Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #9 *Arrest*

[SouthAussie]

“I introduced myself as the director of the public health unit.

“When I introduced myself, Erin asked if they (the others in the room) could be excused while I spoke to her, I said that was fine. She told me it was her ex husband and her two children.

Didn't feel free to speak about the source of the meal in front of the children and Simon?

 

[Jess D]

4m ago

Court adjourns​

​

By Judd Boaz​

Ms Stafford says this is "the beginning of an exercise", and with more testimony expected from Dr May, Justice Beale takes the opportunity to break for the day.

We'll hear more from mycologist Tom May tomorrow, with the defence continuing its questioning over the characteristics of mushrooms, toxic or otherwise.

Mushroom expert quizzed on death cap identification in Erin Patterson trial — as it happened

An internationally recognised fungi expert has given evidence in the trial of Erin Patterson, who is accused of murdering three relatives with a poisoned beef Wellington meal. Look back at how the day unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

Patterson's Defence are definitely going to push that she accidentally picked poisonous mushrooms...

 

[drsleuth]

I'm looking forward to see what digital evidence the cops have & any other evidence

 

[Jess D]

I'm looking forward to see what digital evidence the cops have & any other evidence

When I was going through a family law case years ago, a good friend said to me "Save your biggest gun till last". Let's hope that the prosecution and the police have something big up their sleeve...

 

[drsleuth]

Key Event
1h ago

What the jury heard today​

By Judd Boaz​

The third week of the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial has begun, with testimony heard from a range of medical practitioners who treated the mother of two following a deadly lunch.

We also heard from a mycologist (an expert in fungi and mushrooms), who shed some light on the toxic death cap mushroom species at the centre of the lunch.

Here's what we learned:

1. 1.Erin Patterson claimed to have experienced diarrhoea and vomiting after the lunch, but by August 1 showed no signs of death cap mushroom poisoning and was healthy enough to be discharged.
2. 2.Mycologist Tom May confirmed only three recent observations had been made of death cap mushrooms in Gippsland; in Loch, Outtrim and near Morwell.
3. 3.Dr May says he personally observed death cap mushrooms near Outtrim in May 2023, and posted his observations with precise location data to the iNaturalist website.
4. 4.Dr May says mushroom poisoning is most commonly caused by mistaken identity— when someone thinks they’re collecting one type of mushroom but the species is confused with something else that is toxic.
5. 5.Dr May told the court that many apps available for identifying wild mushrooms are inaccurate and can give wrong classifications.

1h ago

More Q+A with the Mushroom Case Daily​

K
By Kristian Silva and Stephen Stockwell​

The ABC’s podcast Mushroom Case Daily podcast team are on the ground in Morwell, and this week we’re answering your questions.

If you have a question, you can send it to: [email protected].

Q: The defence has not necessarily challenged that much about the prosecution's case. Does that give us any insight into their strategy for how they're going try and defend Erin Patterson?

At the end of the day, the onus is on the prosecution to prove the case.

They have to come up with the evidence that is solid, that satisfies the jury beyond reasonable doubt that she's guilty of these charges, and if they can't do that, Erin Patterson's not guilty.

It's as simple as that. The onus is on the prosecution.

Q: Will Erin Patterson give evidence? – Geoff

We are all hanging out for the answer to that and we'll find out when the prosecution closes its case.

The defense will get its chance to state if they have any evidence or any witnesses they would like to call, and if so, Erin Patterson may be one of those witnesses, but we have to wait in anticipation.

Mushroom expert quizzed on death cap identification in Erin Patterson trial — as it happened

An internationally recognised fungi expert has given evidence in the trial of Erin Patterson, who is accused of murdering three relatives with a poisoned beef Wellington meal. Look back at how the day unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[drsleuth]

If you're just tuning in, here's the key evidence from today​

Thank you for joining us for the first day of the third week of Erin Patterson’s trial.
Here’s a recap of today’s evidence:

1. Dr Tom May, a mycologist or fungi specialist, gave the jurors a lesson in amanita phalloides or death cap mushrooms. He said they grow near oak trees and were not native to Australia. The court heard death caps are “typically greenish or yellowish”, but “may be whitish or brownish with or without white patches”.

