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Rogers says Patterson saw retired pharmacist Christine Mckenzie‘s post on the citizen science iNaturalist on 18 April 2023 about death cap mushrooms in Loch.
“I disagree,” Patterson says.
Rogers says the accused then went to Loch on 28 April 2023.
Patterson says: “I don’t know if I did go to Loch that day.”
Patterson denies that she went to Loch on that day to find death cap mushrooms.
She denies that the photo of mushroom caps are the death caps she found at Loch on 28 April 2023. Paterson also denies that the photo shows death cap mushrooms.
Patterson denies she was weighing the mushrooms to determine the fatal amount to administer.
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The jury is shown another photo with mushroom caps on a tray.
Rogers says mycologist Dr Thomas May gave evidence that the mushrooms were consistent with death caps.
Rogers says: “I suggest to you that these were death caps that you foraged on or after 28 April 2022. Correct?”
Patterson replies: “No, that’s not correct.”
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Jurors updated on timeline of Patterson trial
Justice Christopher Beale has spoken to the jury about the timeline for the remainder of the trial.
Erin Patterson’s trial is in its sixth week. Beale reminds jurors he previously estimated the trial would run for six weeks.
“I’m not going to put a figure on how much time is left to run in this trial,” he says.
He says Patterson’s evidence will “probably” run into early next week.
After Patterson has completed evidence, there will be legal discussion between parties in the absence of the jury, Beale says.
He says one topic is whether there will be any more evidence in the case and what directions Beale will give the jury before they deliberate.
Those discussions will take a couple of days.
After all the evidence is completed we will then hear closing addresses from the prosecution and defence.
This will be followed by Beale’s directions to the jury, called the judge’s charge. Beale says this could take a couple of days.
He says the jury can take “all the time you need” when they begin deliberating.
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Updated at 22.34 EDT
Patterson shown photos of electronic scales
Erin Patterson is shown photos of electronic scales.
One photo, showing kitchen scales underneath mushrooms laid on a tray, was extracted from a tablet police seized from Patterson’s house. Another photo of digital scales was taken by police during a search of Patterson’s house on 5 August 2023 – a week after the lunch.
Rogers asks Patterson how many electronic scales she owned on 5 August 2023.
“I don’t know. At least one,” she says.
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Updated at 22.22 EDT
Patterson says daughter expressed surprise about muffins containing dried mushrooms after blind taste test
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC turns to prior evidence that Erin Patterson told Simon she conducted a blind taste test with muffins cooked using dehydrated mushrooms. The court previously heard she remarked that their youngest child, who did not like mushrooms, preferred a muffin with dried mushrooms in it.
Under questioning by Rogers, Patterson agrees she did the blind taste test and says afterwards she told her daughter the muffins contained mushrooms.
“I said to her surprise there were mushrooms in it,” Patterson says.
Rogers asks what else Patterson put mushrooms in. She says she put them in spaghetti, lasagne, stews and brownies.
Patterson says: “I was trying to get extra vegetables into my kids’ bodies.”
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Updated at 22.24 EDT
Rogers says there is evidence from Patterson’s Facebook friends that she told them she had been dehydrating mushrooms. Erin says she used the dehydrator for other foods and believes she told her Facebook friends about this.
She says she used the appliance “to dry apples, bananas … quite a lot of different types of fruit”.
Rogers asks if she took photos of fruit she dehydrated.
“I don’t remember. I might have,” Patterson says.
Rogers takes Patterson to a Facebook message, sent in a group chat, where she wrote she had been “hiding powdered mushrooms in everything”.
Patterson says she used a Thermomix to blend the mushrooms.
Rogers says:
I suggest you were testing how you could hide mushrooms in food without someone noticing.
Patterson:
I was seeing if I could put mushrooms into my kids’ food.
Rogers says she was trying to do so without them noticing.
“Yes, that’s fair,” Patterson says.
Asked if she was only using the dehydrator for mushrooms, Patterson says, “I disagree.”
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Updated at 22.12 EDT
Patterson denies intentionally dehydrating death caps
Patterson is shown a photo of the dehydrator at the tip and asked if this is the one she owned.
“I presume so,” Patterson says.
“And why do you presume so again?” Rogers asks.
“Unless somebody else put in a dehydrator as well as me I presume this is the one I put in,” Patterson says.
Rogers tells Patterson it is an agreed fact in the trial that analysis by a fingerprint expert found the fingerprints on the dumped dehydrator matched Patterson’s fingerprints.
Rogers puts to Patterson: “You knew they were death cap mushrooms you’d been dehydrating?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Patterson says.
Rogers says Patterson was “keen” to dispose of evidence she had dehydrated death cap mushrooms.
“No, I didn’t know they’d been in it,” Patterson says.
Patterson denies Rogers’ suggestion that the reason she rushed out of Monash hospital was to dispose of evidence she had dehydrated death cap mushrooms.
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Updated at 21.54 EDT
Patterson asked about disposing of dehydrator at tip
Rogers shows the jury a photo, previously tendered, of a dehydrator manual in Patterson’s kitchen drawer. The photo was taken by police on 5 August 2023 during a search of Patterson’s Leongatha home.
Patterson agrees it is the manual for the dehydrator she purchased in April 2023.
Rogers shows the court a photo of a dehydrator police found at the Koonwarra transfer station and landfill.
Roger asks: “That is your dehydrator?”
“I presume so,” Patterson says.
Asked to explain her answer, Patterson says she has heard evidence her fingerprints were found on the dehydrator.
