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

[BreakingNews]

and no trace of the mushroom packaging?
If the leftovers were still in the bin why wasn’t the packaging?
When was her bin collection day?

Another thing
Her daughter reported her feeling ill before the kids ate the leftovers.
Surely you wouldn’t feed your kids a meal that made you feel ill or even a meal you’d prepared before feeling ill?

The leftovers were in a Woolworths bag

 

[Megnut]

The leftovers were in a Woolworths bag

Bet the grey plates were never scraped and washed. Binned.

JMO

 

[BreakingNews]

Erin’s reluctance to have the children seen and assessed makes no sense whatsoever unless she knew for certain that they hadn’t been exposed to the death caps. IMO.

If I was a juror that statement alone would push me towards “beyond a reasonable doubt.” I can’t imagine any reason why a mother would hesitate to learn that her kids were safe, no matter how much she disliked hospitals or didn’t want to upset them. Especially since witnesses described Erin as a doting mother. JMO

However this is not fact. Only an assumption. Jurors only look at facts as directed by the Judge. Having been on a jury in a murder trial, I look at this case differently than most here.
My experience only.

 

[Kemug]

I'm trying to remember if the alleged poisoning of Simon was before or after he had the temerity to write "separated"?

 

[Ellery84]

Erin Patterson’s son has told her trial his father did “lots of things to try and hurt mum.”

Is anyone else thinking parental alienation?

 

[Megnut]

Is anyone else thinking parental alienation?

Parental alienation with the children, triangulation with his parents.

A whole lot of drama and manipulation.

Control, not love, driving all of it.

She might say she was a loving mother, wife, daughter-in-law.

But I think she means controlling.

Air Traffic Controller. She comes by it honestly.

And possibly diagnostically. Histrionically. Pathologically. Patho = diseased. Diseased logic.

JMO

 

[Little Jack]

The son actually said that the plates from the lunch were white.

I assume these were dessert plates and the Wellington plates were already cleared from the table when he got home

 

[katydid23]

Erin’s reluctance to have the children seen and assessed makes no sense whatsoever unless she knew for certain that they hadn’t been exposed to the death caps. IMO.

If I was a juror that statement alone would push me towards “beyond a reasonable doubt.” I can’t imagine any reason why a mother would hesitate to learn that her kids were safe, no matter how much she disliked hospitals or didn’t want to upset them. Especially since witnesses described Erin as a doting mother. JMO

I agree. Her excuse was very weak. She's being told that her 4 lunch guests are in serious condition but she declines to have her 2 children checked out because it might scare them?

'Oh, I scraped off the mushrooms' is a ridiculous excuse if you are discussing potential Death Cap poisoning. Surely she knew that scraping off the mushrooms would not have protected her children---Unless, of course, she already knew they had the safe leftovers.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

During the trial Wilkinson said each plate had a serving of mashed potatoes, green beans, and an individually-cased beef Wellington, which resembled a pasty.

"When you cut into it, there was steak and mushrooms," he said.


And Patterson served her two children and herself “leftovers” from the meal, including steak, mashed potato, and green beans.

But the leftovers she had with her son and daughter with the steak and mashed potatoes.
wasn't the exact meal she prepared for lunch.
The beef WASN'T cased, just cubed according to her son.
There was no gravy, no sauce

What is strange is that Erin could have bought the safe mushrooms from Woolworths (as she previously lied about) the day before, without using a dehydrator

The poisonous mushrooms, including the death cap and yellow staining mushrooms, only appear in AUTUMN, when the weather becomes cooler and wetter.

She would have known this as she did belong to a foliage group

A user on iNaturalist, a website for tracking plants and fungi, finds death cap mushrooms in the Loch area and posts about them online.

She bought the dehydrator on April 28

The lunch was held on 29 July 2023

And the poisonous mushrooms, including the death cap and yellow staining mushrooms, only appear in autumn, when the weather becomes cooler and wetter

The timeline prosecutors alleged in the mushroom murder trial

Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth. Here's what we know about the case, based on material put to the jury.

www.abc.net.au

Australia mushroom murders trial: Erin Patterson’s daughter describes eating ‘leftovers’ of fatal lunch in police video

Court also hears from nurse who says triple murder accused told Leongatha hospital staff ‘I don’t want any of this’ in relation to treatment for suspected poisoning

www.theguardian.com

The timeline prosecutors alleged in the mushroom murder trial

Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth. Here's what we know about the case, based on material put to the jury.

www.abc.net.au

 

[seekingjustice**]

From what I’m learning throughout the trial, it seems to me that she really didn’t think anybody would suspect her or question her and that there would be a spotlight on her at all. I think she was shocked by the medical intervention, the police going to her house, the media attention etc.

