GUILTY Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 *Arrest* #19

[JBowie]

Charges have been dropped, prejudicial assessment is a potential risk/result of the lack of evidence regarding the poisonings of Simon.

“…the source of Simon Patterson’s gastrointestinal disturbance is empirically undeterminable, any such inference would be weak.”

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

I agree.

As I've opined here before, had that case proceeded, and in light of the conduct of the defence of the murders case by Mandy, IMO prosecuting the charges would have been an uphill battle to return a beyond reasonable doubt conviction.

 

[packetgravy]

He/She’s a verified insider on the case. He/she can be their own source, if they have the inside information.

I assumed there are limitations. For example, when referencing something outside of one’s jurisdiction.

Are they are a lawyer?

Providing a source for decisions related to public trials is helpful for context. I requested a source for my own educational purposes.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Charges have been dropped, prejudicial assessment is a potential risk/result of the lack of evidence regarding the poisonings of Simon.

“…the source of Simon Patterson’s gastrointestinal disturbance is empirically undeterminable, any such inference would be weak.”

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

The charges were dropped, but everyone knows she did it. Poor Don, Gail and Heather would have realised at the end as well...

 

[packetgravy]

I agree.

As I've opined here before, had that case proceeded, and in light of the conduct of the defence of the murders case by Mandy, IMO prosecuting the charges would have been an uphill battle to return a beyond reasonable doubt conviction.

Yes.

There are some good examples of prejudicial speculation just a few posts above which is interesting!

In particular, those who believe Erin absolutely DID poison Simon based on the three murder convictions. Completely forgetting the negligent evidence supporting the cause of Simons illnesses.

This is exactly why the charges had to be dropped.

 

[packetgravy]

The charges were dropped, but everyone knows she did it. Poor Don, Gail and Heather would have realised at the end as well...

Can you explain how you know Erin poisoned Simon? I’m interested to know your thought process and whether or not this leans towards prejudicial speculation.

I was unable to identify any evidence in the court documents, beyond coincidental.

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Can you explain how you know Erin poisoned Simon? I’m interested to know your thought process and whether or not this leans towards prejudicial speculation.

I was unable to identify any evidence in the court documents, beyond coincidental.

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

This isn't a courtroom, it's a forum, where we can have our own views. You tell me why he only became ill after eating Erin's food and don't tell me what about all the times he didn't. She targeted him on specific occasions and he nearly died on one of them. Killing his parents and aunt wasn't her first rodeo!

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Can you explain how you know Erin poisoned Simon? I’m interested to know your thought process and whether or not this leans towards prejudicial speculation.

I was unable to identify any evidence in the court documents, beyond coincidental.

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

We also have all of the previous searches she did on poisons, which weren't allowed to be heard in court...

 

[SouthAussie]

"One argument heard in court, but not able to be revealed to the jury in Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial, involved police suspicions that she might have previously used rat poison in an alleged attempt to kill Simon.

During a hearing before the court of appeal in April 2024, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said that police uncovered digital forensic evidence from a computer seized at Patterson’s home relating to an article about barium carbonate, which is commonly used as rat poison.

She said that Prof Andrew Burston, an intensive care specialist who reviewed Simon’s medical records, found that one of Simon’s admissions to hospital that was suspected of being linked to Patterson was “consistent” with barium carbonate poisoning."

What the jury wasn't allowed to hear in the Erin Patterson trial: suspicions and mystery illnesses

Material and claims the jury in Australia’s mushroom lunch murder trial wasn’t allowed to hear can be reported after a suppression order was lifted

www.theguardian.com

 

[Deleted member 363451]

"One argument heard in court, but not able to be revealed to the jury in Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial, involved police suspicions that she might have previously used rat poison in an alleged attempt to kill Simon.

During a hearing before the court of appeal in April 2024, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said that police uncovered digital forensic evidence from a computer seized at Patterson’s home relating to an article about barium carbonate, which is commonly used as rat poison.

