GUILTY Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 *Arrest* #18

[Susjay]

I would argue that she was a 'really good mum'.

I’m not comfortable with the “good mother” label for this person. I don’t buy it. Based on what we know about the mother’s character, I have little doubt the children were subjected to her lies and manipulative behaviour. I also imagine they witnessed a good deal of vitriol and venom directed toward their father. The crimes committed by the mother have completely blown the children’s lives apart, thereby thrusting them into the spotlight forever. All this done by their mother’s hand. I would hope she could express remorse to them but I doubt it. I sincerely wish the children and their families all the best.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Agree. I don't know how children move on from this. Especially if it's true they visit her etc. A clean break with a lot of specialist counselling and maybe a fresh start in a new area with new names is my sort of vision but in all realisticness a) they may not wish to and b) that's pretty costly and traumatic in and of itself.

Honestly, they can't win. The damage is done and now they're left to pick up the pieces. Best case scenario, Simon wraps them up in love, stability and normality. He keeps a circle of trusted friends and loved ones, the ones still alive that is, around him. He gets them thorough counselling and allows them to grieve, get angry, cry, whatever is deemed healthy. If it all becomes too much, relocating and starting fresh is not the worst of ideas. Unfortunately, they're not alone, far too many kids are paying for the sins of their parents. We can only hope they rise above their childhood and succeed in all areas of life.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

I’m not comfortable with the “good mother” label for this person. I don’t buy it. Based on what we know about the mother’s character, I have little doubt the children were subjected to her lies and manipulative behaviour. I also imagine they witnessed a good deal of vitriol and venom directed toward their father. The crimes committed by the mother have completely blown the children’s lives apart, thereby thrusting them into the spotlight forever. All this done by their mother’s hand. I would hope she could express remorse to them but I doubt it. I sincerely wish the children and their families all the best.

Taking you children to ballet lessons or flying lessons doesn't make you a good mother. Murdering your children's grandparents makes you a terrible mother...

 

[CityKid]

I would argue that she was a 'really good mum'.

I'd say she did the things that would make her look like a "really good mum" to outsiders, but those were performative things she could afford. MOO

 

[Susjay]

Taking you children to ballet lessons or flying lessons doesn't make you a good mother. Murdering your children's grandparents makes you a terrible mother...

I think you might be onto something there

 

[MaxDecimus13]

IIRC she didn't 'put them on the true crime group'.

The photo shared in the group chat with Erin's FB friends was of button mushrooms in the dehydrator. The photos of the mushrooms identified by fungi expert Tom May as death cap mushrooms were found by police investigators on a tablet.

Erin's FB friend Jenny Hay testimony was that Erin never talked about foraging for mushrooms.

Leftovers, a dehydrator and CCTV: The evidence that convicted Erin Patterson

The jury in Erin Patterson's trial sat through weeks of evidence before convicting her of murder. Here's some of the key pieces shown to the jury during the trial.

www.abc.net.au

'One of Patterson's Facebook friends, Daniela Barkley, also gave police screenshots of a chat they were in together.

One of the images shows a message Patterson sent where she told her Facebook friends she'd been blitzing mushrooms so that she could hide them in food to feed her children.

Others showed images of a mushrooms in the dehydrator.'




View attachment 602419View attachment 602421

Thanks for clearing this up.

 

[jesse]

Agree. I don't know how children move on from this. Especially if it's true they visit her etc. A clean break with a lot of specialist counselling and maybe a fresh start in a new area with new names is my sort of vision but in all realisticness a) they may not wish to and b) that's pretty costly and traumatic in and of itself.

Personally, I think you allow them to see her as often as they like, and yes, make sure they are in regular counseling.

If I were Simon, I'd allow them to talk to me about it as much as they like, but I probably wouldn't talk about her much except in very distant, sort of matter-of-fact tones. "Yes, I'm afraid I think the jury got it right". "Yes, I do believe she murdered grandma and grandpa" etc. But without vitriol and without making them ashamed of having feelings for her, if they do.

They have to be allowed to work through whatever their feelings are without feeling like they "shouldn't" feel a certain way or that they owe it to their dad and uncle to not still have an attachment to her.

It could take years. It could take forever.

Oh, and I wouldn't change their names. At their age, as you said, it would be traumatic.

 

[Warshawski]

I find this common with family annihilators, DV killers etc. They seem to have so little respect and so much contempt for their 'loved ones' that they seem to think that nobody will care about them dying and not want to fully investigate

Wow, is it a ‘common’ occurrence? … maybe I need to be on the alert !

Sorry , I do think I understand your sentiments, and tho becoming more & more concerning, I so hope that behaviour doesn’t become accepted as ‘common’.

