deaths of the other lunch guests would have been assumed an innocent accident and we wouldn't be here.


.

 

[ch_13]

This is something that was brought up that was skirted over I think, and there hasnt been much speculation about it.

I was really surprised to find that Loch had been pinged a number of times across the course of a year or so for EP. My first thought was that this massively undermined the prosecution's case, after all if she goes there for different reasons then it increases the chance of coincidence.

It then begs the question of why she didnt give a plausible explanation for why she was there? If I travel to a specific place, I usually have a fair idea why.

The only thing I can think of, is that the defence have decided it's a better strategy not to acknowledge that the cell tower pings could be correct. I suspect similar to the Asian grocer, that specifics could lead to possible CCTV searches or receipts etc and that they don't want any of this.

I've been thinking about all the various items in her home that could have potentially touched the deathcaps. Of course we know about the dehydrator and the plates (of whatever color). There's also:

• The Tupperware container that held the dehydrated mushrooms
• Whatever was used to turn the mushrooms into powder (mortar and pestle?)
• The bowl used to mix the duxelles
• The sheet pans that held the Wellingtons when they were in the oven
• Any utensils used for food prep or serving
• The cutlery that the victims were using

What if she got rid of all of it? But it would be a lot to throw away at one time, and might be found by someone. So, she could have made trips to various spread out locations and dumped things separately. CCTV allegedly shows her leaving her son at Subway and driving off. And of course there's the 9-second restroom trip. If she was dumping items on those two occasions, then maybe she drove to Loch to do the same.

If she had potentially incriminating evidence in her car at the time she was being questioned at the hospital it may account for her attitude and her insistence on leaving ASAP.

 

[BreakingNews]

If EP is not convicted for intentional murder,
will she be put on trial for manslaughter or whatever the equivalent in Australia is?

I can imagine there would be one juror who thinks there's room for doubt.

JMO MOO

I guess we will know when he finishing his directions

 

[BreakingNews]

Yes she has obstructed the law by her actions so surely new charges could be brought as she has admitted she lied and her actions caused delays in the hospital giving the right treatment. Her actions were abhorrent after she poisoned her guests at lunch that day.

Imo

I doubt she can get another trial for new charges. Except she might be charged with perverting the course of justice for lying.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Her reaction to this ^^^ testimony is kind of odd. { "I don't disagree/just don't remember any of it"]

Since she is trying to convince the court that she had an active hobby of foraging, why not agree that she was asking about 'death caps' but as a way to avoid them?

That would be a more believable and even beneficial response, imo.

But she says she 'only' wants to know if they were found in So Gippsland, but "she found out they were not." WTH? Where did she read that?

So did she say that so she could have an excuse for picking wild mushrooms that were actually death caps? It's NOT her fault because the interwebz said there weren't any in Gippsland.



This^^^ does not seem believable. She does not know who else could have logged into her computer and looked up mushrooms and then ordered dinner for her family--but she does not remember if it was her?

Wouldn't she remember if a local pub sent chicken and fries and 3 lettuce wraps to her family home and she never ordered it?

But she says she 'only' wants to know if they were found in So Gippsland, but "she found out they were not." WTH? Where did she read that?

So did she say that so she could have an excuse for picking wild mushrooms that were actually death caps? It's NOT her fault because the interwebz said there weren't any in Gippsland.

I think that's why she did say that, but a simple google search tells you that they are found in South Gippsland. Why didn't Dr Rogers address this?