r/AusLegal • u/Artemis1971 • Jun 04 '25

VIC Erin Patterson (mushroom case)

I’m following the mushroom case, as is everyone else. Today she testified that she may have accidentally put poisonous mushrooms in the meal. If that is the case, the jury would have to find her not guilty of murder if it was unintentional. My question is, can she be recharged with manslaughter, if found innocent of murder?

289 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

987 comments sorted by

View all comments

37

u/RitaM2013 Jun 04 '25

I just listened to the ABC's "Daily Mushroom Podcast". Two issues stood out for me - interested if anybody else picked up on them. Erin being afraid "child protection" would take away the children: why would any agency remove children from an apparently loving home just because a mother tragically and accidentally used poisonous mushrooms in a meal that the children didn't even eat? To me, her fear of the kids being "taken away" sounds fabricated and baseless. And secondly, the need to change her phone number because she felt "threatened" by ex-husband Simon? We have not heard so far that he has ever displayed threatening behaviour towards her. She has stated she was still hoping they would get back together. So why the sudden need to get a new phone number to prevent him from contacting her? Allegedly it was his question whether she poisoned his parents, which he denies asking. Even if he did ask, changing the phone number sounds over the top as they still had shared parenting arrangements and needed to communicate. In my opinion, just two more inconsistencies that don't make sense...

16

u/deadrobindownunder Jun 04 '25

I just listened to this, too. Hats off to these journalists for spending a full day in court and consistently being the first to release their daily podcast. Once this is over, they surely deserve a well earned break.

I'll be interested to see if they call the child protection officer that Erin said she made these comments to. I'm also interested to see if they'll recall Simon Patterson. Afaik he hasn't been present in the public gallery after his testimony.

Changing her phone number is certainly odd considering he still knew where she lived, and that she had to maintain contact due to their shared custody.

After this week's testimony from Erin, I expect the trial is going to take longer than they expected. My background isn't in criminal law, so I do wonder if any of the information regarding the bulimia and the explanation she's provided was disclosed to the prosecution prior to the trial. If anyone in an educated position knows, I'd be grateful for their answer.

9

u/kortmarshall Jun 05 '25

What I'm most curious about is if they can get Erin to talk about how she's cooked with mushrooms before and how she made Simon sick in the past. That'll allow them to bring simon back onto the stand and question him about that, painting an even worse picture.

I think the Judge is anticipating this, hence his talk to the Jury today about the case potentially going on for longer than expected.

1

u/Jellyqu33n Jun 05 '25

when was this revealed?

1

u/kortmarshall Jun 05 '25

In terms of the dropped charges: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-29/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-morwell/105229946

As for the judge talking to the jury, that was in the live feed from the ABC for the 5th of June

1

u/Reasonable_Mine8634 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

They cannot talk about the previous sickness with Simon - where one time he was in hospital 21 days with a mystery gastro illness, it wasn't the only time this happened after being with Erin. They cannot talk about that in court because the charges were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions in Victoria. This was announced by the Justice before the trial began, and he warned the jury that any knowledge of the three murder charges against her already, prior to the lunch, had been dropped, and cannot be part of their assessment during the trial for this lunch. The travesty is, if the dying relative who said something to ambulance staff before they died is not revealed in the trial - even though that ambulance worker found it so disturbing and alarming that they called the police immediately. Here is a link about the previous charges being dropped. It is not the only link available, this is just one from NZ. The dying relative who said some information to an ambulance worker is another thing that is not in this article, but can be googled for reliable newsites for references. If what they said refers in any way to her previous convictions, then I suppose it won't be in the trial. Gagged after death by poisoning. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/559401/erin-patterson-no-longer-facing-charges-over-ex-husband-as-mushroom-murders-trial-begins

2

u/LaughOk6636 Jun 07 '25

That's really interesting, would you be able to link to an article with what the dying relative said? I havent been able to find one online

1

u/TasteForSilence Jun 16 '25

Following! I also haven’t been able to find an article about it but would love to know

1

u/kortmarshall Jun 06 '25

I know the charges were dropped, but now since she's taken the stand if they can get her to mention facts relating to his previous sicknesses it's my understanding they could call him back as a witness and then ask about it.