GUILTY Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 *Arrest* #20

[ishtvara]

Yes and even if she did submit to independent psych evaluations, there’s no duty to disclose them post conviction.

As per Mandy’s due diligence as her counsel, he must have gotten some, IMO. I’m deducing that they weren’t in her best interest to disclose. IMO

Yes and even if she did submit to independent psych evaluations, there’s no duty to disclose them post conviction.

As per Mandy’s due diligence as her counsel, he must have gotten some, IMO. I’m deducing that they weren’t in her best interest to disclose. IMO

Very this. Psych reports were not favourable to her and no character references as JB pointed out. Nothing mitigating IMO.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

But then we're back to the accidental add theory, and you still have to content with- if she and her children ate the accidentally added DC Beef Wellingtons (poisoned), why did none of them get sick and die??? Erin's supposed diarhhea was clearly self-induced by pigging out on cake, coffee, sandwiches with chili, hotdogs- anything to upset your stomach. And why hesitate to pull your children out of school and get them tested (unless you know the truth and it wasn't necessary to test them)?

Of course, but I'm talking about after she knew about the presence of DC mushrooms. I'm not for one instance saying it would have helped her cause when all was said and done.

However, it would have been a better shout at this stage to have claimed to have innocently foraged mushrooms. The unknown Asian grocer/woolworths lie was a pretty stupid attempt from somebody so apparently clever.

After all, it is eventually what she tried to change her story too. However by this point, she now had to account for the lies to police and why the story changed.

 

[ishtvara]

I also do wonder if she was given a sedative before the hearing. She was very wobbly getting off the van into court and then the closed eyes through the hearing. Just speculation of course.

 

[Penny68]

The thing though is Erin knows full well and good inside herself that she did all this evil causing the deaths of Don, Gail and Heather, those such innocent loving family members, (as well as to medically impair Ian, who luckily survived).

Although she could be thinking ''Well, at least I succeeded in what I had meticulously planned to do to them'' - Maybe seething she couldn't have got to end the lives of Ian and Simon too.
She thought her plan was something no one would relate it to her.

As of course she got away with a heck of a lot in the past at her work places as has been mentioned in this thread, and to her husband Simon (with the numerous poisoning of the foods she gave to him over the years), she got away with all that.

She must have thought she was mentally above all the other people in the world.

I hope she suffers one way or another every day of her remaining life in her small cell. But not even that would come close to the horrible and painful deaths she brought on Don, Gail and Heather. Also of course even to this day the suffering medically and mentally on Ian.

God Bless Don, Gail and Heather your murderer has been caught and is now locked up for 30+ years. She didn't get away with what she did to you all. May you all R.I.P

 

[Bekind89]

Of course, but I'm talking about after she knew about the presence of DC mushrooms. I'm not for one instance saying it would have helped her cause when all was said and done.

However, it would have been a better shout at this stage to have claimed to have innocently foraged mushrooms. The unknown Asian grocer/woolworths lie was a pretty stupid attempt from somebody so apparently clever.

After all, it is eventually what she tried to change her story too. However by this point, she now had to account for the lies to police and why the story changed.

It will always be my belief that she didn't claim an innocent accidental poisoning because she didn't want medical staff to save them, she didn't want to risk even a small chance of that occuring.
She is truly evil. Jmo

 

[Warshawski]

33 years!?! For premeditated murder of three human beings and attempted murder and grievous bodily harm to another !? Whut the heck. I'm absolutely shocked, she should not be seeing the outside of a prison.

I'm not saying she should be locked up and tortured or kept in poor conditions, just never released for the sake of public safety. Wow.

I think it’s important to remember that in its simplest terms, she has been sentenced to Life in Prison.
( in real terms Life x 3 + 25 years. . so if she finds a way to ‘come back to life’ she’ll still have to serve a Life Sentence )

I think Judge Beale was covering bases & plugging gaps by giving her an opportunity to Apply for Parole after 33 years . .. ‘applying for parole’ does not mean it’ll be granted.

IMO.

 

[Ellery84]

I think it’s important to remember that in its simplest terms, she has been sentenced to Life in Prison.
( in real terms Life x 3 + 25 years. . so if she finds a way to ‘come back to life’ she’ll still have to serve a Life Sentence )

I think Judge Beale was covering bases & plugging gaps by giving her an opportunity to Apply for Parole after 33 years . .. ‘applying for parole’ does not mean it’ll be granted.

IMO.

No, she’s serving the sentences concurrently.

