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

[LordCyrus]

The jury has passed Justice Christopher Beale a note asking if they'll now get every Monday off.

If any juror doesn't want to be there all they needed to do was inform the judge that they have extensive prior knowledge of the case and an opinion about guilt which they don't feel able to set aside.

I'm sure this is the case for many of the jurors. Holding the trial one hour away from Leongatha is hardly a way of ensuring an impartial jury.

 

[drsleuth]

If any juror doesn't want to be there all they needed to do was inform the judge that they have extensive prior knowledge of the case and an opinion about guilt which they don't feel able to set aside.

I'm sure this is the case for many of the jurors. Holding the trial one hour away from Leongatha is hardly a way of ensuring an impartial jury.

BBM : Isn't that what Erin demanded / wanted??

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Why wouldn’t she want the liver preserving treatment immediately if she had been advised as such?

Because she ate off the distinctly different coloured plate that she knew didn't contain anything toxic?

 

[LordCyrus]

The transcript of the evidence states that address of the accused is XXXX Gibson Street Leongatha. The Court redacted the street number to keep her address secret. I wonder if they know that Gibson Street is only about 1 km long. We all know what her house looks like. A quick visit to Google Maps identifies her property complete with her red SUV in the driveway.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

According to the prosecutors, she picked the death caps in late April, around the same time she purchased the dehydrator. The lunch wasn't until July 29, three months later.

She had to preserve them somehow, otherwise they would have spoiled.

As premeditated as it gets.

 

[drsleuth]

8m ago14.42 AEST

Don and Gail were ‘fantastic’ in-laws to children’s partners, court hears​

Under cross-examination, Tanya Patterson agrees her sister-in-law, Erin Patterson, remained part of their family group chat on the platform Signal after her separation.

She says Don and Gail were “fantastic” in-laws to their children’s partners, including Erin.

Stafford is now turning to Tanya’s evidence that Simon and Erin’s relationship deteriorated about 12 months before the lunch.

Tanya agrees she cannot give an exact timeframe on when she observed this.

6m ago14.45 AEST
Erin asked how four lunch guests were, court hears

Stafford turns to the conversation Tanya Patterson had with Erin Patterson, while at Monash on 1 August 2023.

She agrees the first thing Erin did was ask how the four lunch guests were.

Tanya says prior to the visit, her husband Matthew told her not to share too many details about the other relatives’ conditions.

She says Matthew said it was best to not “give much detail to Erin about where people’s situations were at” so Simon, Erin’s estranged husband, could share information.

Tanya agrees Erin told her she had sought information from Simon about the conditions of their relatives but had not received many details.

Stafford presses Tanya on if Erin told her she knew the condition of Don and Gail Patterson. Tanya says she may be wrong but is going off her memory and what she wrote in her police statement.

The cross-examination concludes.

6m ago14.45 AEST
The production calls their next witness, Dr Conor McDermott

In July 2023, he was working as a toxicology registrar at the Austin hospital.

McDermott says in this role he would treat patients and provide advice to people who called the Victorian Poisons Information Centre.

Erin Patterson trial day eight – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[drsleuth]

4m ago

Toxicology doctor giving evidence​

By Melissa Brown​

Doctor Conor McDermott is now appearing via video link.

He was working in the toxicology unit at the Austin Hospital, including dealing with people who call the Victorian Poisons Information Centre.

He says he received a call from a doctor working in Leongatha seeking advice about Erin Patterson and was told she was stable and looked well but had a high heart rate.

He says he was told her blood results had a slightly high pH reading, but everything else was normal.

He says her potassium levels were slightly low.

He says he was told she'd complained about having diarrhoea for 36 hours but that it hadn’t been observed by staff at Leongatha.

1m ago

Erin said she no longer had the mushroom packaging​

By Melissa Brown​

After the initial phone call, Dr McDermott says he called back the doctor at Leongatha because he thought it might be a public health issue if the mushrooms had been sold through a store so there might be more cases in the community.

He asked for more information about where Erin got the mushrooms.

He says she told him they were unbranded, pre-sliced button mushrooms from Leongatha Safeway and a Chinese food store in Oakleigh.

She told him she no longer had the packaging and wouldn’t be able to find them.

Erin Patterson visibly upset as daughter gives evidence at murder trial — as it happened

Medical staff who examined Ms Patterson in the aftermath of a deadly mushroom meal at her home have given evidence to a murder trial jury. Look back at how Thursday's hearing unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[drsleuth]

Patterson said she tried to ask Simon about his parents health​

Under cross-examination, Tanya Patterson has revealed her husband, Matt, instructed her not to tell Patterson about Don and Gail’s condition.

