Triple-murder trial hears death cap mushrooms are difficult to identify

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A fungi expert it expected to continue giving evidence today in the trial of accused mushroom triple mushroom murderer Erin Patterson. Ms Patterson is accused of the murder of three of her estranged relatives who died after eating Beef Wellingtons containing poisonous death cap mushrooms. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.

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00:00Mycologist Dr Tom May has given evidence that death cap mushrooms had been located in two towns

00:08close to where Erin Patterson lived. He said death cap mushrooms had been sited in the Lock

00:14and Outram areas around 20 kilometres from Ms Patterson's home in Leangatha in April and May

00:202023 respectively. In fact he confirmed that he was responsible for a post on a citizen science

00:26website which showed death cap mushrooms in Outram a couple of months before Ms Patterson

00:31served that beef wellington lunch to her in-laws. The prosecution argues phone records show Ms

00:38Patterson visited those areas in the lead up to that fateful lunch which caused the deaths of three

00:43people. The defence argues that while she did forage for mushrooms she didn't intentionally seek out

00:49death cap mushrooms and that the poisoning of her estranged husband's relatives was an accident

00:54and a tragedy. Under cross-examination Dr May also said that mushroom foraging was becoming more

01:00popular and that even for experts it can be difficult to identify poisonous mushrooms. He said

01:07that mushrooms can change appearance over their lifetime and they may not appear as they do in a

01:12photo. He'll return to court today to continue giving evidence.

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