A mushroom expert has told Erin Patterson’s supreme court trial he photographed death-cap mushrooms growing wild in a town near Ms Patterson’s home. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one count of attempted murder following a beef wellington lunch in Leongatha in July 2023. Three of her guests died of death cap mushroom poisoning while a fourth recovered after a grave illness.
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00:00Tom May says he was walking in the tiny South Gippsland town of Outrim in May 2023 when he
00:09spotted deathcap mushrooms growing under an oak tree. The internationally recognised mushroom
00:15expert telling Ms Paterson's Supreme Court murder trial he posted photos of the mushrooms on a
00:20website under his profile Funky Tom. I believe it would have been Nielsen Street in Outrim,
00:26Dr May told the court I don't think I typed the street name in but I put a very precise latitude
00:32longitude geocode with the observation. Dr May told the court it was one of three reports of death
00:38caps growing in the region including an historical sighting in Morwell and another in Locke in early
00:442023. Prosecutors allege Ms Paterson foraged for mushrooms in South Gippsland in the months before
00:51the fatal July 2023 lunch. Ms Paterson's legal team insists the deaths of her lunch guests
00:57were a terrible accident. The defence questioned Dr May about the difficulties of identifying mushrooms
01:03amid an increased interest in foraging. Do you agree with this statement that poisonous mushroom
01:09identification is fraught with challenges? Defence lawyer Sophie Stafford asked. It is challenging,
01:14Dr May replied. Earlier in the day Monash Medical Centre's staff described asking Ms Paterson whether
01:21any of the mushrooms she'd used in the lunch were foraged. Emergency Registrar Dr Laura Muldoon told the
01:27court Ms Paterson insisted the mushrooms she'd used were dried and button mushrooms. Did you ask her any
01:33questions concerning the use of wild or foraged mushrooms in the cooking of the beef wellington?
01:38Dr Muldoon was asked, yes I did. And what did she say? She denied the use, she replied.
01:44Dr Muldoon says Ms Paterson looked clinically well other than chapped lips and her vital signs were
01:51normal. Was there any clinical or biochemical evidence of Amanita poisoning? Dr Muldoon was asked.
01:57No there wasn't, she replied. Ms Paterson has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her.