Moment money became an issue as Mushroom Cook trial over Erin Patterson’s beef wellington continues
The “Mushroom cook” trial has been about family ties, and the relationship between Erin Patterson and her estranged husband has been littered in the evidence, where money became an issue.
The Mushroom Cook
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There’s a reason big trials have a jury of 15 members when only 12 men and women decide the fate of an accused.
Jurors can get sick, some do the wrong thing such as getting on google to do research and then there’s the rule they are repeatedly told not to break.
In the movie fight club, the first rule of fight club was: “You don’t talk about fight club”.
Same goes for jurors.
It’s the simplest of rules, and easiest of pitfalls, especially in a case as talked about as the King v Erin Patterson, otherwise known as the “Mushroom case”.
One of the jury members exited stage right this week.
The reason to remove the juror was a belief that they were blabbing outside the jury room.
Repeatedly, jurors were warned not to talk to family or friends about the trial in which they are the decision makers.
And although there was no finding the juror had been discussing the case, judges tend not to take chances.
“On that unhappy note, we’re now ready to resume the trial,” Justice Christopher Beale told the courtroom on Thursday after dismissing the male juror.
Now there’s 14 – five women and nine men.
And they are at the halfway point of this trial.
Two of the remaining jurors will be balloted out after the closing addresses of the prosecution and the defence before the 12 remaining will decide whether Ms Patterson is guilty or not guilty of the murders of three people, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, her sister Heather Wilkson, 66 and attempting to kill Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 71.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
At the back of the courtroom, in the dock, she has sat silently.
The court still does not know whether the 50-year-old will give evidence in her own defence.
As the prosecution continues to call its witnesses, the court has heard more about the aftermath of the beef wellington lunch, which Ms Patterson allegedly laced with death cap mushrooms and served up to her guests on July 29, 2023.
This week the jury heard about how deadly death cap mushrooms, which grow under oak trees, are to humans.
In short, once you’ve eaten them, the clock is ticking.
There is no dispute death caps were in the beef wellington dish Ms Patterson cooked.
The only question is whether she intended to poison her guests.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine toxicologist Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos told the court that patients with death cap mushroom poisoning “progressively get worse” if the toxins are not removed quickly.
He testified symptoms include tissue necrosis, organ failure and ultimately, death.
The court heard these toxins were detected in the dehydrator dumped in a tip near Leongatha, with CCTV showing a woman driving a red four-wheel-drive dropping one off just days after the lunch.
Ms Patterson initially denied to police ever owning or using a dehydrator.
It is one of several lies she told them.
But Ms Patterson’s barrister, Colin Mandy SC, has told the jury her lies were the result of “panic” in the aftermath of a “tragic accident”.
As police investigated what happened at the lunch, child protection worker Katrina Cripps spoke to Ms Patterson in hospital and again after she was discharged.
Ms Cripps testified that Ms Patterson told her where she found the idea for the beef wellington meal – RecipeTin Eats.
A national bestseller, Ms Patterson is alleged to have told Ms Cripps she wanted “to do something new and special”.
The mushrooms were to add to the flavour.
“She said that she read that the (mushrooms from the Asian grocer) would add a nice flavour to the beef wellington,” Ms Cripps told the court.
But the jury has also heard death cap mushrooms only grow in the wild and that Ms Patterson is in fact a forager, a fact she denied to police.
Ms Cripps’ evidence then turned back to what much of this trial has been about – family ties.
The relationship between Ms Patterson and her estranged husband has been littered throughout the evidence.
They had always been friends, despite their many separations, right up to the point he told the taxman he was separated.
Then, according to the evidence, money became an issue.
Ms Cripps testified Ms Patterson spoke to her about her husband becoming “nasty” as she claimed child support and family tax benefits in 2022, a year before the lunch.
“She said it changed the relationship with her and Simon,” Ms Cripps said.
“She felt ... that was the time he had become nasty towards her.”
Ms Cripps said Ms Patterson added her husband was “controlling and emotionally abusive”.
“He would say things to her that would make her doubt herself as a parent.”
The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.
Erin Patterson trial: Forensic tests linked urine sample to deadly mushrooms
A forensic toxicologist has returned to the witness box to detail how bodily fluid samples taken from lunch guests were analysed by experts and linked to highly poisonous mushrooms.
Death cap toxins found in debris from dumped dehydrator
Forensic testing uncovered toxins from death cap mushrooms in debris taken from inside the dehydrator discarded at a tip, the jury in the Erin Patterson trial has heard.