‘Probably impossible' for death cap mushroom poisoning to occur with store-bought mushrooms, Erin Patterson trial hears
A Victorian woman died by accidentally poisoning herself with death cap mushrooms in an unrelated incident a year after three people died from eating a beef wellington lunch containing the toxic fungus served by Erin Patterson, a court has heard.
Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023.
Patterson is accused of murdering her estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon's uncle and Heather's husband.
The Victorian supreme court sitting in Morwell has previously heard the guests died after being poisoned with death cap mushrooms that were in a paste used by Patterson to make individual beef wellingtons.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with 'murderous intent', but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
Dr Thomas May, a mycologist who is an internationally renowned mushroom expert, continued his evidence in Patterson's trial on Wednesday.
May told the court that he was familiar with a separate and unrelated incident investigated by the Victorian coroner which involved the death of a woman in May last year.
In that case, the court heard, the woman picked mushrooms from the front of her house to make dinner for herself and her son.
Early the next morning she fell ill, according to information from the coroner's findings that was read to the court.
'The deceased indicated that the mushrooms were not good and she had been vomiting since about 2am,' Sophie Stafford, a barrister for Patterson, told the court.
Her son also became unwell, the court heard, but recovered. The findings into the death were made without an inquest.
May told the court he was contacted by the Gippsland department of health after the death about how best to respond to recommendations made by the coroner.
Those recommendations related to more public health messaging about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms, despite annual warnings issued by the health department.
May was also shown another series of photos of fungi by Stafford. The photos were of 18 mushrooms including a spring fieldcap, buttery collybias, shaggy parasols and honey mushrooms that had characteristics similar to death caps, although some of them were not known to be toxic.
May was also asked, in reexamination by prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC, about the smell of death cap mushrooms. He said when fresh they could smell quite sweet, but when dried 'I find the smell to be very unpleasant'.
Dr Camille Truong, who is also a mycologist, told the court she did not find death cap mushrooms in two examinations of leftovers of the beef wellington lunch that were provided to her.
She agreed that she told Dr Laura Muldoon, a toxicology registrar at Monash Health who asked for help identifying the fungi, it was 'probably impossible' that it was death cap mushroom poisoning, if Muldoon had been told the mushrooms were bought from a supermarket and Asian grocer.
Erin Patterson hosts lunch for estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Patterson serves beef wellington.
All four lunch guests are admitted to hospital with gastro-like symptoms.
Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die in hospital.
Don Patterson dies in hospital. Victoria police search Erin Patterson's home and interview her.
Ian Wilkinson is discharged from hospital after weeks in intensive care.
Police again search Erin Patterson's home, and she is arrested and interviewed. She is charged with three counts of murder relating to the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Jury is sworn in.
Murder trial begins. Jury hears that charges of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon are dropped.
Still images from CCTV and photos of a food dehydrator were also shown to the court on Wednesday. The images appeared to show Patterson attending the Koonwarra transfer station and disposing of a food dehydrator.
The court has previously heard the prosecution allege Patterson dumped the dehydrator, which was later found to contain her fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms, 'to conceal what she had done'.
But Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, said in his opening address to the jury that she lied about the dehydrator because she panicked about accidentally poisoning her lunch guests.
'The prosecution says she got rid of the dehydrator and that makes her look guilty. She admits that. She admits that when she was interviewed by the police on the same day that one of the lunch guests died, that she lied about getting rid of the dehydrator.
'But you consider these questions when you're considering that issue: why would she lie about having a dehydrator when many people, including Simon Patterson, her husband, and her children, and her Facebook friends, knew that she had one?
'She admits the lie, but consider why would she lie about that only a day or so after talking to Simon about that dehydrator in the hospital? Why would she lie about that when she'd posted photographs of mushrooms in the dehydrator and spoken to her Facebook friends about it?'
Mandy went on to say that: 'She also lied to the police about foraging for mushrooms. She admits that.
'She did forage for mushrooms. Just so that we make that clear, she denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.'
