Woman in a triple murder: mushrooms found may be in the food

Woman in a triple murder: mushrooms found may be in the food

in Brisbane, Australia, Erin Patterson is on trial after being accused of murdering three guests with a dish who was moved with fatal tuber mushrooms. During the trial, she explained on Wednesday that she may have accidentally added edible mushrooms to lunch because she tasted her duxellous "a little bland".

The crime scene in July 2023

On the third day of evidence, Patterson was asked about the events in July 2023 when she was accused of deliberately adding fatal tuber mushrooms to a Beef Wellington, which she prepared for four guests, including her in -law, in her house in the small Australian town of Leongatha in rural Victoria. Patterson denies the three charges for murder on their in -laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. In addition, she rejects the claim to have tried to kill the fourth guest, Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, her local pastor.

The preparation of the ingredients

In the days before lunch, defender Colin Mandy SC Patterson interviewed the purchase of the ingredients. She explained that all ingredients of Woolworths, a large Australian supermarket, came. Patterson stated that he had taken the recipe from a cookbook that she followed with "some deviations". For example, she could not find a whole fillet of beef, which is why she acquired individual steaks. Menf, who was challenged in the recipe, she would have left out because Don "no pork eats". On Saturday morning she brewed garlic and shallots and chopped the mushrooms bought in the shop in a food processor. She cooked the mixture, known as a duxelle, for about 45 minutes so that it turned dry and did not soften the dough.

The fatal decision

Patterson said in court that she tried the mix and she appeared to her “a little bland”. Therefore, she added dried mushrooms that she had previously kept in a plastic container in the pantry. When Mandy asked her what she believed in the container, she replied: "I thought it was only the mushrooms that I bought in Melbourne." Mandy continued: "And what may you think now could have been in this container?" She replied: "Now I think that there may be wild mushrooms in it." Her voice broke.

follow after eating

Patterson reported that Ian and Heather Wilkinson bought their full food. Don ended what Gail had not eaten, while Patterson only ate about a quarter or a third of her beef Wellington because she spoke a lot and ate slowly. After lunch they cleaned and sat down to an orange cake that the Gail had brought with them. Patterson stated that he had eaten one piece of cake after another until she had consumed two thirds of the original cake at the end.

she expressed that she felt over full and went to the toilet where she handed over. Before that, she had told the court that she suffered from Bulimia all her life and was very aware of her figure. After lunch, she felt sick and took medication for diarrhea in the evening. The next day she missed the Sunday service because of the same symptoms and continued to suffer from diarrhea.

The suspicion of toxic mushrooms

In the night after lunch, she removed the dough and the mushrooms from the remaining Beef Wellington and put the meat for the children in the microwave for dinner. The next Monday, she went to the hospital due to a possible lack of fluid, where a doctor informed her that she might have come into contact with tuber mushrooms. Patterson said: "I was shocked and confused." She could not explain how tuber mushrooms could have got into the court.

prior knowledge of the mushrooms

Earlier on Wednesday Patterson said that she had not visited any websites that showed the locations of tuber mushrooms near her house. Although she was aware of the danger of these mushrooms, she had searched for information online, but found that they did not grow in her area.

Patterson also mentioned that in May 2023 she had searched for mushrooms in the botanical garden from Korumburra and possibly picked some near oaks. It has already been heard in court that tuber mushrooms grow near oaks.

the discovery and its effects

She explained that she would dehydrate all mushrooms that she didn't want to use immediately and store it in plastic containers in the pantry. At that time she also bought dried mushrooms from an Asian food dealer in Melbourne. Because of her intensive smell, she put her in a plastic container in the pantry. Mandy asked her whether she could remember that, wild mushrooms, which she had dehydrated in May or June 2023, in a container that contained other dried mushrooms. Patterson confirmed: "Yes, I did."

In the course of the procedure, Patterson remembered a conversation with her husband Simon, while his parents were seriously ill in the hospital. She mentioned that she had dried mushrooms in the vending machine. Simon then asked: "Did you poison my parents so by using this dehydrator?"

This remark made it think: "It made me think about all the times that I had used the dehydrated machine and how I had dried wild mushrooms in it weeks before.

Patterson further explained that she was responsible for three factory resets on her phone. Her son had done the first. She knew that there were pictures of mushrooms and the dehydrated machine in her Google photos. "I just panicked and didn't want to see her," she said, referring to the investigators.

The taking of evidence of Patterson continues.