The mushroom poisoning in Vic.... I am gripped - Part 2

[ImustLearn2Cook]

Hi everyone, Aussie Mumsnetter here. As some have requested a new thread be started by an Aussie I decided to do it.

I am still gripped by this case and like many, I am awaiting updates of new information.

Will a matching donor for a liver for Ian be found soon? I hope he makes a full recovery.

Will he be able to shed new light on the lunch they all shared?

And of course is she guilty of deliberately poisoning them or was it an innocent mistake?

@Sagealicious Keeping it I meant not sharing it in divorce.

Ah I see

There is this. Is Erin a church goer too?

I can’t get over her trying to poison her extended family but saying she loved them.

What’s the survivor said too?

Maybe the urge to kill was too strong

Maybe they annoyed her while they were there so she thought they can eat the pie.

Maybe she thought his parents were poisoning (sorry) his mind against her and that with them out the way he’d come back to her?

I read she’s an atheist and her estranged husband and his family were religious. So possibly she was thinking his wider family didn’t like her because of that, etc.

@HaveYouHeardOfARoadAtlas and @Newtonianmechanics all this makes sense, especially the atheist bit.

There are 101 solutions to any of her real or perceived problems that don't involve killing anyone.

This! However it's a message that most murderers don't seem to received. Some wise soul suggested billboards and bumper stickers saying 'you can just split up, you don't have to kill' would reduce murder rates around the world.

certainly an odd case

Huh? How does her being an atheist mean it makes sense to murder her religious in laws?

And I don’t think she wanted to get back with his ex - she tried to kill him 4 times!

So the rumours I heard was that originally she wanted to get back with him, whether this was because she loved him or whether she just didn't want him getting half her money I don't know. His family were against them getting back together and she blamed the difference in religious views for their dislike of her.

At some point she realises it's not happening and then tries poisoning him (maybe to stop him getting the money or maybe just because she's pissed off at him). Whether his family were just collateral damage or whether she was pissed off with them as well who knows.

It doesn't make any sense that she wanted to get back with him. As a PP said, if the police are correct, she'd been trying to kill him for years. Possibly if he was lazy and never home, she really resented sharing her wealth and custody of the DCs with him if they were to divorce.
But it still doesn't explain why she would murder the ILs. She could easily have 'accidentally' dropped the beef on the floor and rustled up a salad or some pasta for lunch. Unless it was more about sharing the DCs than sharing her wealth and she didn't want any of her ex's family having influence or visitation with her DCs.

I mean, if she’s an atheist she wouldn’t feel the same amount of guilt as would her church going relatives feel (though shalt not kill). In her warped mindset she might feel they felt they were better than her spiritually etc as they are church goers.

In my honest opinion there is no good logical reason ever to murder, never mind mass murder. You are fighting a losing battle to understand why people do this.

clearlh we can say his refusal to get back with her, made her want to kill him, and the fact his family supported them not getting back together, made her want to kill them too.

but the reality is , if she’s guilty, then it will take some of the best doctors and pschyciatrists many many years to understand why she felt mass murder and one so obvious, as well as repeated attempts on his life, was a good plan.

This sounds as though atheists don't feel guilt or have a moral conscious. Am guessing you didn't mean it like that. We really do!

The church going relatives might have said 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". I heard that line around town a few times!

I agree on her warped mindset, whatever direction it was taking.

Obviously there is no 'logical' reason to murder but a big part of any criminal investigation is looking for a motive.
iirc the only person who said she wanted to get back with her ex was a friend of her ex. So it may or may not be true.

I know atheists feel guilt and have a moral compass. I’m moreorless one. But Erin, in her mind might feel less compared to her relatives, especially as one is a pastor.

A warped mindset person in my experience can mean you can quite easily “murder”, feel little or no guilt in doing it, or outwardly say you feel awful that someone’s died like Erin did. I am wondering if she has a personality disorder.

But insanity etc if that’s what she’s going for, I don’t think she’s that.

Of course, but we are not the police or her family who will know . We are not privy to all the details. So us being able to find the motive with any form of accuracy is highly unlikely. And quite frankly there is no motive that is justifiable to mass murder.

but sure if you want a motive,she may have wanted the inheritance as they were still married, she may have hated them all, she may have resented he didn’t want to get with her and he didn’t either, it could have been a perceived slight, she may have a personality or mental health disorder, it may have been she didn’t want him having any custody of the kids, want any of them near them. Who knows .

I'm unsure why you've taken such exception to my posts. Quite a few posters were musing as to motive. None of us were claiming to be the police or have extra insight. Feel free to ignore my posts in future.

“Of course you can't.
She may have had intent and preparation but she was not able to carry out an actual attempt on him - because he wasn't there. Intent is not attempt.”

If someone goes equipped to murder someone- but can’t go through with it because intended victim doesn’t turn up as expected, surely that is still a crime?
Particularly as the others invited to the poisoned meal died.

Been pondering this one too and I wonder if she sent him a plated up meal via the parents when they left?

In which case, she was activating an attempt to kill him?

Otherwise I don't see how intent to kill someone who didn't turn up translates in an attempt to kill.

If you bake a poisoned beaf wellington for a lunch to which your ex has been invited (your ex who you have poisoned in one way or another 3 times prior), then that would be considered attempted murder.

Particularly as three of the guests who did show up and eat the pie died a hideous death, and the fourth guest is infirm and recovering slowly after months in hospital, having had a liver transplant.

SP reportedly pulled out of the lunch at the last minute. He was supposed to be there eating that poisoned dish. You could say he was the intended "guest of honour", or principle target of the plan.

I can't understand her thinking, but I can understand the charges against her.