Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #7 *Arrest*

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  • #521
I only have 4 large plates, mainly because I don't have people over often and don't want extra crockery hanging around. Saying, this could have an innocent explanation.
Could it be innocent that the only person who wasn't poisoned ate off the smaller coloured plate?
I don't know many people who only have 4 large plates.
 
  • #522
I agree JLZ, red flags everywhere IMO

And she new the afternoon before that Simon was not coming ( in one of my many links ) & still went ahead with the meal
I wonder if she thought he may eventually show up under pressure from his parents?
 
  • #523

Prosecution details death cap mushrooms​


By Judd Boaz​

Reporting by Kristian Silva

Dr Rogers is taking the jury through a technical description about death cap mushrooms, known by the latin name Amanita phalloides.

"It's a species of wild mushrooms that are highly poisonous," she says.

She says they are only found around oak trees.

lcimg-26b02d85-27e8-4a87-bf8d-edf028a045f5.png
Death cap (left) and yellow-staining mushrooms are poisonous fungi found in Australia (AAP: Joel Carrett, file photo)
Dr Rogers says symptoms set in about 6 to 12 hours after consumption, before vomiting and diarrhoea sets in and the body goes into shock.

The toxins then attack the kidneys and liver, causing irreversible damage.

The death cap mushroom is responsible for nine out of every 10 mushroom poisoning deaths, and kills somewhere between 10 and 30 per cent of those who ingest it.

 
  • #524
2.52pm

Council searched for dried mushrooms at grocers​

Also on August 1, 2023 – three days after the lunch – an environmental health officer employed by Monash City Council visited any identified Asian grocers in areas specified by Erin Patterson, prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, told the jury.

The health officer investigated dried mushroom products, fresh mushroom products and supplier details, as well as the products’ packaging and labelling.

Later that day, Sally Ann Atkinson from the Department of Health had a second conversation with Erin, and contrary to what she had previously said, Erin told Atkinson she had not used the mushrooms purchased from the Asian grocer in any other dish. Instead, she had opened them, noticed their smell, put them into a Tupperware container and not used them at all, Rogers told the jury.


“She said she had checked her bank card records and could not find any purchases around the day she purchased mushrooms and was likely to have paid cash for small items,” Rogers said.

“She said she could not remember where she would have gone to purchase mushrooms, but said it was likely to be a shopping strip in and around Oakleigh or Clayton.

“Erin gave a detailed description of the packaging: a clear package that looked as if it had been repackaged with a white handwritten label on it,” Rogers said.

Monash City Council investigators visited 14 stores on August 2 and 3, 2023 that were either Asian or Indian grocers, or fruit and vegetable sellers across Oakleigh, Clayton and Mount Waverley. But they were unable to find any product matching Erin’s description, Rogers said.

The leftovers collected from Erin Patterson’s bin and transported to Monash Medical Centre and the Royal Botanic Gardens were tested and did not show any sign of death cap mushrooms, the jury heard.

Rogers said the Department of Health’s investigation finished about August 11. The department did not get any reports of other people falling ill in a way similar to the guests at the lunch.

Rogers told the jurors they would hear evidence from a toxicologist who would explain how the body’s DNA is halted by the death cap mushroom toxins, so the toxins keep on recirculating within the body and making the person sicker and sicker.

 
  • #525

Death cap mushrooms grow in Victoria near oak trees, jury told
14:57​

The jury's now being given a little overview of where poisonous death cap mushrooms grow.

They're reliant on tree hosts for nutrition, the prosecutor explains, so are only found amongst or very near to the roots of certain trees. In Australia, that's oak trees.

Around Victoria, the mushrooms are most commonly observed in the month of May, prosecutor Nanette Rogers says.

In fresh condition, they last about one to two weeks, or a few weeks if refrigerated, she adds.

 
  • #526

Erin Patterson 'travelled to town where death cap mushrooms grew
15:01​

Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter

The court is being told about a website where concerned local people had been posting pictures and warnings about death cap mushrooms, geotagged to towns near Leongatha, where Ms Patterson lives.

