Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #8 *Arrest*

[Spectrix]

I think it was more of a gradual thing---like when someone is dosing you with small amounts of something in your ice cream every night and your tea every morning. It slowly makes you ill and so there is no specific food or drink to test.

I'd wondered about this too. What if it happened multiple other times with smaller doses in response to perceived wrongdoings on Simon's part.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

One of the problems too, was that it was apparently a longer slower process. He didn't sit down to a big meal with her and then get sick 8 hours later.

I think it was more of a gradual thing---like when someone is dosing you with small amounts of something in your ice cream every night and your tea every morning. It slowly makes you ill and so there is no specific food or drink to test.

Yes. If she's found guilty. It looks like this time it was careless; she never got caught for the other attempts, maybe a practice run... so she thought she would be able to kill them and get away with it. Not having her estranged husband there, and poor Ian surviving, could have messed up the plans

 

[Detechtive]

Yes. If she's found guilty. It looks like this time it was careless; she never got caught for the other attempts, maybe a practice run... so she thought she would be able to kill them and get away with it. Not having her estranged husband there, and poor Ian surviving, could have messed up the plans

The alleged prior poisonings of Simon were with Belladonna. Not Death Cap Mushrooms.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

So do I, but the one positive is that they’re still alive, and I presume the child safety department has wrapped resources around them and their carer(s).

I’d Erin gets convicted then she’s a mass murderer - and if she were not to be in jail, if she remained free in the community, how long would it be before she started messing with putting powdered mushrooms in the children’s food without their consent?

Oh hang on, she had already begun to put dried out ground up mushrooms in brownies for them and done taste tests on them, right?

Isn’t that what one of her online friends stated in their evidence?

Sounds like practice runs, possible with her estranged husband leading up to the fatal lunch.
Her mistake was using a dehydrator.

The police found it at the tip with her fingerprints on it. The police would have traced it from the shop as well



"I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea," she wrote in one post.

Erin Patterson shared love of mushrooms in online group

Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson shared her love of mushrooms, photos of a dehydrator and plans to cook...

www.northweststar.com.au

 

[Spectrix]

The alleged prior poisonings of Simon were with Belladonna. Not Death Cap Mushrooms.

Belladonna is another name for Deadly Nightshade which I referenced in my previous posts.
As far as I know, the only mention of it was from an article or two:

A source close to the family addressed the 2022 illness, telling the Herald Sun Simon thought he ingested poison “through nightshade plants”.

I can't see anything reported in MSM referencing Belladonna.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

The alleged prior poisonings of Simon were with Belladonna. Not Death Cap Mushrooms.

I was trying to find a link to that. Where is the link? I can't find it

 

[al66pine]

Confusion over Jury Verdict?

They'll get a transcript, but if the jury can't hear, what if the recording device is missing some of the sound as well?

I know of one case where the transcript recorded that the jury found the accused guilty, although the accused and his barrister and the magistrate all thought they heard the verdict "not guilty".

@JLZ
From ^ post
"I know of one case where the transcript recorded that the jury found the accused guilty, although the accused and his barrister and the magistrate all thought they heard the verdict "not guilty".

Yikes. I see how that might happen, esp'ly in courtrooms w bad acoustics or if ppl in the gallery are talking. Could, well actually would, generate confusion.

Yeah. I hope that this was rectified and dealt with, and we just didn't get any follow up in the media because it was 'too boring'. Would really be a great shame for there to be a mistrial or something because of a technical flaw in the court set up.

@Eloise sbm
If the Aussie procedures parallel those in US, the jury foreperson completes & signs the jury's verdict form before it is given to the judge.

Seems any confusion about the G or NG verdict should be short lived.
jmo

 

[JBowie]

According to the Daily Telegraph, the prosecution intends to call 90 witnesses. Whether or not EP will testify is not known.

(However, as we know, the judge has declared Monday a day off for the jurors while "there are things happening behind the scenes to try and condense the material that will be presented to [jurors]", so perhaps that 90 number may be reduced.)

(pay-walled)

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/the-mushroom-cook/survivor-of-erin-pattersons-lethal-mushroom-lunch-ian-wilkinson-testifies-in-court/news-story/789d887e1076a35120132b0ca03dd72d

 

[Megnut]

Maybe the Defense is planning to chuck their defense list and call only one witness, the defendant (who might think she can charm the jury). That would shorten things up quick.

JMO

 

[Megnut]

Munchausen, Munchausen by proxy -- if there's something like this going on with Erin, it could have many manifestations.

Purposefully get a child sick so she can be warrior nurse, dedicated mother.

Purposefully get estranged spouse sick so he'll need her...

Poison a spouse to get widow's sympathy....

Get self marginally sick to draw focus to self, even with illnesses that never materialize.

If she's found guilty, the mistakes were many.

(Nevermind murder and attempted murder, grave 'mistakes' against humanity)

Feigning illness over a food she then serves to her children? How did she know it would be the mushrooms making anyone sick if she had no foreknowledge? Maybe it was the beef...

She didn't scrape the beef off their plates, just to be safe. Or throw it out like everyone else would.

I think she really thought she picked a toxin that would disappear by autopsy. She'd look sick enough. Be admitted, get sympathy ....