Maybe her original plan was simply to poison Simon. She could have invited all the other dinner guests as a cover, with only Simon meant to fall ill and die —no one else affected. His death might have been put down as another unexplained illness, like the one he had before, avoiding any investigation. But when Simon turned down the invite the day before, was she furious and decided to retaliate by poisoning his family instead.

 

[katydid23]

​

15m ago

'Mum told me' dinner was beef Wellington leftovers​

OK< hold up-----The kids had leftover Wellington for DINNER? What time did she serve them dinner? This was the day after the luncheon, right?

She didn't know, by dinnertime, that her lunch guests were in the hospital?

Am I nuts for thinking this is crazy? How could she not know already about them all being sick?

And didn't she tell her daughter that she had been sick during the night and had to use the toilet repeatedly?

Erin Patterson took son on hours-long drive despite feeling sick, murder trial hears — as it happened

Erin Patterson is accused of murdering three relatives by serving them a beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms. Look back at how the day in court unfolded.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Bats]

However this is not fact. Only an assumption. Jurors only look at facts as directed by the Judge. Having been on a jury in a murder trial, I look at this case differently than most here.
My experience only.

Yes, i know this too @BreakingNews

The judge instructs the jurors to "use their heads, not their hearts" .
"Ms Patterson does not have to prove anything. That never changes from start to finish," he said.

Quite different in a forum like this where people are free to speculate.
People are free to presume guilt.
People are free to state "the defence don’t have a lot to work with", without understanding they simply don't need anything.

 

[katydid23]

Erin tells son she was 'a bit sick' the day after lunch​

By Tim Callanan​

Playback of the police interview with Erin Patterson's son has resumed.

He says he returned to their home with his mother about 6pm after dropping his friend home. His father dropped his sister to Erin's house later that night.

He says his sister got home around 9pm but he is not sure whether his father came into the house.

The police officer conducting the interview is now asking Erin's son about the day after the lunch. He says he saw his mother in the morning drinking coffee and she told him she was "feeling a bit sick" and had diarrhea.

He says they were supposed to go to church but didn't end up going because his mother was unwell.

He says Erin drove him to a flying lesson in Tyabb that morning but he "doesn't know why she did that" as she was unwell.

His mom was unwell but she still served the kids leftovers from the meal that gave her the runs?

 

[katydid23]

#1 makes me so sad. Reads like a child was purposefully burdened with his mother's grown up grievances.

May take a child a lifetime to unpeeling the damage of growing up with a narcissist for a parent.

#4 what? Hold up. She told him he was eating the same meat from the meal that was making everyone else ill????? Was she trying to scare him? Something very proxy munchauseny about that. Here, let me shake up your foundation so you'll need me for support.

JMO

So either she hadn't been told yet about the lunch guests being in the hospital

OR

She had been notified and she went ahead and gave the kids the leftovers anyway.


It is hard to believe that Simon wouldn't have called earlier than dinner time to see if his kids were OK. Wouldn't he worry that they were going to eat leftovers?

 

[Ellery84]

Bear with me:

Interview with Erin’s son as played to the court May 9, 2025:

“Just like the interviewer did with his sister, he was asked a few questions about mushrooms and one of these questions evoked a memory he had of a period of time during the pandemic.

He explained how him and his mum took a walk through the botanic gardens near their home and they spotted some mushrooms that were growing. <Again, these are his words. It's not his voice.>

“It was just a very fond memory in my head. We were talking about how mushrooms grow, how they grow with the trees and they support each other.”



From The Mushroom Cook: The Trial: The son's testimony, 9 May 2025

The Trial: The son's testimony

Podcast Episode · The Mushroom Cook · 09/05/2025 · 10m

podcasts.apple.com

This material may be protected by copyright.

