Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s phone records aired in the Supreme Court after witnesses described to the jury how death cap mushrooms were spotted in Loch and Outtrim
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s phone was detected near an area in Gippsland where lethal death caps were growing one day after their exact location was posted online by a mushroom expert, a jury has heard.
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A phone belonging to Erin Patterson was detected near an area in Gippsland where lethal death caps were growing one day after their exact location was posted online by a mushroom expert, a jury has heard.
The phone records of the accused triple murderer were aired in the Supreme Court on Monday after witnesses described to the jury how death cap mushrooms were spotted in Loch and Outtrim, near her Leongatha home, in the lead up to the lethal lunch.
Ms Patterson is standing trial in Morwell, accused of murdering her estranged husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
She served them individual beef wellingtons allegedly laced with death caps at her home on July 29, 2023.
Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 71, was the only guest to survive.
Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, claiming what happened was a “tragedy and a terrible accident”.
Digital forensics expert Dr Matthew Sorell gave the jurors a lesson on the mobile phone network as the trial entered its fourth week, explaining how a base station provides a connection between a mobile phone and the network.
The court heard communication records or “call charge” records provide basic detail relating to calls, texts and data usage, while “event-based monitoring” (EBM) records provide “more high-level detail”.
Dr Sorell confirmed he had been provided years of call charge records for a phone belonging to Ms Patterson, as well as “targeted dates” of EBM records from April and May 2023, relating to the Loch and Outtrim areas.
Mycologist Dr Tom May told the jury last week he spotted death caps growing along Neilson St in Outtrim on May 21, 2023, and posted a “very precise pin” of their location to citizen science website iNaturalist.
Dr Sorell told the court it was his opinion that a mobile phone belonging to Ms Patterson made a “possible visit” to northern Outtrim, where Neilson St is located, one day later on May 22 from no earlier than 11.24am to no later than 11.49am.
He told the court he believed the mobile phone was “relatively stationary” in the area until 11.49am due to its repeated connections to the nearby Outtrim base station, before it returned to Leongatha about 12pm.
Retired pharmacist Christine McKenzie, who worked for 17 years at the Victorian Poisons Information Centre, told the court she spotted death caps in Loch on April 18, 2023, while walking around an oval with her husband, grandson and the family dog.
She also posted their location to iNaturalist.
Dr Sorell told the court it was his opinion that the mobile phone belonging to Ms Patterson made a “possible visit” to Loch 10 days later, on April 28, from no earlier than 9.06am to no later than 10.07am.
The jury heard the mobile phone returned to the Loch area on the morning of May 22.
Dr Sorell told the court repeated connections to a nearby Loch South base station “every five minutes” were consistent with the mobile phone being “relatively stationary” in the area from about 9.24am until 10am.
Earlier, Ms McKenzie gave evidence about how she developed a “fascination” with the world of fungi while she worked as poisons information specialist.
She said she removed the death caps she found under an oak tree near the oval in Loch because she did not want any foragers to mistake the death caps for an edible mushroom.
“I took photos first and then … we had a dog poo bag with us, so I removed all the death cap mushrooms I could find,” she said.
“Because of my training, I’m very well aware of the toxicity of amanita phalloides (death cap mushrooms) and it’s a popular area for people to take their dogs.”
The court heard she was concerned more death caps would grow under the oak tree over “subsequent weeks”.
Dr Sorell will be cross-examined by the defence on Tuesday.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
For more mushroom trial coverage, click here.
How experts analysed Erin Patterson’s phone data
The accused killer’s phone pinged at two separate locations where toxic death cap mushrooms had been spotted in the months before the lethal lunch.
Erin Patterson’s phone pinged near death cap sites in months before deadly lunch
A digital forensic expert has told the jury the alleged murderer’s phone was detected near two known sites of toxic death cap mushrooms in the days after their locations were posted online.