An Australian woman accused of murdering parents with Wellington beef has been documented using kitchen scales to calculate a fatal dose of toxic mushrooms, according to prosecutors.
Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty of having killed three people and tried to assassinate another at his home in the Victoria region in July 2023. The 50 -year -old woman says that she never intended to harm them and that it was a tragic accident.
Prosecutors suggested on Thursday photos found on his phone showing that wild mushrooms are weighed represent the measure of the amount necessary to kill his guests.
Ms. Patterson told court that she had probably taken the photos in question, but said that she did not believe that mushrooms in them were death ceilings.
The in-laws of Mrs. Patterson, Don and Gail Patterson, both of 70 years old, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, all fell ill and died a few days after lunch.
Heather’s husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, was also hospitalized but recovered after getting out of an induced coma for several weeks.
The high -level trial, which started almost six weeks ago, has already heard more than 50 witnesses. Ms. Patterson became the first witness to Defense to take a stand on Monday afternoon.
Under the counter-examination of the main prosecutor, Ms. Patterson admitted that she had fueled for wild mushrooms in the three months preceding the July lunch, despite the fact that the police and a health official had not done so.
The court was also shown images, taken at the end of April 2023 and recovered from Ms. Patterson’s phone, who represented mushrooms weighed.
Ms. Patterson previously admitted that she had repeatedly deleted electronic data in the days that followed lunch because she feared that if the police found such photos, they would blame her guests.
Powering previous evidence of a mushroom expert who said that the mushrooms of images were “very coherent” with the death ceilings, Dr. Rogers alleged that Ms. Patterson had knowingly fed them a few days earlier.
She had seen an article on Inaturalist – a website for observations of plants and animals – and went to the Loch region ten days later on April 28 to choose toxic mushrooms, said Dr. Rogers.
Ms. Patterson said that she did not remember if she went to town that day, but denied that she went there to find mushrooms from the bossonnerie or that she had seen the unexpected post.
“I suggest you weigh these mushrooms so that you can calculate the required weight for … a deadly dose,” said Dr. Rogers.
“In disagreement,” replied Ms. Patterson.
The mother of two also spoke of putting dried mushrooms powder in a range of foods such as spaghetti, brownies and stew, which, according to prosecutors, allege for deadly lunch.
Ms. Patterson said it was not true, but rather an attempt to “additional vegetables in my children’s body”.
Prosecutors asked her several times, with a different label each time, if she had knowingly used the same food dehydrator to prepare mushrooms for the death cap for lunch.
The video surveillance has played the trial shows Ms. Patterson with the aircraft in a local dumping ground.
“This is why you rushed, the day after your release from (the hospital), to get rid of the evidence,” said Dr. Rogers.
“No,” replied Ms. Patterson.
Earlier, Ms. Patterson’s lawyer asked her why she had lied to the police several times about food mushrooms and food dehydrator.
“It was this stupid instinctive reaction of digging more deeply and continuing to lie,” she told court. “I was just afraid, but I shouldn’t have done it.”
Ms. Patterson also repeated her assertion that she has never intentionally put poisonous mushrooms in the meal.
She said that the mushrooms used in Wellington beef may have accidentally included dried and thrilled varieties that have been kept in a container with varieties purchased in stores.
Ms. Patterson was also asked about evidence provided by other witnesses whom she had asked her guests to come to lunch to discuss health problems, namely a diagnosis of cancer.
She said that she did not say squarely that she had cancer, but that it should still not have misleaded her loved ones, saying that she had done it partly because their concern made her feel loved.
“I suggest that you would never have thought you will have to explain this lie about having cancer because you thought that lunch guests would die,” said Dr. Rogers. “Your lie would never be discovered.”
“This is not true,” said Ms. Patterson.
She will take over the counter-perspective on Friday. The trial, which should initially take six weeks, should now take place for at least fifteen days, said the court in the court.