The trial continues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Hainault swordsman ‘smiled after stabbing pedestrian in neck'
An alleged sword attacker smiled after slashing a pedestrian in the neck during a 'brutal string of attacks' that left a 14-year-old boy dead, the Old Bailey has heard. Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, is on trial accused of murdering schoolboy Daniel Anjorin and attempting to kill four others during a 20-minute rampage in Hainault, north-east London, on April 30 last year. He denies the charges. On Monday, jurors were shown CCTV of the first alleged attack, which showed Mr Monzo's grey Ford Transit mounting the pavement and hitting Donato Iwule, a Co-op security guard on his way to work. The footage shows Mr Iwule screaming as he is struck by the van, before it collides with a house. Mr Monzo is then seen exiting the vehicle and walking after him while brandishing a sword. Giving evidence, Mr Iwule said: 'I thought I was dying.' He told the court that he tried to escape into a nearby garden but was struck on his knee, face and shoulder and knocked to the ground. He said Mr Monzo got out of the van, pulled a sword from a cover 'right in front of my face' and threw the cover aside. Mr Iwule told Tom Little KC, prosecuting: 'I said 'I don't know you'... I said it multiple times. He said 'I don't care – I'm going to kill you'.' He said he tried to defend himself and raised his arms but Mr Monzo swung the sword, catching him on the neck. 'I saw blood coming out of my neck,' he said. 'I pressed my thumb to not bleed out... I shouted 'God is greatest' in Arabic – because I'm Muslim. 'When that happened, he was smiling like it was something that he was happy about.' Mr Iwule said Mr Monzo became distracted and so he jumped over a fence to escape, later shouting at a schoolboy, believed to be Daniel, to go back inside. 'His eyes were black' Shortly afterwards, Nathan Hutchinson, another Co-op employee, arrived at the scene. He told jurors that he saw Mr Monzo emerge from bushes holding a sword with both hands. Mr Hutchinson said: 'He looked a bit mad, like there was nothing there – his eyes were black. He was muttering some words like: 'You are going to die'.' He added that the weapon was held 'upright in a way to strike' and that he fled after seeing how close Mr Monzo was. Under cross-examination, Mr Iwule said he was standing upright when he was struck and could clearly hear Mr Monzo say he was going to kill him. Jurors were also shown CCTV and phone footage of Mr Monzo appearing to stand over Daniel shortly after the fatal attack, holding the schoolboy's backpack in one hand. Footage from a nearby property appeared to show part of Mr Monzo's body as he struck Daniel, but the full encounter was obscured by a house. Another woman could be heard in mobile phone footage saying: 'F---, he just killed that boy,' as Daniel's lifeless body lay on the floor. The scenes prompted a brief suspension of the trial after a juror left the courtroom, visibly affected. Last week, jurors heard that Mr Monzo had skinned and deboned his own cat before carrying out the alleged attacks, and was under the influence of cannabis, which may have led to drug-induced psychosis. However, the prosecution said this does not amount to diminished responsibility. Mitchell Hayes, a witness who was also on his way to work at the Co-op, said he saw the van 'going faster, slowing down, going faster' before the collision. He said he later heard screaming, saw the driver walk around the van and then get back in and reverse away, appearing to hold what looked like a sword. Mr Hayes said he stayed with Mr Iwule, who was holding his neck and bleeding, for 10 to 15 minutes before becoming aware of another incident nearby. He said another colleague, Mr Hutchinson, began shouting that the attacker had a sword and they saw a body on the other side of the road. 'He was running around with it like a maniac,' Mr Hayes said of the man that he believed to be Mr Monzo. Mr Monzo has admitted possessing two swords but denies murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How another Labor immigration blunder has allowed a vile child sex offender to remain in Australia
