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

[Scooby-Doo]

To be fair to Erin, she had (allegedly) just unleashed what she thought was a mastermind plot to kill four or five people and then suddenly found that a lot of questions were being asked. That would have to be pretty anxiety provoking and would probably give just about anyone a case of the runs.

Sounds like she got over it pretty quickly though, given that she managed not to sh.t herself on the three hour round trip to the flying school and back, nor during the almost two hour trip in the ambulance. So it can't have been too bad.

Unless her pants had tight elastic around the ankles.

 

[Detechtive]

I don't think there was any gravy IMO

I didn’t think so either but I heard something maybe in the opening about a reheatable packet gravy. I can’t for the life of me find it

 

[Detechtive]

To be fair to Erin, she had (allegedly) just unleashed what she thought was a mastermind plot to kill four or five people and then suddenly found that a lot of questions were being asked. That would have to be pretty anxiety provoking and would probably give just about anyone a case of the runs.

Sounds like she got over it pretty quickly though, given that she managed not to sh.t herself on the three hour round trip to the flying school and back, nor during the almost two hour trip in the ambulance. So it can't have been too bad.

Yeah last time I had a tummy bug I definitely didn’t find it convenient like she did, where it only appears when she’s not busy.

Additionally, I didn’t really feel like eating donuts, hotdogs, dimsims, coffee, steak, mash, beans or anything actually, except for hydralite icypoles

 

[Detechtive]

I hate to be a killjoy, but I think she's going to get off.

Even if she gets off murder I can’t see her getting away with recklessly endangering 4 peoples lives and obstructing justice.

 

[Detechtive]

Let's put it this way, I had no reasonable doubt at all that Greg Lynn murdered Russell Hill. Especially due to the horrible way Lynn covered up his actions afterwards. But the jury found reasonable doubt. So there you go.

I see your point, and I had no doubt at all he murdered him on purpose, but during that trial I remember thinking that the defence did a pretty good job of making it sound accidental. I suspected he would have a good chance of getting off that charge at the time.

I can’t see that here, but we are dealing with cooking and not a gun, and people don’t want to believe that women can murder in cold blood, so I’m not totally confident.

 

[Old Soul]

I didn’t think so either but I heard something maybe in the opening about a reheatable packet gravy. I can’t for the life of me find it

Well according to Erin there was gravy, whether it is true is another thing…..

“Sally Ann Atkinson, from Victoria’s Department of Health, spoke to Erin for 4½ hours on August 1 before she was discharged from hospital.

In that conversation, Rogers said, Erin told Atkinson that the lunch had consisted of beef Wellington, mashed potato and beans served with gravy from a reheated packet.”

Alleged mushroom cook didn’t ingest death caps, ‘no record’ she had cancer, jury told: Trial day one, as it happened

Erin Patterson is facing trial after pleading not guilty over a fatal mushroom lunch. Today, Nanette Rogers, SC, will present the prosecution’s case against Patterson.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[Spectrix]

Even if she gets off murder I can’t see her getting away with recklessly endangering 4 peoples lives and obstructing justice.

IMO, I'm really hoping its full murder (x3) attempted murder x1, and whatever else they can throw.
It's not just that she killed three people, it's the method by which the final days of their lives were so painful, unpleasant and undignified.
The abuse of trust to people that loved and cared about her, and clearly intending to kill the entire family of her own children.

I hope that the sentencing is reflected by the gravity of everything she's done. She should be made to spend the rest of her days behind bars with no chance of continuing her life after parole, because she made sure that each of her victims had no chance to continue their own lives, not just through the initial poisoning, but by withholding information (about foraging) that meant that they didn't receive treatment that could have saved them until it was too late.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Do we know when police first entered her home, and how many times? When was the first search done? I wonder if laxatives were found, or if they even looked for those at that point? Not that it necessary means anything, it's just a standard type of medication you may find in a number of medicine cabinets in your average home.

 

[katydid23]

4. The jury was shown CCTV footage of a woman disposing of a dehydrator at a tip, the Koonwarra Transfer Station And Landfill, on 2 August – four days after the lunch.