People have heard me lament that fact that I see the ‘loss of basic values’ as an epidemic that’s destroying our society, and no it’s almost from the time of birth for many.
It seems that Life is Cheap for so many people - yet I do question if they’d find their own life so easily dispensed with…. and I actually doubt it for the most. DV killers are very troubled individuals, way lost to any salvation at that point - many will kill themselves too, even if it’s later . IMO that’s a whole different discussion.

But this is about EP - and I don’t think it was a case of her thinking ‘nobody will care about them dying so won’t fully investigated

IMO Erin is all about ensuring situations were to her liking - and if not, she will go about making the changes required to bring that to be.

In this case she was absolutely sure of the plan she’d put in place & was quite comfortable with how she’d carried it all out.

And although her plan got a bit hijacked because the guests presented to hospital, she was confident in the story she’d worked out & that was how it would be (she needed them to die so she wasn’t about to give information now that might save them !)

She was also quite confident and blaze in Police interviews & property searches, even to the point of what I call ‘brazen’ behaviour; she was also confident in taking the stand at her trial and in taking on the Prosecutor with what IMO was an attitude of total disrespect & arrogance.

Her actions speak to me of someone who considers themselves way above the rest , someone who is entitled to have all their whims catered to, and if the imbeciles below her don’t deliver she sees them as a waste & it’s ‘off with their heads’ so to speak.

I’m not sure that sees criminality in her actions, I think she sees life to be at her bidding .

Not sure any of what I’ve said makes sense but it’s just my confluted opinion of a behaviour from someone who believes IMO that they are way above anything & anyone - she makes the rules .

 

[Cedars]

I don't know whether anyone has mentioned a potential trigger for this crime. Forensic psychologists I follow say there's usually some 'last straw' that triggers a mass murderers to take action, although they've been fantasizing about it long beforehand.

Something that made her so upset it, she deliberately over--rode her own common-sense and 48 years of law-abidingness, to risk getting caught and go for the elimination of Simon and all the people on his side.

I think we don't know what that trigger was. I suspect it might have been something one of the kids said, or Simon said, etc, that lead her to this reckless determination.

It's like a pot that's been simmering for decades, but something turns up the heat that causes it to boil over.

What do people think?

 

[Moll]

She didn't exactly have '48 years of law-abidingness', though, did she?

 

[Cedars]

She didn't exactly have '48 years of law-abidingness', though, did she?

Sorry? I hadn't read she'd hurt anyone before?

 

[Moll]

Sorry? I hadn't read she'd hurt anyone before?

As you said 'law-abidingness' rather than 'not hurting anybody', I was referring to her previous convictions in relation to a rather extreme drunk-driving incident:

Mushroom chef crashed car and fled the scene

Erin Patterson, 48, lost her licence for 30 months in 2004 and was fined $1,000 for crashing her vehicle in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Monstradamus]

I don't know whether anyone has mentioned a potential trigger for this crime. Forensic psychologists I follow say there's usually some 'last straw' that triggers a mass murderers to take action, although they've been fantasizing about it long beforehand.

Something that made her so upset it, she deliberately over--rode her own common-sense and 48 years of law-abidingness, to risk getting caught and go for the elimination of Simon and all the people on his side.

I think we don't know what that trigger was. I suspect it might have been something one of the kids said, or Simon said, etc, that lead her to this reckless determination.

It's like a pot that's been simmering for decades, but something turns up the heat that causes it to boil over.

What do people think?

I think the cauldron started simmering the previous year, because Simon was taking steps towards a complete financial separation and independence from her control. She had most likely done his taxes prior to this, now he had his own accountant who had marked "separated" on his tax return.
This caused a huge financial impact for her, she could no longer "move" money to hide assets, etc from the ATO (AustralianTax Office). He also engaged his own lawyer and started officially paying child support (CSA) in lieu of the private financial agreement they had in place.
Previously he was paying a lot more, ie children's schooling, medical needs, etc. Now the government deemed he should only pay $40/month, worked out on incomes. Erin's income was a lot higher than his due to returns from her investment properties, even though she didn't work.
From her text messages on the family group chat (not a place she should voice her "complaints" imo) she is desperately trying to involve and guilt his parents into seeing her side of the story, because she has to get her own way and the outcome she desires. It's not working though.
The cauldron is boiling now, and all of those perceived slights have built up, and she is absolutely furious now that she has lost her control, her methods have always worked in her favour, and now nothing works. She is not the most important person in these people's lives any more, and they are all going to pay for that, particularly Simon.
JMO

 

[Ellery84]

I don't know whether anyone has mentioned a potential trigger for this crime. Forensic psychologists I follow say there's usually some 'last straw' that triggers a mass murderers to take action, although they've been fantasizing about it long beforehand.

