Death Caps & Deception: Inside the Mushroom Murder Trial Cross-Examination

Erin Patterson faces cross-examination in the Supreme Court of Victoria after pleading not guilty to triple murder charges in the mushroom poisoning case. The prosecution showed Ms Patterson evidence of lies about her dehydrator ownership, mushroom foraging activities, and alleged cancer diagnosis.

• Ms Patterson admits lying to police about owning a dehydrator and foraging for mushrooms
• Evidence includes photos of mushrooms, the dehydrator, and of Ms Patterson disposing of the appliance at a local tip
• Ms Patterson denies knowing she had dehydrated death cap mushrooms
• Direct contradiction between Ms Patterson and survivor Ian Wilkinson about the lunch and cancer claims
• Ms Patterson denies telling lunch guests she had cancer to create a pretext for the gathering
• Prosecution suggests Ms Patterson disposed of the dehydrator to eliminate suspicion
• Court told the trial may continue for several more weeks

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Chapters

• 0:01 Podcast Introduction and Newsletter Reminder
• 0:44 Trial Update and Cross-Examination Begin
• 1:38 Dehydrator Evidence and Patterson's Lies
• 4:14 Cancer Claims and Witness Contradictions
• 6:27 Episode Summary and Support Options

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast. My name is Lisa and I am a podcaster and journalist. Most weekdays we deliver detailed coverage of one of Australia's most closely watched legal dramas Erin Patterson's murder trial. Now a quick reminder before we launch into today's update. Head to my website, mushroommurdertrialcom, to subscribe for my newsletter Now. It's free, so if you haven't yet, please get on there, because I'm going to be releasing a whole lot of material later on. I don't want you to miss out, so make sure you're on that list and if you haven't yet, please subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform so you never miss an episode.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Now it looks like we still have a few weeks to go in the so-called mushroom murder trial. There's no definitive date, but the judge told the jury today that trial may still have some time to go. Anyway, moving right along, accused triple murderer Erin Patterson was today facing cross-examination in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Morwell. Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC was cross-examining Ms Patterson for most of the day and the prosecutor launched straight into her questions. She put to the mother of two who, by the way, as we know, has pled not guilty to all charges of two who, by the way, as we know, has pled not guilty to all charges. She put to the mother of two that she lied to police about owning a dehydrator, that she lied about dehydrating food and about foraging for mushrooms. Ms Patterson admitted it. Yes, she did lie.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Now the prosecutor refers to Ms Patterson's police interview and she says okay, can we go to question 264? No, okay, do you own a dehydrator? Answer no, no Response all right, okay, were those lies, said the prosecutor. Yes, said Ms Patterson. And why did you tell the police those lies on 5th of August? Well, I had disposed of it a few days earlier, in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms that I'd foraged or the meal that I prepared was responsible for making people sick. And then on the Saturday, detective Eppingstall told me that Gail and Heather had passed away. And it was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to just digging deeper and keep lying. I was just scared but I shouldn't have done it. All right, says the prosecutor.

Speaker 1: 2:39

In relation to foraging mushrooms, you were asked questions in the record of interview, question 159 on page 8. Question okay, is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms? And your answer was never. And then question was or anything like that never. And your answer was never. That a lie too. Yes, they were both lies. And was that lie told for the same reasons? Yes.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Dr Rogers then moved on to a series of exhibits. There were photos found on Miss Patterson's tablet of mushrooms and a dehydrator, an invoice showing that she'd bought the dehydrator on April 28, 2023, and more photos of her disposing of the device at the local tip on August 2. Dr Rogers said quote you rushed out to get rid of the evidence. You lied to the police because you knew you'd use the dehydrator. Ms Patterson replies no, I didn't know that. Dr Rogers presses again you knew if you told police it would implicate you in the deliberate poisoning. And Ms Patterson stands firm no, it's not correct.

Speaker 1: 3:54

And then the state moved on to the disposal of the dehydrator. The day after the accused left hospital, you took the dehydrator to the transfer station because you'd been using it to dehydrate mushrooms, hadn't you? Erin replies yes, and not just any old mushrooms, death cap mushrooms, in fact. Correct? I didn't know that I'd done that and you knew that there were death cap mushrooms that you had been dehydrating, correct? No, I didn't know that I'd done that and you knew that there were death cap mushrooms that you had been dehydrating, correct? No, I didn't know that, and you were very keen to dispose of any evidence that might connect you with the possession of death cap mushrooms. No, I didn't know they'd been in it. That's why you rushed out the day after your release from Monash to get rid of the evidence, correct, miss Patterson? No, prosecutor, you lied to police about never owning a dehydrator because you knew you'd used a dehydrator to prepare death cap mushrooms to include in the lunch answer. No, I did not do that, prosecutor. You lied because you knew if you told the police the truth, it would implicate you in the deliberate poisoning of your four lunch guests, correct? No? No, it's not true.

Speaker 1: 5:07

From the witness box, erin Patterson also tells the court she did not tell her Facebook friends she was an atheist. She denies being especially close to Christine Hunt, a previous witness, and she denies using emojis to mock the Pattersons, her in-laws, as they prayed for her. In addition, ms Patterson also rejects telling her lunch guests that she had cancer, a claim that directly contradicts the earlier testimony of the lunch's sole survivor, ian Wilkinson. Quote this is the prosecutor. So to sum up, in relation to your so-called cancer diagnosis, your claim to various people that you'd been diagnosed with cancer before the lunch was deliberately false. Yes or no, ms Patterson? I didn't make that claim, ms Patterson said. Dr Rogers says the Leangatha woman told this lie to create a pretense for the lunch and to explain why her children would not be present. Erin rejected these propositions, quote I suggest that you never thought you'd have to account for this lie of having cancer because you thought the lunch guests would die and your lie would never be found out. Dr Rogers said that is not true. So that's what I've got for you today. I'll be back in the morning with a bit more of the transcript, because so much news, it's a lot to take in. So thank you for listening. For more information, visit my website. So thank you for listening. For more information, visit my website mushroommurdertrialcom.

Speaker 1: 6:42

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