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Woman charged over daughter's murder dies in Brisbane hospital

Woman charged over daughter's murder dies in Brisbane hospital

1News2 days ago

A Queensland mother accused of fatally stabbing her three-year-old daughter has died after being found unresponsive while in custody.
Lauren Ingrid Flanigan, 32, died in hospital on Sunday after being found unresponsive in her cell at Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, Queensland Police confirmed.
Flanigan suffered a medical emergency in her cell on Friday night and was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
"This is standard practice for all deaths in custody," Queensland Corrective Services said in a statement on Monday.
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Flanigan was being held until her next court appearance in July, after being charged with murder a week ago.
Where to get help. (Source: 1News)
Neighbours had called triple-zero after seeing a young child unresponsive in the front yard of a Moore Park Beach home, north of Bundaberg, about 4.45pm on May 26.
When emergency services arrived, they found a three-year-old girl, identified as Flanigan's daughter Sophia Rose, with several wounds. She died at the scene.
Two other children, aged one and two, were also at the property at the time, but neither was injured.
Both are in the care of their father.
A GoFundMe set up for Sophia Rose's father and siblings, has so far raised $55,000.
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Family friend Connor Thompson, who has organised the fundraiser, remembered Sophia Rose as a sweet child with an infectious laugh that could light up the room.
"Her smile was like a ray of sunshine and her heart was as pure of gold," the fundraiser said.
"Though her time here was short, the love she gave and the joy she shared will stay with us forever."

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Erin Patterson says she picked and ate wild mushrooms
Erin Patterson says she picked and ate wild mushrooms

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Erin Patterson says she picked and ate wild mushrooms

A woman accused of three murders by serving a toxic mushroom dish has admitted she foraged for the fungi and enjoyed eating them as "they taste good and they're very healthy". "The first time I noticed them, I remember it was the dog eating some," Erin Patterson, 50, told a Supreme Court jury on Tuesday, about finding wild mushrooms growing at her property. "I picked all the mushrooms that I could see. I was trying to figure out what they were to see if they were a problem for him." Woman accused of killing three people with poisonous mushrooms in beef Wellington testifies in her defence. (Source: 1News) During her second day in the witness box in Morwell, in regional Victoria, Patterson admitted she developed an interest in picking wild mushrooms in early 2020, during the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. ADVERTISEMENT She said, when Victorians were allowed outside for an hour a day, she would "force the children" to get away for their devices. 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"I identified the ones that were growing in the paddocks where I had the animals, to a degree was confident of them," she said. "There were field mushrooms and horse mushrooms in those paddocks." Asked by her barrister about the process of consuming wild mushrooms, she said she got to a point over several months where she "was confident about what I thought they were". "I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it and then saw what happened," Patterson said. ADVERTISEMENT "They tasted good and I didn't get sick." Patterson and her children ate the wild mushrooms she picked and she "chopped them up very, very small". Don and Gail Patterson. (Source: Supplied) Regrets saying she wanted 'nothing to do with' her in-laws Earlier, Patterson grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes as she apologised for sending Facebook messages to her online friends about her estranged husband Simon's family. One of those messages, which Patterson sent in December 2022, said "this family, I swear to f***ing god". "I wish I'd never said it, I feel ashamed for saying that and I wish the family did not have to hear that I said that. They didn't deserve it," she said. ADVERTISEMENT Another one read to Patterson said, "I'm sick of this shit, I want nothing to do with them" and she said she regretted that language. "I needed to vent, I needed to get my frustration off my chest and the choice was either to go into the paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women," she said. "I knew they would rally around me and I probably played up the emotion of it a bit to get that support." She said she did not mean those words, and she was "frustrated" with her estranged husband Simon at the time. "It wasn't Don and Gail's fault. It wasn't the family's fault. It wasn't even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part in the issue too," she said. 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ADVERTISEMENT Patterson wore a navy and white spotted top, black pants and sandals when she entered the witness box for a second day. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one attempted murder charge over a poisonous beef Wellington lunch she made for her former husband's family in July 2023. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital days after eating the dish, while Ian Wilkinson was the only surviving guest. The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.

Young man charged after Auckland rugby fields torn up by vehicle
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Young man charged after Auckland rugby fields torn up by vehicle

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In her own words: Erin Patterson speaks in murder trial
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1News

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In her own words: Erin Patterson speaks in murder trial

Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson has spoken about battling low self-esteem, changes to her spirituality and becoming distant from her estranged husband's family. The 50-year-old was called as a defence witness this afternoon in the sixth week of her Supreme Court triple-murder trial in regional Victoria. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital from death cap mushroom poisoning days after a lunch served at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023. She is also charged with the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who became sick but survived the meal. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges. ADVERTISEMENT Wearing a paisley top and black pants, with straight dark hair, Patterson took an affirmation and drank from a paper cup as she sat inside the wooden witness box facing the jury. She was asked by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC about her family situation in the months before the fatal lunch. Patterson said her two children were living with her full-time and could see her estranged husband Simon "whenever they wanted to". She said her financial circumstances at the time of the lunch were "comfortable". "I could afford to go to university and I didn't need to work a job at the same time," she told the jury of 14. Evidence so far in the trial of Erin Patterson, the Australian woman accused of murdering three people with beef Wellingtons. (Source: 1News) Mandy then asked Patterson about parts of her life that were not "so good" in July 2023, and she described changes in her relationship with Simon's family. ADVERTISEMENT "I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, and particularly Don and Gail, perhaps had a bit more distance or space put between us," she said. "We saw each other less." She said she had begun to have "concerns that Simon was not wanting me to be involved too much with the family anymore, perhaps I wasn't being invited to so many things". She had been "fighting low self-esteem" for most of her adult life and said she had planned to have gastric bypass surgery after putting on weight. Patterson described herself as a "fundamental atheist" and said she had expected Simon to join her after they started dating but "things happened in reverse and I became Christian". She said she saw Simon's uncle Ian Wilkinson delivering a sermon in the early 2000s while visiting the Korumburra Baptist Church, saying it was a "spiritual experience". "I'd been approaching religion as an intellectual exercise up until that point. Does it make sense? Is it rational? But I had a religious experience there and it quite overwhelmed me," Patterson said. ADVERTISEMENT She cried as she described giving birth to her first child while living in Perth with Simon, saying it was a "very traumatic" experience. "It went for a very long time and they tried to get him out with forceps. He wouldn't come out," she said. "And he started to go into distress and they lost his heartbeat, so they did an emergency caesarean and got him out quickly." Simon Patterson tells the court about their strained relationship and turning down an invite to the fatal lunch. (Source: 1News) Patterson said she discharged herself against medical advice, as her son was permitted to leave hospital and she wanted to go home with him. "And Simon said to me, 'you can just do it, leave'," she said. She said Gail and Don came to visit a couple of weeks after the birth and again became emotional as she described her mother-in-law being "supportive and gentle" with her. ADVERTISEMENT Patterson said her relationship problems with Simon stemmed from communication issues. "We could never communicate in a way that made each of us feel heard or understood, so we would just feel hurt," she said. She will return to the witness box tomorrow as the trial continues.

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