Tanya told the court, before she went to visit Patterson in hospital, her husband told her to refrain from telling the mother-of-two about her former parents-in-laws’ health condition as Simon should be the one to tell her.

The court previously heard from Simon Patterson that his estranged wife did not ask about her lunch guests’ health, which he found odd.

Tanya told the court Patterson asked her about the health of the lunch guests when she first entered the mother-of-two’s hospital room.

Tanya: ”I told her things were changing quickly. I think she said Don and Gail were in induced comas and I said that is what I knew.“

Tanya told the court she then told Patterson if she wanted further information, she would have to ask Simon.

Defence: “Did Erin say to you that she had tried to find out from Simon?”

Tanya: “Yes.”

‘She wanted to talk to them about adult stuff’: Patterson’s daughter recalls talks about deadly lunch

Erin Patterson is accused of killing three people with poisonous death cap mushrooms.

7news.com.au

 

[JBowie]

I'm sure this is the case for many of the jurors. Holding the trial one hour away from Leongatha is hardly a way of ensuring an impartial jury.

As I've posted earlier, I hope this question doesn't indicate this particular jury's lack of attentiveness to their instructions.

 

[drsleuth]

2m ago

Erin declines offer to help identify Asian food store​

By Melissa Brown​

In an attempt to narrow down which store Erin bought the mushrooms from, Dr McDermott says he offered to list all the Chinese food stores in Oakleigh.

But he says she told him she wouldn’t be able to recall even if he named each shop.

He says she then told him she'd bought the mushrooms several months before, in April, so wouldn't remember the name.

He says he again offered to name the stores and she then replied that the store may have been in Glen Waverley.


Sure I'll help you .....not

 

[drsleuth]

1m ago15.06 AEST
Erin Patterson had slightly low potassium but looked well, doctor tells court

Dr Conor McDermott says a GP at the Leongatha urgent care clinic called him on 31 July, seeking advice about Erin Patterson due to suspected mushroom poisoning.

McDermott was told Erin was stable, had a heart rate of 140 beats per minute and “looked well,” the court hears.

He says he was provided with Erin’s blood results which showed a pH of 7.47 – “slightly high” and blood gas readings which were normal. Erin’s potassium levels were “slightly low”, McDermott tells the court.

I was told she had complained of diarrhoea which is what the other patients had presented with but I was told also that this hadn’t been observed while the patient was in the department.

He says the GP said Erin had reported experiencing diarrhoea for the past 36 hours.

2m ago15.06 AEST

Erin said mushrooms were purchased several month before meal, doctor tells court​

Dr Conor McDermott later called the GP to find out where Erin had bought the mushrooms from. He then spoke directly with Erin on the phone and asked where mushrooms were obtained from.

She said they had been sourced as button mushrooms, pre-sliced, from Leongatha Safeway.

McDermott says Erin said dried mushrooms had been purchased from a Chinese food store in Oakleigh.

McDermott says he asked about the brand of the mushrooms from the supermarket. Erin told him the mushrooms were “unbranded”, he says.

Erin told McDermott she no longer had the mushroom packaging and it would not be able to be located, he says.

Erin told him the mushrooms from a Chinese store had been bought “several months before.”

McDermott says he did an online search of Chinese stores in Oakleigh and offered to read these out to Erin. He recalls her response:

She said she would not be able to recall even if I named each one.

Erin said they were purchased several months ago, in April, McDermott says.

He says Erin told him the Chinese grocer packaging had also been disposed of.

Erin Patterson trial day eight – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[Kemug]

Key Event
1m ago

Hospital used up all of its mushroom toxin medication on Ian and Heather, court told​

Ms Munro says Erin was stressed and repeated multiple times that she didn't want any of the treatment she was receiving.

She says Erin told her about the children eating the leftovers.

Ms Munro says that worried her, but that Erin had said she'd scraped the mushrooms off and the kids weren't sick.

Erin said she didn't want to cause them any hassle or take them them out of school, Ms Munro says.

The nurse says Erin became teary at that point.

She seems to be good at becoming teary.

 

[drsleuth]

Key Event
3m ago

The view from inside Courtroom 4​

By Kristian Silva​

While all of this evidence has been given today, a large contingent of the extended Wilkinson/Patterson family have been watching on.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson and his daughter Ruth Dubois are in the back row of the court, in view of Erin Patterson.

Erin is in the back of the courtroom in the dock, flanked by two security officers.

Erin Patterson visibly upset as daughter gives evidence at murder trial — as it happened

Medical staff who examined Ms Patterson in the aftermath of a deadly mushroom meal at her home have given evidence to a murder trial jury. Look back at how Thursday's hearing unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Eloise]

The reason I find it odd is that the judge made clear the hours of attendance at the outset, even commenting that people may find the sitting hours “pretty slack”.

