BACK on Day 2 of the Erin Patterson murder trial, defence counsel for Mrs Patterson, Colin Mandy SC, acknowledged for the first time that his client had foraged for mushrooms.
No details of when that might have occurred have yet been provided to the court.
“She also lied to the police about foraging for mushrooms. She admits that. She did forage for mushrooms,” said Mr Mandy.
“Just so that we make that clear, she denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms,” he said.
However, in a telephone conversation with Sally Ann Atkinson, a senior public health advisor at the Department of Health, at 1.14pm on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, Erin Patterson was still denying it.
During her evidence to the court on Day 19, Monday, May 26, 2025, Ms Atkinson was asked if she had specifically asked Mrs Patterson that question during her phone call with Erin on August 2.
“Did you ask her another question about any other possible sources for the mushrooms?” asked counsel for the prosecution, Jane Warren.
“I did ask her if she had foraged for mushrooms, and picked them herself,” replied Ms Atkinson.
“And what was her response?”
“She said, no, she had bought them”
At the time, just four days after the meal, the department was chasing down a possible public health risk if, as reported by Erin Patterson, the source of the toxic mushrooms was a commercial outlet, either an Asian food store in Oakleigh, Clayton or Mt Waverley, or Woolworths in Leongatha.
While the public health investigation was going on, being led by Team Leader Public Health at the City of Monash, Troy Schonknecht, on Wednesday and Thursday, August 2 and 3, visiting a total of 14 Asian and Indian food stores in Oakleigh (5), Mt Waverley (4) and Clayton (5); the victims of the mushroom poisoning were desperately ill in hospital.
Don Patterson had arrived at the emergency department of the Dandenong Hospital at 6.39pm on Sunday evening, July 30, after being transferred from Korumburra with reports that he had experienced 30 to 40 episodes of vomiting and diarrhoea.
Young doctor Beth Morgan, who had only graduated from Monash University in 2019, was on duty in Dandenong from 9.30pm that night and took over Mr Patterson’s care.
Aware that the meal of beef Wellington and mushrooms was the likely cause of the illness and with very, very high lactate levels and other indications of reduced liver function, Dr Morgan called the toxicology registrar on call, Dr Mark Douglas.
He in turn contacted senior toxicologist Dr Yit Leang but his advice was that there wasn’t enough evidence that death cap mushrooms were the problem.
“It wasn't clearly like a cause and effect of having had a specific mushroom called amanita phalloides, the death cap, so at that point the specific antidote to that wasn't indicated at that stage.”
The process to start administering the specific antidote to amanita phalloides toxin, Silibinin, wasn’t started until 6.30am the next day, Monday, July 31 after a call from Dr Morgan to say that Don Patterson’s condition had worsened.
It was a full day after he had presented to hospital with delayed onset vomiting and diarrhoea.
Mr Patterson’s condition got progressively worse on August 1, 2, 3 and 4 before he ultimately passed away on August 5 despite receiving a liver transplant at the Austin hospital.
Ms Atkinson gave evidence of the numerous interviews she conducted with Erin Patterson, seeking information about where the indigents for the meal had been purchased and trying to narrow down where she had purchased the dried mushrooms in particular.
The information gleaned from Erin Patterson was relayed to the City of Monash public health team in the field and also to the Food Safety Unit at the Department of Health which was in the process of contacting Woolworths' head office to look at their supplies.
Ms Atkinson said she asked Erin to look at any streets she may have visited in either Oakleigh or Clayton but she said she wouldn’t be able to recall which one.
She did say she drove around a lot that day but that it was likely to be in a strip-shopping centre, said Ms Atkinson.
She said Mrs Patterson did a good job of describing the type of packaging used, including that it was in clear plastic packaging, with a stick-on white label, possibly in a 100gm weight.
The conversation over the phone to Erin Patterson at Leongatha lasted 15 minutes on Wednesday, August 2 but there were a number of follow up calls seeking additional information.
At 11.20am on Thursday, August 3 Ms Atkinson said Erin told her it may have been King Street in Glen Waverley that she purchased the dried mushrooms.
“She hadn’t previously mentioned that to me. She had said Mt Waverley.”
Ms Atkinson confirmed that it was the first time she had mentioned Glen Waverley.
Ms Atkinson was also asked about her first conversation with Erin Patterson on Tuesday morning, August 1, 2023 from 8.33am to 9am and subsequent attempts to make contact again later that day ultimately receiving a text message back from Erin at 4.08pm.
Ms Atkinson had asked Erin to contact her with clarification about issues including what drinks were served at the meal, the other types of ingredients the packaging of the mushrooms etc, roads in the suburbs under investigation etc.
Erin’s message read:
“Hi Sally, sure I will try to get that information all to you as soon as possible. I'm just dealing with trying to manage and look after the kids in hospital here and a bit snowed under trying to manage that. I'll get this info to you as soon as I can, but I've just been in a couple of meetings with people at the hospital when you've been trying to call.”
Ms Atkinson tried several more times that evening and continued trying to make contact through the morning of August 2, until child protection officer Katrina Cripps facilitated the phone conversation between Erin Patterson and Ms Atkinson at 1.14pm on August 2.
During is cross-examination of Ms Atkinson defence counsel Colin Mandy challenged the health department official on a number of points, including whether there had been a follow up on the information she had received about the dried mushrooms potentially being purchased in Glen Waverley, her evidence to the court that Mrs Patterson had said she purchased most of the food for the meal on Friday, July 28, 2023 and that she may have used some of the dried mushrooms, allegedly purchased in April 2023, in an earlier meal, Mr Mandy suggesting that Erin Patterson had not told her that and that the mushrooms had not previously been used in a meal.
Erin Patterson, 50, of Leongatha has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder as a result of serving a meal of beef Wellington with poisonous death cap mushrooms to family members at her home on Saturday, July 29, 2023.
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges maintaining what happened on that day was a tragedy and a terrible accident.
