Death cap mushroom sightings near venue of fatal meal
Death cap mushrooms were spotted in the region around Erin Patterson's home in the months before she served up poisoned beef Wellingtons that killed three people.
Patterson, 50, is on trial charged with three murders and one attempted murder over the lunch on July 2023 at her home in Leongatha, Gippsland, in Victoria's southeast.
Her estranged husband Simon's parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital after being diagnosed with death cap mushroom poisoning from eating the meal.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all offences and claims she did not intentionally kill any of her lunch guests, saying it was a "terrible" accident.
The trial being held in Morwell entered its third week on Tuesday where the jury was introduced to mushroom expert Thomas May.
Dr May said he was a mycologist, a scientist specialising in the study of fungi, at Victoria's Royal Botanic Gardens.
He discussed the origins of amanita phalloides, known as death cap mushrooms, and how "citizen scientists" often posted their whereabouts to websites such as iNaturalist.
"It is found in Gippsland, but with only three reports from Outtrim, Loch and Morwell," he told the jury of 15 people on Tuesday.
"The records for Outtrim are from May 2023?" prosecutor Nanette Rogers asked.
"Correct," Dr May replied.
"And the record from Loch is from 18 April 2023?" the prosecutor continued.
"Correct," he said.
He said the third record, found in Morwell, was historical and from "somewhere in the last 20 years".
Patterson is accused of serving up her lunch, steak covered in mushroom paste and encased in pastry, on July 29, 2023.
Outtrim and Loch are in the Gippsland region, where the lunch occurred.
The accused triple murderer told doctors and toxicologists she bought the mushrooms for the meal from Leongatha Woolworths and a Chinese grocer in Melbourne's southeast.
Dr May confirmed "there is no evidence that amanita phalloides occurs in China".
Earlier, doctors who treated Patterson at Monash Hospital spoke to the jury about how she did not appear unwell and was discharged.
Patterson had taken herself to Leongatha Hospital earlier that day, on July 31, saying she was suffering diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
Her four lunch guests, including church pastor Ian Wilkinson who survived the lunch but became very unwell from eating it, were also being treated at Melbourne hospitals at that time.
Monash emergency doctor Varuna Ruggoo assessed Patterson on August 1 and found she was "clinically well" after performing several tests.
Patterson had been cleared of potentially suffering from death cap mushroom poisoning by another doctor, Laura Muldoon, she said.
"She wrote in her notes that there was no concerns about that type of poisoning because ... Ms Patterson's liver function tests were all within normal limits," Dr Ruggoo told the jury.
Dr Ruggoo then deemed Patterson was fit to be discharged, at 1pm that day.
Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died at the Austin Hospital on August 4, then Don Patterson died the following day.
The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.
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Before the end of the day, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked Patterson "do you accept there must have been death cap mushrooms" in the lunch she served to her former husband's family. "Yes I do," she told a full court room and 14 jurors. She said she started cooking wild mushrooms in the years before the lunch, and "ate it and then saw what happened". "They tasted good and I didn't get sick," she said. Patterson said she would forage for mushrooms at Korumburra Botanic Gardens, on her three acre properties in Korumburra and Leongatha, and along a rail trail leading out of Leongatha. She said she bought a food dehydrator to begin drying mushrooms because she liked eating them but "it's a very small season" and she wanted to preserve them. Patterson was shown photos of mushrooms in a dehydrator and said she'd picked them from Korumburra gardens and dehydrated them whole as "a bit of an experiment". "They were still a bit mushy inside," she said. "They just didn't dry properly." She said she would dehydrate mushrooms from Woolworths and wild picked mushrooms and put them in containers in her pantry. The trial continues. Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson will return to the witness box after telling a jury she foraged wild mushrooms in the lead up to serving poisonous beef Wellingtons. The 50-year-old has spent two days giving evidence to her Supreme Court trial in regional Victoria, including on Tuesday where she accepted there were death cap mushrooms in the toxic dish. She will return on Wednesday for a third day as a defence witness. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder over the July 2023 lunch she served to her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. All three died in hospital days after eating the meals. Patterson maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The sole survivor of the lunch was Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who has attended court most days since giving evidence in week two of the trial. He sat silently at the back of the court room on Tuesday as Patterson explained she had begun foraging for wild mushrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Before the end of the day, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked Patterson "do you accept there must have been death cap mushrooms" in the lunch she served to her former husband's family. "Yes I do," she told a full court room and 14 jurors. She said she started cooking wild mushrooms in the years before the lunch, and "ate it and then saw what happened". "They tasted good and I didn't get sick," she said. Patterson said she would forage for mushrooms at Korumburra Botanic Gardens, on her three acre properties in Korumburra and Leongatha, and along a rail trail leading out of Leongatha. She said she bought a food dehydrator to begin drying mushrooms because she liked eating them but "it's a very small season" and she wanted to preserve them. Patterson was shown photos of mushrooms in a dehydrator and said she'd picked them from Korumburra gardens and dehydrated them whole as "a bit of an experiment". "They were still a bit mushy inside," she said. "They just didn't dry properly." She said she would dehydrate mushrooms from Woolworths and wild picked mushrooms and put them in containers in her pantry. The trial continues.
