Australian woman charged with murder over mushroom meal deaths: Police
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Deaths from consuming mushrooms are relatively rare in the country, which has several species that are dangerous enough to poison and kill a human.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – An Australian woman was charged with murder on Thursday, police said, after she served a mushroom meal that left three people dead and a local preacher fighting for his life.
“A 49-year-old woman was arrested this morning and interviewed by police,” said Ms Natalie Webster of Victoria Police.
“The Leongatha woman has subsequently been charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder,” she added.
The charging of Erin Patterson is the latest twist in a saga that has gripped the nation and thrust the spotlight on the small rural town of Leongatha, 110km southeast of Melbourne.
Police said they arrested Patterson in the morning and began a search of her home with the help of “technology detector dogs”, which can sniff out electronic devices such as USB keys.
Patterson served the mushrooms as part of a beef Wellington dish on the afternoon of July 29 to her estranged parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, local Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson and his wife Heather.
Later that night, the two couples were taken to hospital with food poisoning symptoms as their health rapidly deteriorated.
Within a week, three of them were dead.
Police believe their symptoms were consistent with those caused by eating highly toxic death cap mushrooms.
‘Devastated’
Of the four, only 69-year-old pastor Wilkinson survived after spending nearly two months gravely ill in hospital. He was released on Sept 23
He appeared for the first time in public in early October at a memorial for his wife, with a local newspaper describing him as “frail-looking” and “using a walking frame”.
Police had named community newsletter editor Patterson as a suspect soon after the fateful meal.
Patterson always insisted she was innocent, reportedly saying in August that she had unwittingly bought the mushrooms from an Asian grocery store and that the poisonings were accidental.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones,” she said in a statement provided to Australian media at the time.
“I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.”
A memorial service for the Pattersons was held at the end of August. Reverend Fran Grimes told the congregation that the community was trying to “shield and protect the family from heartless speculation and gossip”.
Death cap mushrooms sprout freely throughout wet, warm parts of Australia and are easily mistaken for edible varieties.
They reportedly taste sweeter than other types of mushrooms but possess potent toxins that slowly poison the liver and kidneys. AFP
