The trial has concluded for the day
Here’s what the jury heard on day 10 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial:
1. Dr Laura Muldoon, who treated Erin at Monash medical centre, said the mushroom cook appeared “clinically well” on 31 July – two days after the lunch.
2. Medical testing showed Erin had no signs of liver toxicity before she was discharged from Monash medical centre on 1 August, the court heard.
3. Jurors were shown a photo of the remains of the fateful beef wellington meal. The photos show a pastry encasing a brown paste. There are also leftovers of the brown paste in the photo.
4. An internationally renowned mushroom expert, Dr Thomas May, told the court he posted a post of death cap mushrooms he had spotted on a walk to the “citizen science” website iNaturalist. He said the post included several photos, latitude and longitude and geo-coordinates, but not the specific street.
We’ll be back at 10.30am for day 11’s proceedings. Thanks for following along.
Updated
Foraging may have become more popular during Covid-19 pandemic, mushroom expert says
Lawyer Sophie Stafford asks Dr Thomas May about “mistaken identity” in the context of mushroom poisoning.
He says “mistaken identity” is when a person thinks they are collecting one thing but it can instead be toxic. He says this is the most common form of poisoning.
Stafford asks May about a study he conducted on the accuracy of apps used to identify poisonous mushrooms.
He says there is concern about the apps, which use AI technology, misidentifying Australian species.
May says there is a “rising interest” in mushroom foraging in Victoria that may be associated with the pandemic.
He says the Victorian Poisons Information Centre recorded an increase in calls during the Covid-19 period.
But he says it was also a “rather wet” period and it is hard to disentangle these two factors.
Updated