The prosecutor says mobile phone transmission data suggested Patterson travelled to one of the nearby towns.

 
  • #527
3.04pm

Doctors concluded guests’ illness were ‘unsurvivable’​

Don Patterson underwent a liver transplant in hospital. But as doctors opened his abdomen, they identified tissue damage from a failure of blood supply to the small part of the small intestine, prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, said.

An abdominal X-ray was performed on Gail Patterson, which showed likely gut damage, Rogers told the jury.

A colonoscopy performed on Heather Wilkinson revealed multiple areas of bowel damage, and she was too unwell to benefit from surgical intervention.

Heather Wilkinson.

Heather Wilkinson.

“After extensive discussion, medical professionals concluded that no other treatments would help and that the illnesses were unsurvivable for Donald, Gail and Heather,” the prosecutor said.

Heath died on August 4, 2023 from altered liver function and multiple organ failure with a clinical diagnosis of amanita mushroom poisoning. Gail died later that day from multiple organ failure due to amanita mushroom poisoning.

Don died on the night of August 5 from multiple organ failure.

 
  • #528

Erin Patterson said she was hiding powdered mushrooms in everything, court hears
15:05​

Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter

Prosecutor Nanette Rogers tells the jury Ms Patterson had posted in Facebook groups about using a food dehydrator to reduce the size of mushrooms to use in cooking.

She said online she had been “hiding powdered mushrooms in everything", the prosecutor says, including chocolate brownies fed to her children.
 
  • #529

Death cap mushrooms grow in Victoria near oak trees, jury told​

14:57​

The jury's now being given a little overview of where poisonous death cap mushrooms grow.

They're reliant on tree hosts for nutrition, the prosecutor explains, so are only found amongst or very near to the roots of certain trees. In Australia, that's oak trees.

Around Victoria, the mushrooms are most commonly observed in the month of May, prosecutor Nanette Rogers says.

In fresh condition, they last about one to two weeks, or a few weeks if refrigerated, she adds.

Would this work? Pick the mushrooms in May, blenderize them and strain, freeze the liquid, and several months later add the liquid to mushrooms that are cooking down to a paste. Or combine the liquid into the gravy.
 
  • #530
2m ago

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson went to places where death cap mushrooms had been sighted​


By Joseph Dunstan​

Reporting by Kristian Silva

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC says police searched Ms Patterson's house, where they seized "numerous electronic devices" including two phones.

Analysis was conducted on the devices, with an expert concluding that she travelled to Loch and Outtrim, two nearby areas where death cap mushrooms had been identified as growing on the inaturalist.org website.

The trip to Outtrim was made one day after a positive sighting of the mushrooms was listed on the website, Dr Rogers says.

Dr Rogers says Ms Patterson had been talking to her online friends about a mushroom dehydrator she had purchased and her enthusiasm for using it.

That dehydrator was purchased from a Leongatha shop two-and-a-half hours before a trip to Loch, the prosecutor says.

 
  • #531

Defendant's fingerprints found on dumped food dehydrator - prosecution
15:07​

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court

The jury is being shown a CCTV photo showing Erin Patterson at her local tip on 2 August. Bank transactions show she paid $13.50 to dump some items, the prosecutor says.

Among the items she was seen to get rid of was a large black box. When inspected a couple of days later, a staff member found a black Sunbeam dehydrator, Nanette Rogers says.

She says Ms Patterson later told investigators she had never owned one.

Fingerprints were found on the dehydrator and compared to Erin Patterson's, Dr Rogers says - and they matched.

 
  • #532
2m ago

Police find dehydrator at landfill​


By Judd Boaz​

The prosecution says Ms Patterson drove her red 4WD to the Koonwarra Transfer Station And Landfill, and paid to dump an e-waste bag.

The next day, police made contact with the Koonwarra Transfer Station And Landfill.