Concurrent sentences are criminal sentences that are served at the same time rather than one after another. When multiple sentences are imposed concurrently, the total time an offender serves is equal to the length of the longest individual sentence. This sentencing approach, in contrast to cumulative or consecutive sentences, allows for the total time to reflect the totality of the offending, rather than multiplying the sentences for each offense.

 

[Tortoise]

I wonder if she'd have been sentenced any differently were she younger. In other words, I'm wondering if perhaps subconsciously, the judge had in mind that she would be in her eighties in those conditions if she ever gets paroled, but would he have sentenced differently if she was a twenty-or-thirty-year-old?

I really cannot work out the logic of factoring in prison conditions. For goodness sake, move her to a different prison out of state if needs be, if she can't be housed within guidelines at the current prison. When does the gravity and egregiousness of the crimes and future risks to the public outweigh her rights? Who is to say what he is basing his decision on will be the same ten years from now?

It should have been LWOP for Erin. IMO

 

[MaxDecimus13]

It will always be my belief that she didn't claim an innocent accidental poisoning because she didn't want medical staff to save them, she didn't want to risk even a small chance of that occuring.
She is truly evil. Jmo

My memory is too bad to remember the exact timings, which I suppose make a difference in this. Did she make up the Asian grocer lie while there was still a chance that they could survive? From my recollection it was known by the time she was interviewed on August the 5th when DC was well known, and she definitely previously mentioned Woolworths to the doctors when they were in hospital. However, I can't remember exactly when it first came up.

I suspect she first used the excuse after the mushrooms were already known to be the issue, and maybe even after DC had been mentioned. At this point, she is simply trying to save her own bacon and has come up with a very poor excuse for the presence of DC. She clearly thought they'd think that anything could come from an Asian grocer so this was the probable origin.

If it was prior to her knowing they suspected the mushrooms and they were just trying to find the possible source, then I suspect your idea might have some merit.

 

[ch_13]

My memory is too bad to remember the exact timings, which I suppose make a difference in this. Did she make up the Asian grocer lie while there was still a chance that they could survive? From my recollection it was known by the time she was interviewed on August the 5th when DC was well known, and she definitely previously mentioned Woolworths to the doctors when they were in hospital. However, I can't remember exactly when it first came up.

I suspect she first used the excuse after the mushrooms were already known to be the issue, and maybe even after DC had been mentioned. At this point, she is simply trying to save her own bacon and has come up with a very poor excuse for the presence of DC. She clearly thought they'd think that anything could come from an Asian grocer so this was the probable origin.

If it was prior to her knowing they suspected the mushrooms and they were just trying to find the possible source, then I suspect your idea might have some merit.

Yes, she did. Two days after the lunch she went to the hospital on July 31. At that time Dr. Webster told her they suspected death caps and asked about where she purchased the mushroom. She initially told him that she bought the mushrooms at Woolworths. That's when she left the hospital and came back 90 minutes later. Afterwards, she told several people that she also shopped at an unknown Asian grocery.


Edit --

On July 31, several health professionals asked Erin about the mushrooms in the beef Wellington and where they had come from.

In court, witnesses all agreed that Erin had listed the Leongatha Woolworths as a source. However, some others testified that she had named a second source — an Asian or Chinese grocer.

Prosecutors said the Asian grocer only started to feature in Erin’s accounts after her 90-minute absence from Leongatha Hospital — accusing her of using the time to workshop a lie. It was another allegation Erin denied.

How a recipe of 'ultimate indulgence' became central to a murder plot

Two years ago, Erin Patterson was a mother of two from a regional town who lived a quiet life. Now, the 50-year-old has been found guilty of murdering three people with death cap mushrooms, in a trial that's made global headlines.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Procrastinator]

Of course, but I'm talking about after she knew about the presence of DC mushrooms. I'm not for one instance saying it would have helped her cause when all was said and done.

However, it would have been a better shout at this stage to have claimed to have innocently foraged mushrooms. The unknown Asian grocer/woolworths lie was a pretty stupid attempt from somebody so apparently clever.

After all, it is eventually what she tried to change her story too. However by this point, she now had to account for the lies to police and why the story changed.

Even if the only story was "innocently foraged", the DC mushrooms weren't innocently blitzed into powder. There was no sign of them visibly in the samples. IIRC and IMOO

 

[LinasK]

Of course, but I'm talking about after she knew about the presence of DC mushrooms. I'm not for one instance saying it would have helped her cause when all was said and done.

