Mushroom expert recorded sighting of death caps in months before fatal lunch, trial told
Mycologist Tom May, the principal research scientist at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, told a Supreme Court jury in Morwell that more than 100 species of death caps had been formally identified across Australia, and photos of the poisonous mushrooms were posted on the iNaturalist website by members of the public.
May said that on May 21, 2023, he was walking in the Gippsland town of Outtrim when he saw death cap mushrooms, and later posted his images on the iNaturalist website under the username 'Funkeytom'. May said he was giving a presentation about fungi to a local group at the time, and he later posted the photos of the death caps with a precise geocode location.
'I went for a walk and saw these, as I do from time to time,' May said in court on Tuesday. 'I put the iNaturalist record in.'
May was giving evidence in the trial of accused killer Erin Patterson, who is accused of murdering her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them poisonous mushrooms in a beef Wellington lunch served at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
The Pattersons and Heather Wilkinson died in the days after the meal from the effects of mushroom poisoning. Heather's husband, Ian, who also ate the beef Wellington, survived after weeks in hospital.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Her lawyers have said the deaths were a terrible accident.
In his evidence, May said death cap mushrooms attach themselves to the roots of living trees – mainly oaks in Australia – to take nutrients to grow during select parts of the year. They don't last more than a few weeks, though, he said, as they rot quickly.
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