2. Dr May spoke about a citizen science website called iNaturalist. He said there have been three reports of death caps in the Gippsland region, namely in Loch, Outtrim and Morwell. The observations in Loch and Outtrim were posted on iNaturalist in April and May 2023. He confirmed he posted the observation of death caps in Outtrim after spotting them on a walk. The court heard he provided a “very precise” pin for the mushrooms.

3. The jury was shown a photo of more than a dozen slices of mushrooms, with a yellow tinge, laid out on a tray on top of a set of kitchen scales. Dr May said he believed the mushrooms pictured were consistent with amanita phalloides or death cap mushrooms with “a high level of confidence”. But he added: “But there are potentially other mushrooms that could look the same when presented in this way.”

4. Professor Rhonda Stuart, a director of the local public health unit at Monash Health, and Dr Laura Muldoon, an emergency registrar at Monash Health, told the court Erin denied using foraged or wild mushrooms for the beef wellington when asked.

5. Dr Muldoon said there were no signs of “amanita poisoning” or toxic mushroom poisoning after Erin’s blood tests came back on August 1, three days after the lunch.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/trial-for-accused-mushroom-cook-killer-erin-patterson-resumes/live-coverage/6fd8204a5e2d7dbf4934b94634421ed7?amp#scroll-to-31573695

 

[Eloise]

Patterson's Defence are definitely going to push that she accidentally picked poisonous mushrooms...

Yep, been that way from the start. With her admitting she did forage them, the only possible option is that it was accidental. Which is why her not being poisoned (and probably also the feeding it to the kids, seemingly confident they'd be ok) is the main thing in the prosecution's favour, I think. Not sure if any other aspect is more important, other than some kind of evidence that hasn't been shown yet?

 

[Detechtive]

Yep, been that way from the start. With her admitting she did forage them, the only possible option is that it was accidental. Which is why her not being poisoned (and probably also the feeding it to the kids, seemingly confident they'd be ok) is the main thing in the prosecution's favour, I think. Not sure if any other aspect is more important, other than some kind of evidence that hasn't been shown yet?

Digital evidence - what she searched for, what she hid, what she deleted, etc. I think those will be damning.

 

[Eloise]

Digital evidence - what she searched for, what she hid, what she deleted, etc. I think those will be damning.

fingers crossed we'll get to find out all about that!

 

[Spectrix]

Q: Will Erin Patterson give evidence? –

We are all hanging out for the answer to that and we'll find out when the prosecution closes its case.

The defense will get its chance to state if they have any evidence or any witnesses they would like to call, and if so, Erin Patterson may be one of those witnesses, but we have to wait in anticipation.

We've seen her reaction to being asked the simplest of questions by journalists.
She'd be so destroyed on the stand that there'd be nothing left of her to put in jail afterwards.

 

[ch_13]

We've seen her reaction to being asked the simplest of questions by journalists.
She'd be so destroyed on the stand that there'd be nothing left of her to put in jail afterwards.

It's quite the conundrum for the defense...if Erin has any chance of being found not guilty, they have to convince the jury this was all just a terrible accident. And there are a lot of details that only she can provide: Like what did she tell the group about her "cancer"? How did she prepare the BW so that the other four were poisoned but she was unharmed? Why did she lie to the police about where the mushrooms came from?

But the cross-examination is going to be withering and I agree with you. The interview snippets we've seen to date do not suggest a woman who'll stand up well to pressure.

 

[Megnut]

It's possible she didn't realize they were death cap mushrooms when she foraged for them.

It's not possible for her not to know she foraged for mushrooms and dehydrated some.

 

[Megnut]

Where did Erin store her dehydrated, foraged mushrooms?

In her home where children lived.

Terrible risk.

 

[Kemug]

I wonder how the children felt when (presumably for the first time) they learnt that Mum had been putting mushrooms into their brownies?

 

[Kemug]

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC put it to Simon that he had asked Erin - two days after the lunch - "is that what you used to poison them?", referring to the food dehydrator.
"I did not say that to Erin," Simon responded.

RSBM
So, strictly speaking, Simon may have said it to someone else?