However, it would have been a better shout at this stage to have claimed to have innocently foraged mushrooms. The unknown Asian grocer/woolworths lie was a pretty stupid attempt from somebody so apparently clever.

After all, it is eventually what she tried to change her story too. However by this point, she now had to account for the lies to police and why the story changed.

Either way- if she HAD actually purchased them ( she didn't and no Asian grocer is going to sell Death Caps) or accidentally foraged them, it still doesn't account for Erin & kids lack of illness. The only conclusion is that they ate beef that didn't have Death Caps added to them/infused/near them.

 

[LinasK]

Not really, if the defence doesn’t present them and person doesn’t agree to submit to analysis. So psych reports didn’t come up at sentencing hearing. Just suggestion of a diagnosis but not legit reports. Beale also did seem to want to mention that the defence was being very much directed by their client.

What about the prosecution? Surely they requested them??? How can she refuse? It seems like something that should be mandatory to her placement.

 

[LinasK]

I don't understand. Australia is very different from the USA. Erin needs to be protected for her own safety. Women can be equally cruel as men.

I think SHE is the danger to other inmates. Who's to say she wouldn't try to poison or otherwise harm another inmate?

 

[LinasK]

My memory is too bad to remember the exact timings, which I suppose make a difference in this. Did she make up the Asian grocer lie while there was still a chance that they could survive? From my recollection it was known by the time she was interviewed on August the 5th when DC was well known, and she definitely previously mentioned Woolworths to the doctors when they were in hospital. However, I can't remember exactly when it first came up.

I suspect she first used the excuse after the mushrooms were already known to be the issue, and maybe even after DC had been mentioned. At this point, she is simply trying to save her own bacon and has come up with a very poor excuse for the presence of DC. She clearly thought they'd think that anything could come from an Asian grocer so this was the probable origin.

If it was prior to her knowing they suspected the mushrooms and they were just trying to find the possible source, then I suspect your idea might have some merit.

But see, it's an important difference between "saving your own bacon", and getting help for those whom you truly never intended to poison. Not only did she want to save her own bacon- and throw in some racism for good measure- (Susan Smith and Sherri Papini threw other races into their lies as well), but also she had no interest in saving her victims because her intent was death. She was done with them and said so. One of the few times she ever told the truth in her life.

 

[LinasK]

Plus, let's not forget the INaturalist websites searches for Death Caps, and IIRC she had books on mushrooms and knew how to identify Death Caps. She knew exactly which ones to pick and which to avoid. She probably was wearing gloves when she foraged.

 

[Monstradamus]

My memory is too bad to remember the exact timings, which I suppose make a difference in this. Did she make up the Asian grocer lie while there was still a chance that they could survive? From my recollection it was known by the time she was interviewed on August the 5th when DC was well known, and she definitely previously mentioned Woolworths to the doctors when they were in hospital. However, I can't remember exactly when it first came up.

I suspect she first used the excuse after the mushrooms were already known to be the issue, and maybe even after DC had been mentioned. At this point, she is simply trying to save her own bacon and has come up with a very poor excuse for the presence of DC. She clearly thought they'd think that anything could come from an Asian grocer so this was the probable origin.

If it was prior to her knowing they suspected the mushrooms and they were just trying to find the possible source, then I suspect your idea might have some merit.

I believe she made up the Asian Grocery store (and the kids eating the same meal) story after she attended hospital on the Monday morning, discovered the doctors were onto her and left the hospital after only 5 minutes. She went home,
disposed of the meat in the leftovers to ensure the police would find only what she wanted them to find, to appear to be helpful.
When she went back to the hospital over 90 minutes later that is when the Asian Grocery and kids eating the same meal story began in earnest.
JMO

 

[drsleuth]

What about the prosecution? Surely they requested them??? How can she refuse? It seems like something that should be mandatory to her placement.

What value would a Psych report have if the offender refused to take one??

IMO it would be useless & have no value.

 

[LinasK]

What value would a Psych report have if the offender refused to take one??

IMO it would be useless & have no value.

It shouldn't be up to her to refuse. It should be mandated by the Prosecution/Judge. That's how it's done in the US. Offenders don't get to refuse Psych evals.

 

[drsleuth]

It shouldn't be up to her to refuse. It should be mandated by the Prosecution/Judge. That's how it's done in the US. Offenders don't get to refuse Psych evals.

But we are not the US.

I just don't see any value in making an offender have psych evaluation. It would not be an honest evaluation. IMO