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?

And she liked Don 🤷🏼‍♀️ It really doesn’t make any sense.
Even the money she lent his sisters doesn’t really make sense because she could have got that back in a much less risky way and it didn’t even seem to be a big deal.
I’m pretty sure Simon was the intended target and she only invited Ian and Heather to make it look like more of an ‘event’ for him to come.
Why oh why she didn’t just cancel or get a takeaway when he didn’t come I don’t know.

None of it makes sense. That’s why it just feels like there could be more going on than meets the eye.

Having said that, I read today’s ABC coverage and it is looking pretty damning for her.

I read some breakdown, can't remember where, that showed how it was a very good way of investing for Erin (who was an accountant at some point), as it minimised her taxable income, and repayments would not be taxed. Something like that.

Hmm,

The judge overseeing Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial has shared a major update, informing jurors the case is likely to conclude earlier than the estimated six-weeks.

Justice Beale told the jury they would now no longer be sitting next Monday.

“There are things happening behind the scenes to try and condense the material that will be presented to you,” he said. “If Monday is devoted to that rather than you sitting here... I expect the case will conclude earlier.

“We will sit Friday morning until 1 o'clock and then you’ll leave and return on Tuesday morning.”

Erin Patterson trial: Leongatha Hospital doctor Veronica Foote details chef’s effort to leave | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Oooooh this is very interesting!

Things happening behind the scenes to condense the material presented? Hmm.

Prosecution: We present to the Court that the Defence needs to accept she's fucked.
Defence: Yeah fair enough. We did our best.
Judge: I see no point in wasting the Courts time any further.

Wow!!!!

Reading today's updates is doing my head in.

One of the witnesses is a friend of a friend. Won't say much but shit, I feel bad for her having been dragged into this.

Ah thanks - yes, sounds like a scheme of some kind.

my goodness. The whole thing is incredible, isn’t it? Trial to be shortened.

Erin's daughter gives evidence. So sad.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-08/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-live-blog-court-evidence/105267156

Apart from everything else, how could she do this to her children? Reading the interview with her then 9 y/old daughter is horrible. I've an 8 y/old son & the thought of him being put through this makes me physically retch.

It’s awful, isn’t it @Dustyblue . For a while I pondered the possibility of a tragic error, but I think the fact that she herself was reluctant to be treated or have the kids treated is pretty damning. It suggests that she was pretty sure they wouldn’t be seriously ill. Even someone with a hospital phobia or other issues (I’m remembering reporting to the effect that she apparently upped and left the family unit and rented herself a flat when her DC was a baby, leaving Simon with said baby - suggests she might have had stuff going on with her mental health and/or an overwhelming desire to be alone… ?) surely wouldn’t risk their children’s health in that way? Unless - and this is the only outside chance I see - she genuinely was unaware how bad it was with the others eg because of patient confidentiality reasons. That timeline will be key: when exactly was she told it could be lethal if untreated…? I haven’t seen that myself but I’ve not followed every detail.

I would imagine her presence at the site of death cap mushrooms at Loch (I was there on the weekend, though letting my dog stretch his legs and have a pee, not checking out the fungi) is more to the point. Wasn't this on her social media convos?

Hard to imagine warnings from medics will be the issue.

Mental health issues? I'm sure her defence will lean heavily on her being a bit loco in the coco.

Also odd that if Simon were the only intended target why would all the wellingtons (apart from hers) have the death cap mushroom, as I’m sure I read they were individual wellingtons?

Yes. They were. Easier to keep track of I suppose, if you don't want to scoff the nasty pasty in error. Like the differently-coloured plates.

Yes. I guess it’s possible she wanted to make them all ill to some extent to make it less obvious.

It is conceivable that she went there to forage and accidentally got the wrong ones - the tragic accident theory. She could argue that she’d been googling death cap to try and educate herself about possible dangers. Her mere presence isn’t in itself enough. My point was, though, even IF it had been a tragic accident, someone who realised they might have accidentally included death caps in everyone’s meal wouldn’t behave as she did…. Unless she only realised quite late in the day ie she was only told how seriously ill they were after she had already refused advice and treatment for herself and her children. Cooking individual Wellingtons does seem very suspicious though.

And lying about cancer? She really seems delusional.

This.

The lie is so important.

Thing is though, if she did do it deliberately then why would she leave the scrapings /leftovers in the bin and direct the police there to find them? She had time to dispose of them somewhere other than her kitchen bin. I can't get over this thought so I reckon despite everything that it probably was an accident somehow.

This is what I wonder. A terrible accident and then she panicked and started telling the lies once it dawned on her / when she was told how bad it was . It’s important to understand exactly the sequence of events.

They have phone data that shows her whipping over to the sites of reported findings and warnings of death cap mushrooms:

April 18
A user on iNaturalist, a website for tracking plants and fungi, finds death cap mushrooms in the Loch area and posts about them online.

April 28
The prosecution says Erin's mobile phone data suggests she travels to Loch before returning to Korumburra.

Two and a half hours later, Erin allegedly purchases a Sunbeam food lab electronic dehydrator from a Leongatha store

May 21
An iNaturalist user posts a photo and location of death cap mushrooms in Outtrim.

May 22
The prosecution says Erin's mobile phone data suggests she travels to Loch and Outtrim.

The key people, timeline and evidence in Erin Patterson's mushroom murder trial - ABC News

Hmm. Yeah. Why would you do that? Makes no sense. Unless you had some weird obsession with death in general. Do you recall the odd drawings on the walls in the house allegedly owned by her that were mentioned by that painter?

It’s also odd to serve leftovers to your kids when people have become ill from that meal… and you yourself are feeling unwell.

I don't think she served leftovers from the actual meal - just leftover meat that had no contact with any mushrooms, and then veg, ditto. Saying she 'scraped the mushrooms" from the duxelle in the wellingtons off is another lie, I think.

There was a toxicologist on tv back when the deaths first occurred, who said that the toxins would leach through the meal. That's why she made individual portions, to make sure none got into hers.

But those leftovers had no traces of death cap mushrooms, no? She was happy for them to be found because she knew they were poison free...

Yeah, total bs about scraping the mushrooms off I think

I thought they said leftovers in the bin did have death cap poison in?

Not sure where I read it