"A woman"? Any doubt about who that woman was? Poor court reporting by Adeshola Ore. If it was EP then say it was EP. Makes me wonder if some of these reporters are actually in court.

I think they did connect the dots because they said that investigators found that video only because they traced her debit card and found her payment to the tip.

So the jury was told she paid the fee to dispose of the dehydrator and then they saw the video of a woman in red----who most likely looked very much like the defendant.

 

[srper2]

Yes, I had originally assumed it would be the traditional style (pictured) in which case isolating the mushroom mince/paste/duxelle for herself and children would have been quite difficult and fraught with danger. Much easier for that purpose to make them as individual pasties.

I wonder if she marked the pastry, like bakeries do with pies?

Now I am imagining ones marked with a cross designated for the religious guests. Ones with hearts for her and the children...

 

[srper2]

The information we have is that:

• Erin claimed to have scraped the mushrooms off an extra Beef Wellington for the kids.
• Remnants of Beef Wellington were said to be found in her bin.
• There is CCTV of Hospital staff inspecting a leftover Beef Wellington retrieved from her bin.

The notion of an extra Beef Wellington isn't exactly an obscure thought, is it? Whether the kids ate it or not.
Maybe there was a leftover untainted wellington, maybe there was a leftover poison wellington which was intended to be Simon's and was later binned. Maybe both.

Court shown footage of doctor photographing leftover Beef Wellington​

The footage is of Dr Foote handling the leftover Beef Wellington that had been retrieved from Erin Patterson's bin on July 31, 2023.
Dr Foote, wearing gloves, can be seen pulling a dark-coloured substance out of a brown Woolworths paper bag, presumably the filling of the Beef Wellington. Then she retrieves a larger piece, the outer pastry of a Beef Wellington.

Edit - added source from ABC News

Wasn't it already clarified in court that the guests ate all of their beef wellingtons, one guest finished his wifes beef wellington when she didnlt eat it all. So the only leftovers were conveniently the unpoisoned scraps.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

It's a different leftovers that was examined

Not the one that were served for lunch ..

Her son said when questioned about the leftovers,"It was a block, and I cut it up into cubes and ate it," he says.He says the meat did not have anything on it. He explains his mother told him it was leftovers, and there was no gravy with it.

Her daughter said .. She also described eating the leftovers, saying there was no gravy or other ingredients other than steak, mashed potatoes, and beans.

But A photo is shown to the court today, which is the same photo emailed to Dr Truong on July 31.It shows a picture of the beef Wellington PASTRY and some of the finely-chopped brown filling.

What her children described about the leftovers didn't have this.

And none of them got sick, when three people had died supposedly eating these 'leftovers'

Errin even decided to drive to a flying lesson the next morning, which was about an hour and ten minutes

stopping to get some dims sims and a hot dog while his mother got a coffee.

Erin's son then explains they had a meal and watched TV that evening

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

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

 

[TootsieFootsie]

DBM

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Even if she gets off murder I can’t see her getting away with recklessly endangering 4 peoples lives and obstructing justice.

If she does get off, I can't see her moving back to Leongatha.

 

[katydid23]

Is the defence causing reasonable doubt for anyone at this point?

They are making some 'points' but I'm not sure they are all that relevant ones, so far.

Like today, so much discussion of how difficult it can be to recognise Death Caps vs safe mushrooms. But then they tied it into examples of recent accidental poisonings---but in those cases the cook and forager were all victims as well--unlike Erin.

So it didn't help the defense that much--- more like it pointed out the obvious problem with her case.

And the dehydrator is a big problem for them----she allegedly bought one on the same day she allegedly went hunting for Death Caps. But then quickly tipped it when her luncheon guests were in the hospital diagnosed with deadly mushroom poisoning.

So the only excuse they have set forth so far is that she panicked and didn't want to admit she accidentally poisoned them.