Something that made her so upset it, she deliberately over--rode her own common-sense and 48 years of law-abidingness, to risk getting caught and go for the elimination of Simon and all the people on his side.

I think we don't know what that trigger was. I suspect it might have been something one of the kids said, or Simon said, etc, that lead her to this reckless determination.

It's like a pot that's been simmering for decades, but something turns up the heat that causes it to boil over.

What do people think?

Probably the fact that Simon cancelled last minute was the ultimate straw.

I think the cauldron started simmering the previous year, because Simon was taking steps towards a complete financial separation and independence from her control. She had most likely done his taxes prior to this, now he had his own accountant who had marked "separated" on his tax return.
This caused a huge financial impact for her, she could no longer "move" money to hide assets, etc from the ATO (AustralianTax Office). He also engaged his own lawyer and started officially paying child support (CSA) in lieu of the private financial agreement they had in place.
Previously he was paying a lot more, ie children's schooling, medical needs, etc. Now the government deemed he should only pay $40/month, worked out on incomes. Erin's income was a lot higher than his due to returns from her investment properties, even though she didn't work.
From her text messages on the family group chat (not a place she should voice her "complaints" imo) she is desperately trying to involve and guilt his parents into seeing her side of the story, because she has to get her own way and the outcome she desires. It's not working though.
The cauldron is boiling now, and all of those perceived slights have built up, and she is absolutely furious now that she has lost her control, her methods have always worked in her favour, and now nothing works. She is not the most important person in these people's lives any more, and they are all going to pay for that, particularly Simon.
JMO

Spot on. You understand this case extremely well. And you’re right, she did move money and hide assets, and I’m going to add that she was probably fraudulently claiming welfare that she wasn’t entitled to.

That’s my opinion.

 

[Cedars]

As you said 'law-abidingness' rather than 'not hurting anybody', I was referring to her previous convictions in relation to a rather extreme drunk-driving incident:

Mushroom chef crashed car and fled the scene

Erin Patterson, 48, lost her licence for 30 months in 2004 and was fined $1,000 for crashing her vehicle in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Yeah, I guess I'm trying to be more precise in understanding the very unusual phenomenon of committing homicide, much less mass murder, in middle age. Drunk driving is incredibly common and fortunately such people don't automatically progess to mass murder - we'd pretty much all be dead if they did!

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

She had already made several attempts on Simon.

 

[Monstradamus]

She had already made several attempts on Simon.

Yep, perfecting her craft, imo.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

I think the cauldron started simmering the previous year, because Simon was taking steps towards a complete financial separation and independence from her control. She had most likely done his taxes prior to this, now he had his own accountant who had marked "separated" on his tax return.
This caused a huge financial impact for her, she could no longer "move" money to hide assets, etc from the ATO (AustralianTax Office). He also engaged his own lawyer and started officially paying child support (CSA) in lieu of the private financial agreement they had in place.
Previously he was paying a lot more, ie children's schooling, medical needs, etc. Now the government deemed he should only pay $40/month, worked out on incomes. Erin's income was a lot higher than his due to returns from her investment properties, even though she didn't work.
From her text messages on the family group chat (not a place she should voice her "complaints" imo) she is desperately trying to involve and guilt his parents into seeing her side of the story, because she has to get her own way and the outcome she desires. It's not working though.
The cauldron is boiling now, and all of those perceived slights have built up, and she is absolutely furious now that she has lost her control, her methods have always worked in her favour, and now nothing works. She is not the most important person in these people's lives any more, and they are all going to pay for that, particularly Simon.
JMO

I agree with what you've said here. I also think that Simon was going to go ahead with divorce proceedings and may have even said something to her which set her off.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Probably the fact that Simon cancelled last minute was the ultimate straw.

Spot on. You understand this case extremely well. And you’re right, she did move money and hide assets, and I’m going to add that she was probably fraudulently claiming welfare that she wasn’t entitled to.

That’s my opinion.

I believe that Erin planned to kill the others whether Simon turned up for the lunch or not. She'd already prepared the poisonous Beef Wellingtons...

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"My name is Ian... I used to lead services here a lot... And I'm pleased to be back with you again," he said.

Ian Wilkinson walks outside the Korumburra Baptist Church.

Later in the service, a church member reportedly delivered a special prayer.

"We pray especially for the Wilkinson and Patterson families," she said.

Wilkinson reportedly chose the theme of hope for the sermon, reading from Psalm 23:4.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," he said.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson returns to church after fatal mushroom trial

"My name is Ian... I used to lead services here a lot... And I'm pleased to be back with you again," he told the congregation.

www.1news.co.nz