An Australian woman accused of murdering a relative with beef Wellington recorded herself with kitchen scales to calculate a fatal dose of toxic mushrooms, prosecutors said.
Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty to murdering three people at his home in Victoria, Victoria, in July 2023. The 50-year-old said she never intended to hurt them, and it was a tragic accident.
Prosecutors suggested on Thursday that photos found on their phones showed wild fungus weighing depicting the amount she measured the amount needed to kill guests.
Ms Patterson told the court she might have taken the photos but said she didn't believe the mushrooms were death caps.
Ms. Patterson’s mother-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70 years old, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 years old, both fell ill and died a few days after lunch.
Heather's husband, local Reverend Ian Wilkinson, was also hospitalized but recovered from a weeks-long coma.
The high-profile trial that began nearly six weeks ago has been heard from more than 50 witnesses indicting them. Ms. Patterson became the first defense witness to his position on Monday afternoon.
Under cross-examination by the chief prosecutor, Ms. Patterson admitted that she had foraged wild mushrooms in the three months before the July lunch, despite telling police and a health officer she did not.
Images taken by the court in late April 2023 were also shown and recovered from Ms. Patterson's phone, which depicts weighing mushrooms.
Ms. Patterson had previously admitted that she had deleted electronic data several times in the days after lunch because she was worried that if officers found such a photo, they would blame her for the death of the guests.
Dr. Rogers noted that the mushrooms in the image were "highly consistent" with the death cap, and Dr. Rogers alleged that Ms. Patterson was interested in foraging a few days ago.
Dr. Rogers said she had seen an article on iNaturalist - a website for logging animals and flora and headed to the lake area on April 28 to select the toxic fungus.
Ms Patterson said she doesn't remember going to town that day, but denied that she went there to find the Death Cap Mushroom, or that she had seen criminals.
"I recommend weighing these mushrooms so you can figure out the weight you need to get the fatal dose," Dr. Rogers told her.
"Disagree," Ms. Patterson replied.
The mother of two also talked about putting powdered mushroom powder into various foods such as pasta, brownies and stews, which prosecutors claimed was an exercise for a deadly lunch.
Ms Patterson said it wasn't true, but an attempt to put "extra vegetables into my child's body."
The prosecutor repeatedly asked her every time if she intended to prepare death cap mushrooms for lunch using the same food dehydrator.
CCTV played during the trial showing Ms. Patterson disposing of the device at a local dump.
"That's why I was kicked out the day after my release from the hospital to get rid of the evidence," Dr. Rogers said.
"No," Ms. Patterson replied.
Earlier, Ms. Patterson's lawyer asked her why she repeatedly lie to the police to forage mushrooms and food dehydrated.
"It's this stupid knee reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," she told the court. "I'm just scared, but I shouldn't."
Ms. Patterson also repeated her statement that she never deliberately put toxic fungi into her meals.
She said the mushrooms used in the Wellington beef may have unexpectedly included dry forage varieties that are kept in a store-bought container.
Ms. Patterson also asked evidence from other witnesses, who had asked guests to come to lunch to discuss health issues, namely cancer diagnosis.
She said she didn’t say she had cancer directly, but still shouldn’t mislead her relatives, saying that part of the reason she did this was because their attention made her feel loved.
"I suggest you never thought about taking into account the lies of cancer because you think lunch guests will die," Dr. Rogers said. "Your lies will never be discovered."
"This is not true," Ms. Patterson said.
She will resume cross-checking on Friday. The judge told the court that the trial was initially expected to last at least six weeks and is now expected to last at least two weeks.