The Albanese government took too long to scrap the visa of a migrant who performed an indecent act in front of a child, so he can stay in Australia, a court has ruled. The Federal Court decision is the latest in a string of immigration policy blunders to weigh on the party since 2023 - causing ex-Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be demoted - though it seems it didn't harm Labor's performance at the March election. Federal Court judge Christopher Horan found a decision to deport the man, known as XMBQ, was unlawful because there was an 'unreasonable' delay between the appeals tribunal deciding the man could stay and termination of his visa. The ruling, first reported by The Australian, could set a precedent requiring immigration ministers to make decisions within a particular timeframe. Giles - now replaced by Tony Burke - previously came under fire for being caught off guard by the High Court's ruling in November 2023 that indefinite immigration detention was illegal, resulting in the release of more than a hundred criminals. Later, he was criticised over his Ministerial guideline, known as Direction 99, that stated a migrant's family connections to Australia and how long they have lived here should be considered in potential deportation cases, despite a criminal's rap sheet. Giles moved to cancel dozens of visas after it emerged that violent offenders were using the measure to avoid deportation. In the latest case XMBQ, a Somali man, had convictions for kicking a police officer in the face and performing a sex act in front of a 29-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl on public transport. Lawyers for XMBQ challenged whether the former Immigration Minister's intervention in his case was legal. Giles cancelled the Somali man's visa on June 8, 2024 after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decided he should be allowed to stay in April 2021. Justice Horan said the delay between the appeal and Giles's decision was far too long, ruling in the favour of XMBQ. 'If the minister is to exercise the power to set aside the original decision and cancel the visa, the minister must do so within a reasonable time,' the judgment said. 'Otherwise, the connection with the original decision as the object of the power will be lost, and it can no longer be said that the minister is addressing or responding to the state of affairs produced by or resulting from the original decision.' Immigration law specialist Simon Jeans said that although Giles had the power to cancel this visa it 'was a risk' and a 'decision [made] in haste' as he was under pressure to save his job. He suggested it would have been less risky for the Immigration Department to cancel XMBQ's visa rather than the minister intervening. XMBQ was born in Somalia in the 1960s before fleeing to Lebanon in 1993. He arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004. XMBQ was placed on the sex offenders register for 15 years after pleading guilty to the public exposure charges in June 2017. In December 2017, his visa was cancelled by a delegate of the immigration minister but this was later overturned in the Federal Court. Lawyers for the man claimed Giles's decision to cancel his visa had been impacted by XMBQ being charged with two counts of rape, although he was not convicted. Justice Horan rejected this claim. The Albanese government and Mr Giles suffered a similar blow in January this year when a Bhutan-born man who attacked his wife with a meat cleaver was allowed to remain in Australia by the Federal Court. It ruled Mr Giles had made multiple 'jurisdictional errors' by overturning an appeals decision that the man could remain in Australia, because he did not consider the effect of deportation on his children and his stateless person status.
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Jason and Luke died in the same way as dozens of others. Why did authorities fail to act?