 

[katydid23]

03:14

Leading fungi expert on death cap mushrooms​

Mycologist Tom May, who is an internationally recognised fungi expert, told the jury death cap mushrooms can only be found beneath or close to oak trees or trees within the oak family.
Dr May, a mushroom expert who was the principal fungi research scientist at the Royal Botanical Gardens, said death caps had a 'symbiotic' relationship with oak trees.
He explained this means death caps can't live without an oak tree.
'In Australia it has only been reported with the oak family,' Dr May said.
The mushroom expert described death caps as mostly orangey in colour, but could be whiteish or brownish.
He said they change their appearance as they matured.
Dr May told the jury death cap mushrooms - known scientifically as amanita phalloides (pictured below) - were believed to have been accidentally introduced into Australia from Europe and were first detected in Victoria in the 1970s.
He said the mushrooms were 'relatively short lived' in the wild due to wet conditions and insects.
Dr May said death caps wouldn't last much longer in a refrigerator due to the fungi being infested with insects that 'keep working away' at the mushrooms.
The jury heard button mushrooms last longer in the fridge because they weren't infested with insects.
Dr May said there were many publicly available online databases that contained information regarding death cap mushrooms.
He said iNaturalist is Australia's largest publicly accessible citizen scientist app for uploading information about fungi.

Dr May told the jury you need an account to post information about wild mushroom, but don't need an account to view 'precise location information'.
'You can readily find the location of certain species,' he said.
Dr May also said iNaturalist contains information on where death cap mushrooms can be found.
He said death caps appear as red dots on a map and when you click on the dot it shows information including the image, date of observation and person who made the observation.
An image shown in court included the exact location of death caps in a suburban park.

The jury heard a death cap was detected in Loch on April 18, 2023.
The doctor said death cap mushrooms have been found in the ACT, NSW and parts of Victoria, including Gippsland towns Outtrim, Loch and Morwell.
In Victoria, death caps grow throughout metro Melbourne to the east into the Dandenong Ranges and in the west to Gisborne and Bendigo, the jury was told.
Overseas, the doctor said death caps, outside of their native Europe, have been detected in the United States and New Zealand, but not in Asia or China.
Dr May said cases involving death cap mushrooms occured when people ingested the deadly fungi by mistake.
Dr May, who published a book in 2021, told the jury toxins found in death caps can be in found other mushrooms.
In 2023, one poisoning involved a Chinese tourist who ate a mushroom, became sick, went to hospital, showed early signs of organ failure, but left hospital a week later.
In 24 other cases of reported wild mushroom poisonings, patients experienced gastro symptoms, but none involved organ damage.

Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates

Follow Daily Mail Australia's live coverage of accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson's murder trial here.

www.dailymail.co.uk

MAYBE, instead of the Naturalist showing photos pinpointing exactly where Dearth Caps are growing---maybe people who see death caps should be destroying them?

OR are they important for the eo-system? Do they support Oak Trees in some way? I know mushrooms in general are important to trees.

But just in terms of the Death Caps specifically, would it be better to destroy them upon identifying them rather than posting pictures of their location?

Or is it a warning that there are possibly others in that area?

 

[Bats]

It's possible she didn't realize they were death cap mushrooms when she foraged for them.

It's not possible for her not to know she foraged for mushrooms and dehydrated some.

Where did Erin store her dehydrated, foraged mushrooms?

In her home where children lived.

Terrible risk

I think you're highlighting exactly what the defence are proposing here @Megnut

 

[Porky1]

Could be FODMAP.

Agree.

Look at the Monash FODMAP links. You can’t introduce foods slowly to see how much you can manage. No need to give up completely.

 

[Reneemaree88]

This video from the project, which aired tonight. States the leftovers found at Erin’s property, were tested but did not contain death cap mushrooms. Prosecution argues, these leftovers were not part of the meal served to guest.

 

[Old Soul]

Digital evidence - what she searched for, what she hid, what she deleted, etc. I think those will be damning.

Yes I hope the digital evidence will be enlightening.

The website and app iNaturalist (where the death cap mushroom locations were tagged) for example, logs when people log in and what actions they take while using the platform.

I wonder if EP’s user activity on iNaturalist can be linked to the timing and locations of her visits to Loch and Outtrim.

• Personal Information Collection:
  iNaturalist collects various types of data, including IP addresses, device IDs, browser types, and the date and time of each visitor request.
• Login Attempts as Data:
  Login attempts are considered a form of interaction with the platform and, as such, are tracked as part of the collected data.
  
  
  iNaturalist Privacy Policy Privacy Policy · iNaturalist Australia.