She said that Prof Andrew Burston, an intensive care specialist who reviewed Simon’s medical records, found that one of Simon’s admissions to hospital that was suspected of being linked to Patterson was “consistent” with barium carbonate poisoning."

What the jury wasn't allowed to hear in the Erin Patterson trial: suspicions and mystery illnesses

Material and claims the jury in Australia’s mushroom lunch murder trial wasn’t allowed to hear can be reported after a suppression order was lifted

www.theguardian.com

Also Simon stopped getting sick after he stopped eating Erin's food. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[SouthAussie]

"His GP, Dr Christopher Ford, told the court that it was during a 55-minute consultation on 21 February 2023, that he and Simon discussed these poisoning concerns.

At an earlier appointment, Ford said that he asked Simon to record the details of what had happened immediately before he was admitted to hospital. Ford said Simon reached the conclusion Patterson was using food to poison him.

“I asked him to do that because I couldn’t understand why … these things kept on happening to him in such a way that he had essentially almost had three near death experiences,” Ford told the court.

“It didn’t fit into any of my medical models that would account for all three of those things.

“There was no other reasons that could fit all the different admissions, so it seemed feasible it could be a possible reason.” "

What the jury wasn't allowed to hear in the Erin Patterson trial: suspicions and mystery illnesses

Material and claims the jury in Australia’s mushroom lunch murder trial wasn’t allowed to hear can be reported after a suppression order was lifted

www.theguardian.com

 

[packetgravy]

This isn't a courtroom, it's a forum, where we can have our own views. You tell me why he only became ill after eating Erin's food and don't tell me what about all the times he didn't. She targeted him on specific occasions and he nearly died on one of them. Killing his parents and aunt wasn't her first rodeo!

I understand that, I have a genuine interest in how those views came to be and of course you have the autonomy to answer or not

You have demonstrated prejudicial speculation by siting the murders of Don, Gail and Heather.
This is human nature, in theory I suspect the same but in practise I require solid evidence.

Unfortunately the charges had to be dropped due to exactly that, meaning Simon may never see justice for the violence committed against HIM.
Erin is in jail yes, but not for what she did to him and he may never be fairly compensated.

We don’t have solid proof to say yes, she definitely poisoned Simon but we know she coincidentally poisoned his family and we use that information to form the conclusion of guilt. This is prejudicial speculation… rendering all charges dropped.

It is inevitably human nature that lets us down.

 

[Jake18]

Yes.

There are some good examples of prejudicial speculation just a few posts above which is interesting!

In particular, those who believe Erin absolutely DID poison Simon based on the three murder convictions. Completely forgetting the negligent evidence supporting the cause of Simons illnesses.

This is exactly why the charges had to be dropped.

Can you please post the source that says the Simon charges were dropped due to lack of evidence?

 

[JBowie]

Yes.

There are some good examples of prejudicial speculation just a few posts above which is interesting!

In particular, those who believe Erin absolutely DID poison Simon based on the three murder convictions. Completely forgetting the negligent evidence supporting the cause of Simons illnesses.

This is exactly why the charges had to be dropped.

Don't get me wrong. Personally, I believe that she did try to poison him numerous times. I am saying that, IMO, proving it categorically in a court of law would be difficult given how Mandy conducted the defence case (and also how Beale ruled what was admissible).

Further: IMO prosecuting all of those charges in the one trial would have been quite confusing for the jury. As a non-lawyer, I agree with Beale's decision that they should be subject to a separate trial.

 

[Charlot123]

Charges have been dropped, prejudicial assessment is a potential risk/result of the lack of evidence regarding the poisonings of Simon.