Warning: this story contains descriptions of self-harm and some readers might find it distressing. They found Jason Muir before the sun rose over Arthur Gorrie prison. It was the overnight shift, just past 4am. A lone guard was patrolling the corridors, counting sleeping inmates, when he stopped outside cell 22. His colleagues had looked in on Jason, the cell's only occupant, just three hours earlier, without issue. Now something was wrong. The window had been covered from the inside. Jason, 36, was known to have a history of suicidal ideation. When he arrived at the Brisbane prison, he was marked at risk and placed in a safer cell under regular observations, before being downgraded and placed back in the mainstream population. His family were worried about him. His mother had been visiting regularly and had noticed a deterioration in her son's mental health. Darren Muir, Jason's older brother, says she loved her youngest son dearly. Darren did too. He describes his brother as a kind-hearted, reserved kid who fell in with a bad crowd when the family moved to a rough part of Brisbane after their dad died suddenly when Darren was 11. 'We were both rascals,' Darren says. 'I loved the bloke.' The guard outside Jason's cell shifted his gaze upwards. Above the door something had been tied to a set of exposed bars that covered a small ventilation window – a common design feature in Arthur Gorrie's older cells. The bars should not have been there. They had been used in four hanging deaths in the past seven years, the latest just two months earlier. State coroners had repeatedly and explicitly told the Queensland government to urgently remove them. Eighteen months earlier one coroner, Michael Barnes, had left little room for equivocation after the death of another man in the prison. He told the state government to 'immediately make available sufficient funding to enable the removal of the exposed bars in all cells at the Arthur Gorrie Remand and Reception Centre'. Almost two years before Jason's death, after another hanging death from the bars, the same coroner had said they 'could easily be covered with mesh', a fix that would both remove the hanging point risk and solve the authorities' concerns about a loss of ventilation to cells. The bars remained. They remained in the lead-up to Jason's 2008 death and they remained after the guards cut him down. They remained after the coroner tasked with investigating Jason's death lamented that she had been warning about this particular hanging point since her first inquest in 2001. They remained after two separate hangings in 2010, one by an inmate who had told prison staff he had thought of hanging himself from the bars. They remained after hangings in 2018 and 2019, and were last used in a hanging in 2020. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Guardian Australia has established that the bars have been used in 10 hanging deaths over almost two decades. And this isn't just happening at Arthur Gorrie. Over the past five months the Guardian has investigated 248 hanging deaths in prisons across the country, reviewing coronial reports for cases where the same ligature point has been used repeatedly or where it has been used after authorities were warned to remove it. The investigation reveals a shocking death toll from continued inaction, more than 30 years after state governments pledged to remove hanging points in the wake of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Fifty-seven inmates in 19 prisons have hung themselves from hanging points known to authorities but not removed, typically due to funding constraints. At Goulburn jail, for example, six inmates were able to use the window bars to hang themselves over 20 years before the state government finally covered them with grilles. At Adelaide remand centre, four inmates were able to hang themselves from beds after the state government was told to remove them or to minimise their ability to be used as ligature points. At least five prisoners have hung themselves from fixtures at Hakea prison in Western Australia, despite warnings to the state government as early as 2008 to address obvious ligature points. In one case, after the hanging death of a young Indigenous man at Tamworth prison, the New South Wales government blamed the jail's 'heritage' listing for its slow progress in removing hanging points. When it was ordered to audit Tamworth jail for other obvious hanging points and remove them, it told the coroner it could find none. A visit by the NSW prison inspector a year later revealed 'there were still ligature points in each cell', including ones that had purportedly been removed. In dozens of cases, prisoners deemed at risk of suicide and inmates who had attempted self-harm in custody were sent into cells with known ligature points. One inmate who had 'expressed an intention to commit suicide by hanging if the opportunity arose' died after being sent into a part of Arthur Gorrie prison where another prisoner had tried to hang himself from an obvious ligature point just two months earlier. That ligature point remained even after a guard warned his superiors that it required 'urgent attention before we do have a suicide hanging'. Guardian Australia has spent five months investigating the deadly toll of Australia's inaction to remove hanging points from its jails, a key recommendation of the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. The main finding – that 57 inmates died using known ligature points that had not been removed – was made possible by an exhaustive examination of coronial records