Instead they started asking questions she wasn't prepared to answer.

JMO

 

[JBowie]

Maybe the Defense is planning to chuck their defense list and call only one witness, the defendant (who might think she can charm the jury). That would shorten things up quick.

JMO

I say bring her on! The Prosecution would have a field day reminding the jury of the litany of lies she's told and her attempts to hide evidence.

Frankly, IMO the Defence would strongly advise her to not take the stand.

 

[katydid23]

Belladonna is another name for Deadly Nightshade which I referenced in my previous posts.
As far as I know, the only mention of it was from an article or two:

A source close to the family addressed the 2022 illness, telling the Herald Sun Simon thought he ingested poison “through nightshade plants”.

I can't see anything reported in MSM referencing Belladonna.

A long time ago, at the start of the thread, people were discussing Simon's prior illness. And IIRC, he spoke to someone about it himself, in an interview---and explained why he thought it was BellaDonna. There was some testing done and somehow he was given a clue that NightShades or BellaDonna was possibly involved in his illness. But he did not know exactly what it was that he ate but he did mention possibility of potatoes---so some people discussed that green potatoes , in excess, can make one very sick.

 

[katydid23]

I say bring her on! The Prosecution would have a field day reminding the jury of the litany of lies she's told and her attempts to hide evidence.

Frankly, IMO the Defence would strongly advise her to not take the stand.

That would be a disaster waiting to happen---but I'm here for it!

 

[Auntie Cipation]

How did she know it would be the mushrooms making anyone sick if she had no foreknowledge? Maybe it was the beef...

OMG! This could be the "gotcha" question!

 

[Megnut]

I say bring her on! The Prosecution would have a field day reminding the jury of the litany of lies she's told and her attempts to hide evidence.

Frankly, IMO the Defence would strongly advise her to not take the stand.

Just like the ER doctor's strong advice, maybe she'll ignore them too.

Crying because she loves her children so much? More like, tears of joy that they're dutifully parroting what she carefully told them to believe.

If this were an accidental poisoning, wouldn't she have done everything in her power to help the doctors determine the source?

I'd be heartsick if my meal made anyone kind of sick...

She's busy exaggerating her bathrooming....

I wouldn't mind seeing her try to explain herself.

JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

Belladonna is another name for Deadly Nightshade which I referenced in my previous posts.
As far as I know, the only mention of it was from an article or two:

A source close to the family addressed the 2022 illness, telling the Herald Sun Simon thought he ingested poison “through nightshade plants”.

I can't see anything reported in MSM referencing Belladonna.

I don't see anything back in our threads referencing Belladonna from MSM either. Just our own speculation on what any nightshade that Simon may have ingested might have been. Belladonna being one of those speculations.

Belladonna is not native to Australia, but it has been found in some areas (introduced somehow).

One of the places it has been seen is Morwell National Park, which is about 60km away from Leongatha. Only one variety of Belladonna (Naked Ladies) has been seen there. It produces no berries.

I have seen Naked Ladies in South Australia. I never knew they were a variety of Belladonna. They are called Naked Ladies because they have a pretty (pink) flower on a stamen but no leaves. Quite noticeable where I have seen them growing wild.

Morwell National Park - Plants

Morwell National Park - Species - Amaryllis belladonna

 

[Spectrix]

A long time ago, at the start of the thread, people were discussing Simon's prior illness. And IIRC, he spoke to someone about it himself, in an interview---and explained why he thought it was BellaDonna. There was some testing done and somehow he was given a clue that NightShades or BellaDonna was possibly involved in his illness.

Thanks for sending me on a wild goose chase. I have searched all seven consecutive threads about this case, and the only instances of the term "Belladonna" being used is in reference to it being another name for "Deadly Nightshades". And that is referenced to articles like this one, which all have the exact same quote from a "source" -

A source close to the family addressed the 2022 illness, telling the Herald Sun Simon thought he ingested poison “through nightshade plants”.

I found nothing in the seven threads about an interview with Simon, and nothing about it in mainstream media either. I also can't see anything reported in main stream media referencing Belladonna / Simon Patterson.

 

[Eloise]

Confusion over Jury Verdict?




@Eloise sbm
If the Aussie procedures parallel those in US, the jury foreperson completes & signs the jury's verdict form before it is given to the judge.

Seems any confusion about the G or NG verdict should be short lived.
jmo

Sorry, I was talking about this case, where jurors have said they sometimes can't hear evidence.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Back at the start of the case, people suggested that maybe someone placed lethal dried mushrooms in her pantry. And unbeknownst to her, she randomly used them that day and poisoned her loved ones.

At the time, I was open to the possibility. But now, there is too much incriminating evidence against her specifically, for that theory to hold water. IMO

Her defense team has admitted she foraged for the mushrooms but was afraid to admit it. And they found traces of the toxins on the dehydrator she tipped. And she bragged on FB about practicing sneaking mushroom powder into everything.

So that alternate theory is out the window now. IMO

why would you sneak mushroom powder into everything though?

 

[Spectrix]

why would you sneak mushroom powder into everything though?

She claimed her kids didn't like mushrooms so she started sneaking into sweet baked goods.
Not poison ones, apparently.