This is my theory: Mushrooms grow with the trees and they support each other: There is a symbiotic relationship there. That’s why I think she used mushrooms in her lunch and as a poison, because families are supposed to support each other and grow together, like the mushrooms and the trees - and her family wasn’t supporting her.

So it’s the irony, there.

Motive.
Mushrooms and trees have a symbiotic relationship, called mycorrhizae, where both benefit. Mushrooms, which are the fruiting bodies of fungi, form a network of hyphae (thread-like structures) in the soil that intertwines with tree roots. This network helps trees absorb water and nutrients from the soil, while the trees provide the fungi with carbohydrates produced during photosynthesis.

 

[katydid23]

Here are the updates today from The Guardian

Canavan will challenge Littleproud for Nationals leadership – as it happened

This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

5h ago10.59 AEST

Erin Patterson’s trial resumes with video of daughter giving evidence​

Adeshola Ore
We’re following Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial today and will bring you live updates.

Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.

Patterson’s daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has given pre-recorded video evidence. The prosecution began playing the video, where she was interviewed by police, on Thursday.

In the remainder of the video shown this morning, her daughter recalls what happened the day after the lethal lunch. The interviewers ask Patterson’s daughter about her previous evidence that she ate leftovers of the mushroom meal with her mother and brother.

Patterson’s daughter says her mother told her they were eating the leftovers of the lunch.

The police officer asks: “What did she say?”

Patterson’s daughter says:


I remember I was asking her what we were having that night and she said she was making leftovers from yesterday’s lunch.

4h ago11.08 AEST

Adeshola Ore
Patterson a ‘very good cook’, daughter says

Erin Patterson’s daughter has told the trial her mother was a “very good cook”.

The daughter’s pre-recorded video evidence is being played to the jury in Patterson’s triple murder trial.

Asked by the police officer what her mother would cook, she says Patterson had made “lots of stuff before”.

Patterson’s daughter tells the interviewer she does not like mushrooms but sometimes eats them. She says her mother sometimes bought mushrooms at the IGA in Korumburra or Woolworths in Leongatha.

Asked about the last time she bought mushrooms with her mother, she says she cannot remember. She says she had not been to an Asian grocery shop before with her mother.


3h ago12.45 AEST

Adeshola Ore
Erin Paterson’s son gives evidence in murder trial

Back to the Patterson trial.

Erin Patterson’s son has told her trial his father did “lots of things to try and hurt mum.”


3h ago12.59 AEST

Erin Patterson’s son tells court he ate leftovers of mushroom meal the next day​

"He says his mother complained of dizziness and diarrhoea and did not eat any leftovers."

There ^^^we go! Mom was dizzy and had diarrhoea, so she didn't have any leftovers, just served them to her children????? WHO DOES THAT?

I hope the jury is picking up on that little tidbit.

 

[JBowie]

People are free to state "the defence don’t have a lot to work with", without understanding they simply don't need anything.

In a criminal trial, the defence's role is to represent and protect the rights of the accused, ensuring a fair trial and advocating for their interests. They do this by challenging the prosecution's evidence, presenting their own witnesses and evidence, and making arguments to establish reasonable doubt or an alternative explanation for the events. [bbm]

So far, I am not impressed with EP's defence team's efforts in any of the above, but especially the reasonable doubt and alternative explanation bit. IMO EP's actions, as testified by witnesses, does not leave the defence with much to work with.

 

[Deleted member 194006]

Ian's testimony was that Erin told them about the cancer diagnosis only after lunch was finished. Then while they were talking about it, the son returned home, cutting short their discussion.

I'd be very surprised if the dirty plates were just left out on the table after lunch while they had their talk. Maybe the dessert / fruit plates, but not the remnants of the Beef Wellington. In which case, I don't think the son would have even seen the grey plates.

I agree! I think they were definitely dessert plates. He said they were only approx 15cm in diameter which is way too small for dinner plates

 

[Warshawski]

DBM …. sorry, I’m totally confused

 

[Kemug]

I agree! I think they were definitely dessert plates. He said they were only approx 15cm in diameter which is way too small for dinner plates

Plus cake and a fruit platter lend themselves to being served on a smallish flattish plate, not like a soft pudding with custard for example, which is more easily handled in a bowl.