If Mondays we to be non-sitting days then I would have expected him to have made that quite clear.

I hope this does not signal a level of inattentiveness in the jury, especially when it comes to their doing their own research and the potential that has for a mistrial.

Its already been brought up that the jury sometimes can't hear well, which I think is somewhat concerning

 

[drsleuth]

2m ago15.13 AEST
5m ago15.13 AEST
Prosecution calls next witness, Eleyne Spencer

On 31 July 2023, Eleyne Spencer was working as a paramedic in Leongatha, the court hears.

At 12.23pm that day Spencer and a colleague responded to a call to attend Leongatha hospital for Erin Patterson and transfer her to Monash medical centre.

Spencer said Patterson had complained of “extensive diarrhoea” over the past two days, nausea and abdominal pain but no vomiting.

She was provided Erin’s vitals and blood results which were in “normal ranges”.

Spencer says they also transported samples of the beef wellington dish to the Monash medical centre.

Erin Patterson trial day eight – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[drsleuth]

4m ago

Paramedic takes the stand​

By Melissa Brown​

Dr McDermott has finished giving evidence and the court is now hearing from Leongatha paramedic, Eleyne Spencer.

She and her partner were dispatched to Leongatha hospital to transfer Erin Patterson to Monash Medical Centre.

She says they were also told they were to transport a sample of the mushroom meal.

She says she was told Erin's vitals and blood results were normal, and when she first observed Erin she was alert, had good skin colour and no respiratory distress.

Erin Patterson visibly upset as daughter gives evidence at murder trial — as it happened

Medical staff who examined Ms Patterson in the aftermath of a deadly mushroom meal at her home have given evidence to a murder trial jury. Look back at how Thursday's hearing unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[drsleuth]

Key Event
1m ago

A 'calm and nonchalant' Erin taken to Melbourne by ambulance​

By Melissa Brown​

Paramedic Eleyne Spencer says Erin told them she had had diarrhoea up to 30 times before going to hospital.

But during the one hour and 40 minute trip from Leongatha to the Monash Medical Centre, she did not need to use the toilet.

Ms Spencer said during the trip, Erin complained of a headache that she rated as being 7 out of 10 on the pain scale.

She says her partner called the Poisons Information line to see if paracetamol would interact with the liver medication she'd already taken.

She says they were advised to give Erin fentanyl, and it was administered to her.

She described Erin as being “calm and nonchalant” during the trip, and that it was an uneventful journey.

Erin Patterson visibly upset as daughter gives evidence at murder trial — as it happened

Medical staff who examined Ms Patterson in the aftermath of a deadly mushroom meal at her home have given evidence to a murder trial jury. Look back at how Thursday's hearing unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[drsleuth]

1m ago06.20 BST

Erin Patterson was given fentanyl after reporting a ‘7 out of 10’ headache, court hears​

Before transferring her, Eleyne Spencer says the paramedics observed her returning from the toilet.

Ms Patterson visually appeared well

Spencer asked Erin to described her symptoms and Erin said she had diarrhoea between 25-30 times over the past two days.

She says Erin could get onto the stretcher unassisted. Spencer says she advised Erin if she needed to use the toilet during the 90-minute journey to Monash medical centre, she should let them know.

They departed Leongatha at 1.01pm and arrived at 2.40pm at Monash medical centre, the court hears.Spencer, who was driving the ambulance, says Erin did not require the toilet during this time. Her colleague was next to Erin.

Spencer says during the journey they administered Erin a medication, ondansetron, to treat the nausea she complained of.

Erin also reported a “seven out 10” headache and was given fentanyl because of the potential liver side-effects from paracetamol. Spencer’s colleague called the The Victorian Poisons Information Centre who advised fentanyl could be administered.

Intranasal fentanyl was then administered, the court hears.

That was effective.

She says Erin was “fairly calm and nonchalant” during the ambulance journey.

Spencer says she gave the beef wellington samples to a toxicologist at the Monash medical centre.

Erin’s children and Simon Patterson were at the hospital when the ambulance arrived, she says.

Erin Patterson trial day eight – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[SouthAussie]

She says Erin knew two of the lunch guests were in a coma.

Opportunity #9,999 to tell someone that she foraged for mushrooms.

 

[LordCyrus]

I hope this does not signal a level of inattentiveness in the jury, especially when it comes to their doing their own research and the potential that has for a mistrial.

Let's face it. A mistrial on the grounds of jury misconduct is her only hope.