relating to 248 hanging deaths spanning more than 20 years. Reporters combed through large volumes of coronial records looking for instances where a hanging point had been used repeatedly in the same jail. They counted any death that occurred after prison authorities were made aware of that particular hanging point. Warnings were made via a prior suicide or suicide attempt, advice from their own staff or recommendations from coroners and other independent bodies. Guardian Australia also logged how many of the 57 inmates were deemed at risk of self-harm or had attempted suicide before they were sent into cells with known hanging points. In adherence with best practice in reporting on this topic, Guardian Australia has avoided detailed descriptions of suicide. In some instances, so that the full ramifications of coronial recommendations can be understood, we have made the decision to identify types and locations of ligature points. We have done this only in instances where we feel the public interest in this information being available to readers is high. The findings have shocked Barnes, now the NSW crime commissioner, who says they call into question the effectiveness of the coronial system – a system to which he has devoted much of his life. 'It comes down to the fact that there isn't a public outcry about these things,' he says. 'If it were happening to another cohort, you can imagine there would be a significant outcry but because it's prisoners, you know, people think it's all part of it.' When guards searched Jason's cell they found two letters. One to his mum and one to his brother. Darren was staying at a property outside Bundaberg, a few hours north, when the news came through. He remembers he was out in the yard when a friend handed him the phone. 'I can remember it clear as day,' he says. 'You can imagine, it was the worst day of my life. 'They told me he was dead and I passed out.' In the 17 years since, Darren was never told that the hanging point had been used before and after his brother's death. When Guardian Australia shows Darren the names of those who died using the bars, before and after his brother, his response is scathing. 'There is no care whatsoever,' he says. 'They don't care what they're doing. To me, it looks like a culling centre.' The Queensland government declined to answer specific questions about Arthur Gorrie prison and would not say whether the ligature points have now been removed. A spokesperson said the government 'takes the safety and wellbeing of prisoners in custody very seriously'. There's a shrine to Luke Rich in his family's living room in Taree. His white hard hat sits on top of a toolbox that contains his ashes. It's covered in stickers for the Roosters rugby league team. His old vape is there, tucked inside one of his favourite sneakers. Each part of the house has been touched by him, from the dark wood panelling he helped his father restore to the kitchen shelves and the chicken coop he built for his mother, Karen Reid. No one gave hugs like Luke did, Karen says. He was big and tall and affectionate. 'Treat me like an egg,' she'd tell her boys. 'I'm not a hard-boiled egg and I crack very easily.' His father, Garry Reid, says Luke was his little shadow as a child. Garry would have to watch where he stepped to avoid tripping over him. When he was full grown and over six feet tall, he'd pick up Garry – not a small man himself – and kiss him on the forehead. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The pair shared a love of rugby league and, when Luke started getting into some trouble as a teenager, Garry took him out on jobs as a carpenter. Eventually Luke became a site foreman for a construction company in Canberra. After he left home he regularly called his mum. 'You had to speak for no less than an hour,' Karen says, laughing. 'Otherwise I'd be accused of having something better to do.' In February 2022 Luke died, one day after he was remanded in custody at the Alexander Maconochie centre in the Australian Capital Territory. He had used a ligature point on the cell door – a point the prison had been warned could be used for that purpose seven years earlier. He was 27. 'At the time of Luke's death, the Territory chose to accommodate newly arrived detainees in a physical environment they knew to be, in one important aspect, unsafe,' the coroner Ken Archer said in his findings. In 2015 the prison's facilities management team suggested that the doors be reviewed due to the possibility a ligature could be tied to them. According to an investigation into Luke's death by the ACT custodial inspector, the cost of replacing the doors was estimated to be $610,000. Due to budget constraints, this was not done. The investigation found that ACT corrective services 'was aware of a serious design fault in the rear cell doors which had been known since 2015' and had failed to properly observe Luke, among other concerns. It recommended immediate action be taken to fix the doors. A spokesperson for ACT Corrective Services said upgrades to the doors had been completed in 2022 and a further review of the doors was under way. The government had also taken steps to train staff in suicide prevention and response and to remove ligature points from furniture in the jail, the spokesperson said. The family sat through the entire coronial hearing into Luke's death. Karen made a statement at the beginning, imploring that 'those responsible for looking after and keeping my son safe acknowledge their faults, and, above all, fix the doors so that no other mother and family has to go through this pain, heartbreak, anguish'. She says: 'The purpose [of] that statement was for them to see that Luke was a person, not a detainee and not a number.' To hear that the cost of replacing the doors had a dollar figure was too much to bear. 