Patterson agrees a photo of a red four-wheel drive vehicle captured at the Koonwarra transfer station and landfill on 2 August 2023 is her car.
Patterson agrees a black Sunbeam dehydrator was the only item she disposed of at the tip’s e-waste section on that day.
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Updated at 22.40 EDT
Patterson agrees she lied to police about not owning a dehydrator
Rogers asks Patterson about the questions she gave in her police interview about not owning a dehydrator:
It was a lie when you told police on that occasion that you didn’t own a dehydrator. Correct?
“Correct,” Patterson says.
Rogers says Patterson told her Facebook friends, some of whom have testified in the trial, in an online chat she had bought a dehydrator in early 2023. Patterson agrees.
Rogers takes Patterson to a tax invoice for a Sunbeam dehydrator from an appliances store in Leongatha. The jury is shown the invoice which is dated 28 April 2023 – three months prior to the lunch.
Patterson agrees this is what the invoice shows. She agrees she subsequently used the dehydrator.
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Updated at 21.51 EDT
Cross-examination of Erin Patterson begins
Erin Patterson’s cross-examination has begun in her triple murder trial.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC is cross-examining Patterson.
Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC. Photograph: James Ross/AAPShare
Updated at 21.41 EDT
Defence concludes questions to Patterson
Colin Mandy SC takes Erin Patterson to elements of the prosecution’s case against her.
He asks if all the six beef wellingtons she cooked were the same. She says, “Yes.”
He asks if all the beef wellingtons she served on plates at the lunch were the same. She says, “Yes.”
He asks if she lied about her children eating leftovers of the same lunch.
“No,” Patterson says.
He asks his client if she pretended to be sick. She replies “no” as her voice trembles.
He asks if she has ever intentionally picked death cap mushrooms or used the toxic fungi in the beef wellingtons she prepared on 29 July 2023.
A visibly upset Patterson says “no” to both questions.
Patterson also said she did not lie about buying mushrooms from an Asian grocer in April 2023 and using those in the beef wellington.
Mandy asks Patterson if she intended to kill, seriously injure or harm each of her lunch guests.
Patterson, shaking her head, becomes visibly emotional during the questions.
She says, “No, I didn’t,” to each question.
Patterson reaches for a tissue as Mandy tells the court his examination of his client has concluded.
Erin Patterson’s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, departs court in Morwell. Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 22.28 EDT
Patterson says she lied to police about owning a dehydrator
Mandy turns to the police search at Patterson’s Leongatha home.
Patterson says during the police search she was able to use her phone to make inquiries for her daughter’s activity and to call a lawyer.
Mandy turns to Patterson’s police interview when she was asked questions about a dehydrator. In the interview, an officer asked Patterson if she had ever dehydrated “food or anything”. Patterson replied, “No.”
“Was that a lie?” Mandy asks.
“It was,” says Patterson.
In the interview, she also denied owning a dehydrator or knowing anything about a dehydrator in her house.
Erin agrees both of these responses were lies.
Mandy asks why she told these lies.
Well, I had disposed of it a few days earlier, in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms I’d foraged or the meal I’d prepared was responsible for making people sick.
Then on Saturday, Det Eppingstall told me that Gail and Heather had passed away and it was this stupid kneejerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying.”
I was just scared, but I shouldn’t have done it.
Mandy takes his client to her answers in the police interview where she said she had never foraged for mushrooms.
Patterson says she lied for the same reason.
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Updated at 21.36 EDT
Patterson describes learning of lunch guests’ worsening symptoms
Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is questioning his client.
He asks about her understanding of how unwell her lunch guests were after the beef wellington meal.
Patterson confirms her evidence that the day after the lunch – 30 July 2023 – Simon told her his parents, Don and Gail, were at Korumburra hospital.
She says on Monday morning – two days after the lunch – Simon’s brother told her Don was at Dandenong hospital. She says:
I think that’s the first time I knew that.
Patterson says on Tuesday afternoon she was told her relatives had been transferred to the Austin hospital.
She says it was “clear” to her there had been a “progression of symptoms” due to the hospital transfers.
From that it seemed likely to me they were getting sicker.
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Updated at 22.28 EDT
Jurors have entered the courtroom in Morwell.
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Day 26 recap
While we wait for today’s proceedings to get under way, here’s a reminder of what the jury heard on Wednesday:
1. Patterson said her estranged husband, Simon, accused her of trying to poison his parents using a dehydrator the days after the lethal lunch. Patterson says Simon asked, “Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?”
2. The accused said she believes there is a “possibility” she unintentionally added foraged mushrooms to her beef wellington mix while trying to improve its “bland” flavour.
3. Patterson says she lied to her lunch guests about requiring cancer treatment because she was “embarrassed” to tell them about plans for weight loss surgery. “I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate,” she said.
4. Patterson said she ate the remainder of a cake brought by her mother-in-law, Gail, to the fateful lunch. She says after consuming the cake in the evening, she felt “over-full” and “brought it back up again”.
5. Patterson also admitted she lied to Gail about requiring a needle biopsy the month before the lunch. She said when she mentioned a lump in her arm, her in-laws showed a lot of care, which “felt really nice”. “I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
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Updated at 20.51 EDT
Good morning
Welcome to day 27 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial.
Patterson, who began testifying on Monday afternoon, is expected to continue giving evidence this morning.
The trial will resume from 10.30am once the jurors enter the courtroom in Morwell.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
She is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The attempted murder charge relates to Heather’s husband, Ian.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
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