The only item in the bin was a black Sunbeam dehydrator with six trays inside.

A picture of the dehydrator was shown to the court.

lcimg-bcf74590-7fc0-4ebe-9da7-874d98d62bf0.png
Police searched bins at the Koonwarra Transfer Station during their investigation. (ABC News)
The dehydrator was forensically examined, with samples of plant matter collected.

Dr Rogers says Ms Patterson's fingerprints were found on the recovered dehydrator.

The prosecutor says in a subsequent police interview, Ms Patterson told police she had never owned or used a dehydrator, before telling police she “might” have owned one years ago.

 
  • #533
Just now

Erin Patterson likely never diagnosed with cancer, prosecutor says​


By Joseph Dunstan​

Reporting by Kristian Silva

Dr Rogers says testing of Ms Patterson, conducted by Professor Andrew Burston, found there was no evidence she had suffered an acute illness like the other lunch guests.

"Her vital signs and other test results were not suggestive of other acute illness or injury," Dr Rogers tells the jury.

"There is not sufficient evidence … to support the assertion that the accused was diagnosed with cancer."
Dr Rogers says the Victorian Cancer Registry has no record of Ms Patterson having received a cancer diagnosis.


BBM: BOOM!
 
  • #534

Prosecution alleges Erin Patterson lied about cancer
15:12​

Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter

Earlier, the prosecution said Erin Patterson asked her relatives to the lunch because she had medical condition to discuss - and claimed at the lunch that she had cancer.

Nanette Rogers says it is the prosecution's case that Erin Patterson did not ingest toxic mushrooms, and that she was never diagnosed with cancer.

"It is the prosecution case that the accused used the false claim... to ensure and explain why the children would not be present at the lunch."

 
  • #535
3.15pm

How dangerous mushrooms attack the body​

The main toxins of concern in poisonous mushrooms are called amatoxins and can kill cells in the body, prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, has told the jury, and lead to “irreversible structural tissue damage, particularly in the liver and kidneys”.

Rogers said clinical symptoms included one to two days of severe gastrointestinal issues, including intensive repeated vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. This, the prosecutor said, eventually leads to dehydration and hypervolemic shock where the body has too much fluid, which can result in high blood pressure and can cause heart problems.

Rogers is taking the jury through a public website called iNaturalist, which allows the public to post sightings of a variety of plants and animals.

On April 18, 2023, a retired pharmacist and poison expert observed death cap mushrooms under some oak trees during a walk with her husband and their grandson in the town of Loch, near Leongatha, the jury heard.

She posted images on the iNaturalist website and where they found, and also “collected and disposed of every example of [the mushrooms] that she could find. She did this because she knew how dangerous they were,” Rogers said.

 
  • #536
3.17pm

Police search Erin Patterson’s home​

Police searched Erin Patterson’s house on August 5, 2023 – in the days after the lunch – and again on November 2, 2023, during which officers found various items of interest, including numerous electronic devices.

“You will hear about what was located on those devices during the course of this trial,” prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, told the jury.

Police also obtained the phone records of the accused woman, the jury heard.

 
  • #537
2m ago

Patterson made fake poisoning claims, prosecutors say​


By Judd Boaz​

Reporting by Kristian Silva

Dr Rogers tells the jury she's close to wrapping up her address.

"The prosecution case is that the accused did not ingest death cap mushrooms at the lunch and did not suffer from amanita poisoning," she says.

"It is the prosecution case that the accused used the false claim that she had serious medical issues to ensure and explain why the children would not be present at the lunch on 29 July."
Dr Rogers says traces of amanita phalloides mushroom toxins were found on Ms Patterson's dehydrator located at the tip and from leftovers recovered by authorities.

The same toxins were detected in urine samples of the male lunch guests, but not on Ms Patterson, Ms Wilkinson or Ms Patterson herself.

Even though the toxins weren't located in the deceased women's bodies, the autopsy results and organ failures were consistent with having ingested death cap mushrooms, Dr Rogers says.