'You sit there and you tell me that you will not and cannot put a price on life,' Karen says. 'Guess what, you did. You put a price on my son's life. And it wasn't anywhere near the value.' Luke and Jason's stories are mirrored across the country. In Queensland the warnings about exposed bars were not isolated to Arthur Gorrie. A 2004 hanging death at Borallon correctional centre prompted a coroner to tell the state government to 'immediately cover with mesh any bars accessible to prisoners in cells'. Five years after that warning, another Borallon inmate hanged himself from exposed bars above his cell door. A hanging death at Townsville prison in 2007 prompted a warning that the Queensland government 'immediately' act on hanging points 'including bars' by replacing them with an alternative security barrier such as mesh. Two more hangings took place from exposed bars at Townsville in 2015 and 2019, roughly a decade after that warning. At Sydney's Long Bay correctional complex, there were three hangings from window bars in the metropolitan special programs centre, despite a warning in 2007 that the 'obvious' hanging points should be removed. Four hanging points at Adelaide's Yatala labour prison have been used in 11 deaths, despite repeated calls for their removal. Australian Institute of Criminology data shows hanging remains by far the most common method of self-inflicted death in custody. The data also shows the total number of prison hangings has crept back up to levels not seen since the early 2000s, with one now occurring on average every three weeks – likely due to the increased numbers of Australians being held in custody. Considerable progress to reduce the rate of hanging deaths was made between 2000 and 2008. But the data suggests that progress has stalled, remaining largely constant since then. Barnes, the former NSW and Queensland coroner, says the research is 'overwhelming' that preventing easy access to obvious hanging points is effective at reducing suicide. Many prisons move at-risk inmates to safer cells, which are more regularly monitored and have fewer ligature points. But Barnes says identifying suicide risk in a cohort of inmates is incredibly difficult, largely because the entire prison population is at elevated risk. That, he says, makes the removal of the hanging points all the more essential. 'It's very frustrating because you see so much money being spent building prisons and the like, and even new prisons that were being built didn't always eliminate hanging points,' he says. 'When you know that it's such an effective measure to take, it's really mind-boggling that they wouldn't do that. 'For coroners and people involved in suicide prevention, it's extremely frustrating.' As well as the failure to address ligature points, most cases reveal glaring deficiencies in mental healthcare and conditions in Australian prisons as well as a systemic lack of support and services for people in and out of custody. Mindy Sotiri, executive director of the Justice Reform initiative, has been campaigning for prison reform for more than 25 years. She has seen first-hand the 'inertia' that prevents meaningful change in this space – driven by public apathy and a lack of political leadership. 'There have been so many people who have been trying very hard to alert corrections of the dangers and the safety concerns for people inside,' she says. 'But there's just inertia on the part of corrections to respond, and such an absence of political will to see this issue as something that should be on the national cabinet agenda.' The cases investigated by Guardian Australia expose the crisis in stark terms. In 2015, after a hanging death at Arthur Gorrie, the state government told a coroner it was working to fix up 268 old cells. Six years later, after yet another hanging death there, the government was asked for an update on its progress. It said it still had 268 older-style cells at Arthur Gorrie to make safe. Not a single cell had been remediated in the six years between the two inquests. Guardian Australia approached every state and territory government in the country to ask why known hanging points weren't removed and what was being done to make cells safe. Every government said they were taking the issue of cell safety seriously and had invested significant funds in refurbishing old cells. Most also pointed to their attempts to improve the identification of at-risk inmates and provide them with treatment, supervision and monitoring. You can read the full responses from state departments here. Darren Muir knows first-hand what it's like to be in Arthur Gorrie. He spent two weeks there, locked in the same cells, with the same exposed bars, that his brother used eight years later to take his own life. The place nearly sent him crazy, he says. 'I'll give you one word: it's a fucking zoo, mate,' he said. 'That's how primitive that place was.' Darren says he believes his brother would not have accepted mental health treatment and probably would have found a way to take his life, even if the bars had been removed. But what he can't abide is the state government's failure to act on repeated warnings to remove the obvious hanging points, including after his brother's death. 'They're more or less handing them the rope,' he says. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
