An expert in emergency medicine who reviewed Erin Patterson’s medical records says her condition was consistent with someone who had a diarrhoeal illness, but there was no biochemical evidence of liver injury.
Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023.
Patterson is accused of murdering her estranged husband Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.
The Victorian supreme court sitting in Morwell has previously heard the guests died after being poisoned with death cap mushrooms that were in a paste used by Patterson to make individual beef wellingtons.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyerssay the poisoning was a tragic accident.
The court has previously heard the prosecution allege Patterson was pretending to be sick, but her lawyer Colin Mandy SC said this was disputed by the defence, who say she was unwell because she had also eaten some of the beef wellington.
Prof Andrew Berston gave evidence of his review of the medical records on Wednesday. He said he could find no evidence she had cancer, but noted a negative screening for cervical cancer.
Mandy asked Berston if he based his opinion on Patterson’s diarrhoeal illness from her haemoglobin and potassium levels, as well as records of her bowel movements and other factors, including how those levels changed over the duration of her hospital stay from 31 July to 1 August.
Berston agreed that it was a combination of those factors which led him to the conclusion she had that illness and was somewhat dehydrated.
He was asked about liver damage as this is common in victims of death cap mushroom poisoning, and had been experienced by the lunch guests.
Berston was asked about a series of blood tests used to detect liver damage, and said the levels recorded were all in normal range.
He also confirmed he reviewed records from Monash medical centre on 1 August 2023 that showed Patterson had been cleared of amanita, or death cap, poisoning, or other toxic poisoning.
The jury also heard from Dr Camille Truong, who is a mycologist or scientist specialising in fungi. She told the court on Wednesday that she did not find death cap mushrooms in two examinations of leftovers of the beef wellington lunch that were provided to her.
She agreed that she told Dr Laura Muldoon, a toxicology registrar at Monash Health who asked for help identifying the fungi, it was “probably impossible” that it was death cap mushroom poisoning, if Muldoon had been told the mushrooms were bought from a supermarket and Asian grocer.
The jury was also shown stills from CCTV footage which appeared to show Patterson disposing of a food dehydrator at a local tip the day after she was discharged from hospital.
The images appeared to show Patterson attending the Koonwarra transfer station and disposing of a food dehydrator.
The court has previously heard the prosecution allege Patterson dumped the dehydrator, which was later found to contain her fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms, “to conceal what she had done”.
But Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, said in his opening address to the jury that she lied about the dehydrator because she panicked about accidentally poisoning her lunch guests.
“The prosecution says she got rid of the dehydrator and that makes her look guilty. She admits that. She admits that when she was interviewed by the police on the same day that one of the lunch guests died, that she lied about getting rid of the dehydrator.
“But you consider these questions when you’re considering that issue: why would she lie about having a dehydrator when many people, including Simon Patterson, her husband, and her children, and her Facebook friends, knew that she had one?
“She admits the lie, but consider why would she lie about that only a day or so after talking to Simon about that dehydrator in the hospital? Why would she lie about that when she’d posted photographs of mushrooms in the dehydrator andspoken to her Facebook friends about it?”
Mandy went on to say that: “She also lied to the police about foraging for mushrooms. She admits that.
“She did forage for mushrooms. Just so that we make that clear, she denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.”
The court also heard on Wednesday that a Victorian woman died in an unrelated incident by accidentally poisoning herself with death cap mushrooms in May 2024 – a year after Patterson hosted the lunch.
Dr Thomas May, a mycologist who is an internationally renowned mushroom expert, told the court that he was familiar with a separate and unrelated incident investigated by the Victorian coroner which involved the death of a woman last May.
In that case, the court heard, the woman picked mushrooms from the front of her house to make dinner for herself and her son.
Early the next morning she fell ill, according to information from the coroner’s findings that was read to the court.
“The deceased indicated that the mushrooms were not good and she had been vomiting since about 2am,” Sophie Stafford, a barrister for Patterson, told the court.
Her son also became unwell, the court heard, but recovered. The findings into the death were made without an inquest.
May told the court he was contacted by the Gippsland department of health after the death about how best to respond to recommendations made by the coroner.
Those recommendations related to more public health messaging about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms, despite annual warnings issued by the health department.
May was also shown another series of photos of fungi by Stafford. The photos were of 18 mushrooms including a spring fieldcap, buttery collybias, shaggy parasols and honey mushrooms that had characteristics similar to death caps, although some of them were not known to be toxic.
May was also asked, in reexamination by prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC, about the smell of death cap mushrooms. He said when fresh they could smell quite sweet, but when dried “I find the smell to be very unpleasant”.
The trial continues.