By TOM HAYES and STEFAN BRADLEY
DESPITE a shortened trial week of four days, the information heard by the jury was packed during the third week of Erin Patterson’s Supreme Court trial.
Three people died following a fatal beef wellington lunch, which allegedly contained death cap mushrooms at the accused’s Leongatha home in July 2023.
Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson all died from the fatal meal. Gail’s husband, Ian Wilkinson fell ill, however survived the incident. The accused pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Day 10, May 13
THE court heard the read-in statement from the friend of the accused’s son, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Of note, he recalled plates in the kitchen sink when they arrived home in the afternoon of Saturday, July 29. He said the backs of the plates were white.
Monash Health Infection Prevention Director, Rhonda Stewart told the court she had to get information from the accused to ensure there was no public health issue.
She told the court that the accused told her she used dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Oakleigh or Glen Waverly, making it into a paste to go on the beef.
Ms Stewart told the court that the accused said she only ate half of her meal on July 29.
Monash Health Emergency Registrar, Laura Muldoon had the accused under her care in the toxicology department on Monday, July 31.
The accused told Ms Muldoon that she did not have any packaging from the mushrooms, and denied that she foraged them, Ms Muldoon told the court.
Ms Muldoon told the court that on Tuesday, August 1, the accused was well, “feeling better”, and her blood and vitals were “normal”, showing no signs of poisoning.
Ms Muldoon said she was tasked with sending the leftover sample to a mycologist at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Monash Health Emergency Physician, Dr Varuna Ruggoo told the court that on Tuesday, August 1, the accused’s liver function tests were normal with no evidence of toxicity in the liver.
She added that the accused had normal responses to her respiratory rate, blood pressure, and temperature, while her conscious state was alert.
“She appeared clinically well,” Dr Ruggoo testified.
Mycologist, Tom May took the stand, describing how difficult it is to distinguish death cap mushrooms from other non-toxic mushrooms.
The court and Mr May were shown many images of death cap mushrooms, to which he described why he believed them to be death cap mushrooms. He testified the characteristics including appearance and common locations they are found.
He told the court that ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, wild mushroom foraging had increased in popularity.
He told the court he had identified death cap mushrooms to be growing in Outtrim, south-west of Leongatha, logging the find on the website ‘iNaturalist’ on May 21, 2023. He told the court he was in the Outtrim area to present a presentation, before finding the mushrooms on a walk.
Mr May said sightings of death cap mushrooms had also been recorded in Loch and near Morwell.
The prosecution previously told the court that the accused’s phone records suggest she was in the Loch area on April 28, 2023 and Outtrim on May 22, 2023.
Mr May told the court that death cap mushrooms often grow around oak-family trees, needing a reasonable amount of soil and moisture. He added that while the growing season varies, it generally lands in May in Victoria, but is usually anywhere between January and July.
Day 11, May 14
DR Tom May told the court of another instance, where a Chinese tourist ate death cap mushrooms, picked from a garden.
He said he had previously picked mushrooms from a garden and ate them with no sickness in April 2024. Upon finding more mushrooms in May 2024, the same woman ate them and died, Dr May told the court.
During the re-examination with the prosecution, Dr May confirmed to the jury that death cap mushrooms have no particular smell until they are dried, to which they develop a very unpleasant smell.
Research Scientist in Mycology at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Dr Camille Truong said it was rare for her to look at a physical mushroom evidence.
She told the court she examined the leftover food sample of the beef wellington lunch.
She said she first did so at her home under a telescope on Monday, July 31, finding no signs of death cap mushrooms, instead identifying field mushrooms – often sold at supermarkets.
Dr Truong said she examined the sample once again two days later on Wednesday, August 2 at Royal Botanical Gardens, again coming to the same conclusion.
During her cross examination, Dr Truong told the court that it was harder to identify, as the mushrooms had already been cooked. She added that she could not exclude the possibility that it was death cap mushrooms entirely.
Her advice, heard in court, suggested that it was unlikely that supermarket mushrooms caused any illnesses. She also said it was unlikely that an independent shop would sell them, as someone would have to forage all death cap mushrooms.
The DASMA Group Operations Manager, Darren Canty took the stand, confirming he was approached by police for video evidence on the day of Wednesday, August 2.
Mr Canty told the court that he confirmed a woman had dropped off a “microwave dehydrator”.
The court was shown still pictures of the account, as well as CCTV footage of the woman arriving at the Koonwarra Transfer Station.
Mr Canty told the court he told an employee to find the item in the e-waste skip bin.
Mr Canty confirmed transaction records of the account, which included the registration of the car.
The evidence was given to the police, confirmed via a read-in statement from Detective Leading Senior Constable Paul Burns, who collected the evidence.
His statement read to the court said he took photos of the dehydrator, before transporting it to the Wonthaggi Police Station.
Intensive Care Specialist, Andrew Bersten, who had been supplied with the accused’s medical records throughout her stay in hospital from July 31 to August 1, gave evidence to the jury.
He first told the jury that there was no evidence to suggest that the accused had cancer, after her initial screening tests returned normal results.
Despite never assessing the accused herself, Prof Bersten confirmed via the medical notes that she had elevated haemoglobin levels and low potassium readings. He also told the court that the accused showed normal levels of lactate and urea.
After following the accused’s medical journey, Prof Bersten concluded to the court that there was enough evidence to suggest the accused had a diarrhoeal illness.