The prosecution also alleges Ms Patterson never fed her children the leftovers from the lunch.

 
  • #538
Ian Wilkinson, a local church pastor who was married to Heather, was the only lunch guest who survived and Patterson is charged with his attempted murder.

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC opened her case today when she revealed Patterson wanted to hold the lunch to seek advice on telling her children about medical issues.

Patterson organised for her children to be out of the house for the lunch on July 29.

Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy SC will give a reply on behalf of the defence this afternoon.

Justice Christopher Beale told the jury witnesses will include Simon Patterson and Ian Wilkinson, as well as a number of medical experts, doctors and police.







 
  • #539

Prosecution: It is our case Erin Patterson deliberately poisoned guests to kill them​

15:24​

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court

As she begins to close her remarks, prosecutor Nanette Rogers says: "It is the prosecution's case that the accused deliberately poisoned, with murderous intent, Gail Patterson, Don Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson... after inviting them for lunch on the pretenceshe’d been diagnosed with cancer."

Dr Rogers also says Erin Patterson lied about her children eating leftovers from the meal, lied about buying the dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store, and dumped the food dehydrator she used to make the meal to hide the evidence.



'We will not be suggesting a motive' - prosecutor
15:24​



“You might be wondering, ‘What is the motive?" Nanette Rogers says.

“You might still be wondering this at the end of this trial.”

She explains that the prosecution will not be suggesting a particular motive for Ms Patterson's alleged actions.

"Motive is not something that has to be proven by theprosecution... you do not have to be satisfied what the motive was, or even thatthere was one."

 
  • #540

She allegedly said she purchased 500g of sliced button mushrooms from Woolworths and also used a packet of dried mushrooms purchased from a Chinese grocer in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh in April 2023.

The prosecutor said Ms Patterson was later moved to Monash children’s hospital where Simon and their two children attended.

The children were examined and found to not be ill, Dr Rogers said.

Ms Patterson was interviewed by the hospital’s public health director, allegedly saying she could not remember where the dried mushrooms were purchased and denied she used foraged mushrooms.

Alleged mushroom poisoner checked out of hospital against advice, jury told

Dr Rogers told the jury Ms Patterson self-presented to hospital at 8am on Monday, July 31 – two days after the lunch.

She said Ms Patterson complained about gastrointestinal symptoms and was advised she had potentially ingested a lethal dose of death cap mushrooms.

“The accused repeatedly said she needed to leave… she was adamant that she would not stay,” the prosecutor said.

She left at 8.10am against medical advice, Dr Rogers said.

The prosecutor told the court Leongatha Hospital’s Dr Chris Webster took the step of calling police for a welfare check, who visited her home.

Ms Patterson returned to the hospital at 9. 45am, Dr Rogers said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So she rocks up @ 8am & wanting to leave by 8:10am , why even go??? :rolleyes:

27m ago

Sketching inside court​

Mikaela Ortolan profile image

By Mikaela Ortolan​

Cameras aren't allowed inside court which means the only pictures of Erin Patterson that we've seen have come from Paul Tyquin.

Paul is a sketch artist who has been hired by Australian media outlets for this trial.

He's covered many other high-profile trials in the past including that of Greg Lynn, who was found guilty of a Victorian High Country murder, and Patrick Orren Stephenson who has been accused of murdering Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.

A black and white sketch of Erin Patterson
A sketch of Erin Patterson at court on Tuesday. (Paul Tyquin)
He says he usually uses grey lead pencils and good quality drawing paper before applying colour.

"We do a photocopy of the drawing, and then I can colour using marker pens," he says.

A coloured digital drawing of Erin Patterson
Paul applied colour to the sketch using Photoshop. (Paul Tyquin)
Paul says the accused sometimes only appears in court for a few minutes which really puts the pressure on his work.

"Sometimes they're really rushed, you know, sometimes you might only get a couple of minutes. You have to sort of really observe carefully ... then finish it off from memory," he says.


His images are flattering.
 
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