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

[LadyL]

do juries there vote in a guilty/not guilty poll when they first start deliberating?

 

[Lisa4]

I disagree. You are generalising but in foodie circles, it’s not correct.

If I lived in an area where I could forage, I still would as I did as a child. I don’t think it’s unprecedented if you’re a foodie. Even in Sydney, there are autumnal expeditions in the mountains and ACT.

Born and bred Aussie country girl but a city dweller most of my adult life. I knew what was safe but our varieties weren’t as varied as the cooler areas.

I’d serve them but I also tell my guests that they were foraged

Oh no I really did not explain myself there!

You are right, that is a mistaken generalisation on my part.

What I intended to say there was that it is unprecedented for a case to arise such as this, where a born-and-bred Aussie has served mushrooms to others and fatalities have ensued.

There have indeed been cases of an Aussie forager eating them and it was fatal, but all the instances I could find where they served them to others were immigrants. Happy to be corrected.

I apologise for my poor proofreading and I hope this clears it up.

 

[Susjay]

SOOOOOO, looks like no decision until next week?

I could be wrong but from Judge in directing jury. From pub “Geelong Advertiser”

“The jury will deliberate between 10.30am-1pm and 2.15pm-4.15pm Monday to Saturday until a verdict is reached.”

 

[Porky1]

Point 1 - just Wow! were there lots more mushroom deaths back then! I suppose they had a greater wealth of shared knowledge.

Point 2 - well well well they called it mushrooming even all those decades ago. Fancy that.
.

No. I don’t recall hearing of any deaths and if so, probably classed as an unknown poison.

Shared knowledge in rural Australian communities, of course! Country folk are very wise.

Point 2, yes it was referred to as ‘mushrooming’ in my family. It was only after watching UK cooking shows in the 90’s that the term changed to foraging for me personally.

 

[Deleted member 367982]

I'm new here, but haven't seen anything about the four attempted murder charges EP was facing that were dropped when the trial began. I would have thought it would have shown propensity when Simon was on the stand as he did not come across as someone who lies.

Also, has anyone ever heard of a judge giving instructions to a jury longer than 365 pages.

I wonder what decision justice Beale would have made if he had to make the verdict.

 

[Detechtive]

SOOOOOO, looks like no decision until next week?

There is still time today.

 

[BreakingNews]

"Make sure your relationship with all to be invited is squeaky clean and nicey -nice leading up to the lunch. “It’s the opposite way a cold-blooded calculating person would behave” according to Mandy." Actually, it's exactly the way a cold-blooded calculating murderer would behave: be super-sweet to your targets to lull them into a false sense of security so that they will accept the lunch invitation without suspecting a thing.

Can you please supply a link to this research?

 

[Porky1]

SOOOOOO, looks like no decision until next week?

We still have a day and a half, if deliberations continue into Saturday.

For the Australians familiar with the SC process, is it likely that the verdict would be heard by Sat 4.15pm and jury dismissed? If they reach a verdict tomorrow.

I don’t recall hearing of any deliberations scheduled over a weekend. I thought the jury was sequestered and deliberations to start again Monday morning.

 

[Detechtive]

Deliberations are ongoing tomorrow if there's no verdict today.

 

[Two SCents]

EP is a clever and capable researcher.... and she is confident in her own abilities, perhaps over-confident.

I have had on-line encounters with EP and her fake profiles. If she were as clever and capable as she believes and we are all lead to believe I doubt it would have been so easy for me to pick up on her attempts at deception using fake accounts.

She is only human and therefore fallible.
IMO

 

[Tweet57]

EP is a clever and capable researcher.... and she is confident in her own abilities, perhaps over-confident.

I have had on-line encounters with EP and her fake profiles. If she were as clever and capable as she believes and we are all lead to believe I doubt it would have been so easy for me to pick up on her attempts at deception using fake accounts.

She is only human and therefore fallible.
IMO

Just curious! How do you know it was her?? What online forums was she active in?

 

[BreakingNews]

Is it possible there's a juror or two who are disaffected types and don't blame EP for wanting to off her entire family ? Or maybe think she probably did it but there's no actual proof because they don't accept circumstantial as fact?

I wonder if they're in dispute?

We will never know. Unless we are in the jury room, I don't think we should be speculating. Juries are a protected species. It's not about what anyone thinks, it's purely about the law. I was on a fraud jury once where we all believed he committed the fraud, but as far as what was presented to us and the judges directions, we had to say not guilty. It was a horrible situation.

 

[Two SCents]

Just curious! How do you know it was her?? What online forums was she active in?

Quite a few people know of her fake profiles. True Crime groups on FB.

 

[BreakingNews]

I am worried.
Thought a result within 48 hours.
If, 'not guilty, Ep's life is ruined, anyway: doubtful reputation'. YIPPEE.
If guilty, YIPPEE, for family and other victims, knowing she is locked up.
If a retrial, EP will create more lies, and create some type of questionable evidence.
So worried.
Hope EP's money has dwindled, BUT I heard this may be a 'pro bono' case.
Hope not.

BUT, we don't know, if EP is guilty or not.
MOO.

If she is found innocent, then the Prosecution didn't do enough to prove her guilt.
If a retrial, the Prosecution still has to prove her guilt. No where does she have to prove her innocence.

Imagine the stress on the family; and on us, if there is a retrial! We'd have to forget everything we have heard, and return to no preconceived thoughts.

 

[Porky1]

I'm new here, but haven't seen anything about the four attempted murder charges EP was facing that were dropped when the trial began. I would have thought it would have shown propensity when Simon was on the stand as he did not come across as someone who lies.

Re the charges for Simon, you could search the thread. I am not 100% certain but Iam not sure if there was enough evidence to proceed. The lesser charges were dropped.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

For many years, people would pick mushrooms without a second thought and yes eat them and feed them to their guests.
There was never anything in the news about poisonous mushrooms or if there was it was something that happened in other countries

There were never any warnings or campaigns, until the deaths of people in the ACT.
It was an eye opener.
Those poisonings in the ACT changed everything.

Until those ACT poisonings people had been going about picking and eating mushrooms without a second thought.
Everyone thought if you stuck to the white ones you'd be ok, and before what happened in the ACT, even the experts said the ones to avoid were ones that weren't white.

It was the ACT poisonings that made me stop picking mushrooms.
These new to us death cap ones looked to me like ones I would have thought were ok and we would have eaten them.

Funny that no one was charged in those earlier deaths.
For a moment I was forgetting that these days there is no such thing as an accident.




.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

"Should they not reach a verdict on Friday, the jury may continue its deliberations into Saturday. However, they have discretion about how long they sit for on that day."

Thanks South, I had been wondering if the Saturday might be a half day or not.

 

[BreakingNews]

The mushroom murder trial continues with jury deliberations | 7NEWS​

So, it's still 'early days' for a murder trial jury?!!?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If she is found not guilty, it seems many want EP to be punished anyway...

 

[Detechtive]

Re the charges for Simon, you could search the thread. I am not 100% certain but Iam not sure if there was enough evidence to proceed. The lesser charges were dropped.

More likely that they would have been deemed tendency evidence which could have prejudiced the main charges, and would have likely been tried separately anyway. IMO

To charge her in the first place with those, the evidence bar through the OPP would have had to been reached.