Following questioning from the defence, Prof Bersten concluded that the accused’s symptoms of diarrhoea, abdominal pain, low potassium, and high haemoglobin showed that she suffered from dehydration and a diarrhoeal illness.
When re-examinated by the prosecution, Prof Bersten affirmed to the court that her symptoms were consistent with a severe illness.
Day 12, May 15
THE morning session was delayed after it was found that a juror had talked about the case with family and friends.
Justice Beale said the juror had not made a “positive finding” of the matter, but could not dismiss the possibility that they had discussed the case to someone else other than the fellow jury members.
There are now 14 jurors observing the trial, while only 12 will retire to make a verdict.
A unanimous guilty verdict is needed for the accused to be found guilty.
Child Protection worker, Katrina Cripps was questioned on her communication with the accused and her family.
They initially spoke in hospital, but then met the accused and her children at their Leongatha home on Tuesday, August 1, where notes were taken.
The court heard the children did not want to stay with Simon Patterson, the accused’s estranged husband, on the weekends.
Ms Cripps told the court that the accused told her Don and Gail had been “the parents she never had”.
The accused told Ms Cripps that Simon was “controlling”, and that the pair had a good relationship that had deteriorated up until that point, the court heard.
Ms Cripps told the court that the accused “wanted to do something new and special”, finding a recipe in a ‘RecipeTinEat’ cook book.
The court heard that after the accused was asked again where the mushrooms had come from, the accused told Ms Cripps she purchased them from Woolworths, while the dried mushrooms came from an Asian grocer in either Oakleigh or Clayton.
Child Protections visited the accused’s home again the following day, looking for evidence via bank statements to see which grocer the accused had purchased mushrooms from. Ms Cripps told the court the accused couldn’t find the statement, saying she would have used cash for such a small purchase.
Two days later, on Friday, August 4, Ms Cripps told the court she had a phone call with the accused, asking if she had any updates regarding the lunch guests. The accused said she hadn’t been told anything, finding it “distressing”.
Ms Cripps told the court that at the time, Heather Wilkinson had already passed, but decided “it wasn’t (her) place”.
The court heard that when the accused was asked by Ms Cripps if she had foraged any mushrooms, she didn’t answer.
Ms Cripps told the court that the accused was concerned for her security and privacy, floating the idea of changing her phone number.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine Head of Forensic Science and Victoria’s Chief Toxicologist, Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos told the court he had provided advice in “hundreds” of cases, when called to give evidence.
The jury was shown various tables revealing toxicology results on the accused, her children, and the lunch guests.
Dr Gerostamoulos said tests were usually done on drugs and alcohol, and that it wasn’t routine to look into mushroom poisoning.
Dr Gerostamoulos told the court the toxins in the mushrooms are “very toxic compounds”.
“Only small amount of the alpha, beta, and even less of the gamma are found in death cap mushrooms,” he could the court.
He said estimates include three tablespoons for the mushrooms toxins to be lethal for a 70-kilogram adult, about 0.1 milligrams per kilogram.
The court heard that samples from Don and Ian tested positive for death cap toxins, alpha and beta amanitin found in their urine. Leftovers from the lunch and from the accused’s dehydrator also tested positive for toxins.
Gail and Heather tested negative, as did the accused and her two children.
When asked if tests conducted could detect a mushroom crushed into a powder, Dr Gerostamoulos told the court ‘yes’.
Day 13, May 16
DR GEROSTAMOULOS, who was examined on the stand on Thursday, May 15, resumed his cross examination by the defence, confirming foil was in the sampled contents to the jury.
Dr Gerostamoulos said to the court smaller samples were tested as “it’s not possible to test the whole sample”.
He explained to the court how the testing process is played out, involving the concentration of samples to maximise the chance to find compounds of interest.
Dr Gerostamoulos told the court that the earlier a sample is taken, the better chance there is of finding evidence of toxins.
The court heard that all guests of the lunch were tested between 25 and 32 hours after the fatal lunch, while the accused was tested more than 50 hours after the meal.
Dr Gerostamoulos confirmed to the court that Don and Ian both returned detections in their urine samples, while Ian also returned a detection in his blood.
As for the accused, Gail, Heather, and the children, all blood samples returned with no detections, and no urine samples were taken.
Dr Gerostamoulos told the court that the toxins sit in the urine for much longer than in blood, explaining it wasn’t uncommon for Don’s result.
He explained to the court of the variables that could contribute to the severity of poisoning, including amount consumed, concentration of toxins, toxin tolerance, and the health, age, and weight of the individual.
A short break was taken due to the objection of a question directed at Dr Gerostamoulos by the prosecution. The objection was later repealed by the defence, and answered toward the end of the hearing.
Dr Gerostamoulos answered the question regarding the health of two people who consumed death cap poisoning, where only one survived. He told the court that this has happened before, as recent as last year (2024). He reiterated to the court that it once again depends on the variables.
Plant Health Australia Manager of Diagnostics, David Lovelock took to the stand to end the third week of the trial.
In August 2023, he was asked to examine and analyse two samples of the beef wellington lunch, as well as the fruit platter and jug of gravy. He also told the court that he received seven tubes which included debris from the dehydrator.
He said a visual inspection was made on the fruit platter revealing no mushrooms, while an examination of the gravy also returned no results.
Dr Lovelock told the court that the two samples of beef wellington only returned traces of button mushrooms.
He told the jury that two of the seven tubes containing debris from the dehydrator detected death cap mushroom traces, adding the positive results had a 99 per cent similarity to the DNA.