I guess today's testimony was trying to fortify that defense:
Recognising safe vs deadly mushrooms is hard
People do accidentally get poisoned
Erin did have gastric problems that day


I can see where they are trying to go but don't think they got there yet.

Let's put it this way, I had no reasonable doubt at all that Greg Lynn murdered Russell Hill. Especially due to the horrible way Lynn covered up his actions afterwards. But the jury found reasonable doubt. So there you go.

Yup, same problem with the Casey Anthony trial.

 

[Spectrix]

Wasn't it already clarified in court that the guests ate all of their beef wellingtons, one guest finished his wifes beef wellington when she didnlt eat it all. So the only leftovers were conveniently the unpoisoned scraps.

Yes the leftovers that she volunteered the location of for the police to find were found to be clear.

Although we don't know if there was an extra serve of tainted wellington for SImon given that she was preying he'd change his mind about attending. Or perhaps bits and pieces of tainted leftovers from the guests. If there was anything left, she likely flushed it.

IMO, the reason she insisted on checking her self out of hospital (despite the doctors protests) as soon as questions were being asked, was to give herself time to go home, dispose of evidence, and then stage the non-tainted leftovers for the health authorities to find.
Remember that she even packed ONLY the untainted leftover wellington into a nice visible Woolworths bag for them? No other rubbish in with that lot.

 

[katydid23]

I hate to say it but I think she's going to get off.

I don't. How can anyone ignore that the doctors were asking her how to save those 4 victims and she blocked their questions, continued to lie, and 3 lovely good people died a gruesome death.

I don't think she will just walk away from that with no repercussions.

 

[katydid23]

I think this is a very difficult case to prove intent, especially the nature of the case being one of the first of its kind, a family intentionally poisoned with death caps when typically poisoning is accidental, it would not surprise me if she were found not guilty on the murder charges.

Typically mushroom poisonings are accidental. But this case seems atypical.

I think the FB posts saying how she was secretly putting powdered mushrooms into everything with no one knowing---those are very telling.

Those posts about her 'practicing' how to disguise the taste of mushroom powder can be very incriminating.

Is it accidental poisoning if they find Toxins on her dehydrator and she admits she used powdered mushrooms in her luncheon recipe?

In accidental poisonings, the guests and the cook KNOW they were eating freshly foraged mushrooms.

The victims in this case were never told they were being served foraged mushrooms.

Why did she keep that a secret from her guests?

 

[Eloise]

Is the defence causing reasonable doubt for anyone at this point?

No. I'd need the defence to have a reason for why she was so confident to feed the leftovers to her kids after everyone else was sick already, and then refusing to have them tested. If there was a reasonable, sensible, believable explanation for that, then yes I'd say there's reasonable doubt that it was deliberate murder, and everything else could be explained away as panic, embarrassment, confusion etc. I'd argue that imo, it was still some kind of negligence, but she's not up for that as a charge

I would not be surprised if she's found not guilty tbh, though I also think there's a good chance she'll be found guilty. If that makes sense. I still think it could go either way. Depends on evidence to come.

I don't. How can anyone ignore that the doctors were asking her how to save those 4 victims and she blocked their questions, continued to lie, and 3 lovely good people died a gruesome death.

I don't think she will just walk away from that with no repercussions.

Even if she gets off murder I can’t see her getting away with recklessly endangering 4 peoples lives and obstructing justice.

I think manslaughter would be a much easier and more likely charge to prove beyond reasonable doubt, tbh. Death caused by recklessness or negligence.

 

[JBowie]

I think they did connect the dots because they said that investigators found that video only because they traced her debit card and found her payment to the tip.

So the jury was told she paid the fee to dispose of the dehydrator and then they saw the video of a woman in red----who most likely looked very much like the defendant.

In a murder trial I expect either the prosecution, in their questioning of a witness or witnesses, to assert that the woman shown is definitely the accused and the defence in their cross-examination to create doubt about it.

I don't expect the jury to be shown video "a woman" and have to guess that it's EP. IMO, something is missing here.

Oh to be present and see and hear all of this through my own eyes and ears.