“…the source of Simon Patterson’s gastrointestinal disturbance is empirically undeterminable, any such inference would be weak.”

https://jade.io/article/src/1146363/2960932

So obviously, his suspicion about E. poisoning him was conceptualized after the second stay and the surgery, otherwise the specimen could have been kept for the pathology. That explains a lot. His suspicion was strong enough to change POA, but not "absolutely firm." That explains why the Ps and the Ws accepted the invitation.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Don't get me wrong. Personally, I believe that she did try to poison him numerous times. I am saying that, IMO, proving it categorically in a court of law would be difficult given how Mandy conducted the defence case (and also how Beale ruled what was admissible).

Further: IMO prosecuting all of those charges in the one trial would have been quite confusing for the jury. As a non-lawyer, I agree with Beale's decision that they should be subject to a separate trial.

I agree, but this isn't a court of law.

 

[Detechtive]

Can you please post the source that says the Simon charges were dropped due to lack of evidence?

There isn’t any source for this. The judge said the charges were dropped due to prejudice.
The other attempted murder charge of Simon on the day of the lunch was dropped prior to the trial, but there has been no reasoning published as to why. I also suspect that it would be too hard to prove, particularly because she didn't actually poison him that day, but it was her plan to.
Nevertheless, there is no reasoning that anyone has currently seen that says it was lack of evidence.

I am also aware of other speculation around tampering with food of other people, but I can't give a source for that, unfortunately as it wasn't part of the charges and official process. An indeed, given the pattern of behaviour and forensic evidence in the crimes she's been convicted for, it raises serious questions about whether this was her first offence.

I don't really see why any of this is relevant, though. The convicted mass killer poisoner did try to kill Simon on many occasions prior, whether that was agitated in court or not, it is pretty obvious it occurred and the circumstantial evidence of those is quite overwhelming, IMO, and we are free to speculate on that all we want.

Looking forward to sentencing. I really hope she gets life without parole so she is never free to poison anyone else!

IMO.

 

[Detechtive]

So obviously, his suspicion about E. poisoning him was conceptualized after the second stay and the surgery, otherwise the specimen could have been kept for the pathology. That explains a lot. His suspicion was strong enough to change POA, but not "absolutely firm." That explains why the Ps and the Ws accepted the invitation.

Not necessarily. You may have noticed that Erin likes to choose poisons which quickly exit the body/blood stream. IMO

 

[Detechtive]

I assumed there are limitations. For example, when referencing something outside of one’s jurisdiction.

Are they are a lawyer?

Providing a source for decisions related to public trials is helpful for context. I requested a source for my own educational purposes.

Some of this information is well known in this thread - amongst us all, as we have discussed it many times. All of the links have already been provided.

I would suggest doing some more reading.

 

[Detechtive]

We also have all of the previous searches she did on poisons, which weren't allowed to be heard in court...

Speaking of which, I found this little morsel when going through the pretrial evidence.

On or before 27 October 2020, the accused, using a Samsung tablet which was later seized from her home, had access to a pdf file entitled ‘epidinfect00024-0031.pdf’, which is an article entitled ‘Red kidney bean poisoning in the UK: an analysis of 50 suspected incidents between 1976 and 1989’.

The application source is Facebook Messenger.​

Curious how she got this file on facebook messenger. IMO

R v Patterson (Ruling 1) [2025] VSC 102 - BarNet Jade

The smart way to search, annotate and share Australian legal judgments, decisions and statutes!

jade.io

 

[packetgravy]

Speaking of which, I found this little morsel when going through the pretrial evidence.

Curious how she got this file on facebook messenger. IMO

R v Patterson (Ruling 1) [2025] VSC 102 - BarNet Jade

The smart way to search, annotate and share Australian legal judgments, decisions and statutes!

jade.io

After scrolling through the evidence photos yesterday I became curious about the original source for the photos of the dc’s (on the tray) The data has provided a modification date and source file (google cache.)

These aren’t the original copies, I wonder if Phone A was used for these? The image on the tablet may have been synced to another google device and uploaded remotely. I’d love to explore the data further!

Also the size of the files are tiny, which could possibly be indicative of:
1 - image compression or 2 - editing software