Jury in Australia's mushroom murder trial retires to consider verdict
MORWELL, Australia, June 30 (Reuters) - The jury in the trial of an Australian woman who allegedly murdered three elderly relatives of her estranged husband using poisonous mushrooms retired to consider its verdict on Monday, in a case that has gripped the country.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, in July 2023.
The prosecution alleges she served them death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington alongside mashed potato and green beans, before destroying evidence and lying to the police and medical workers to cover up her crimes.
She denies the charges, that carry a life sentence, with her defence calling the deaths "a terrible accident".
On Monday, presiding judge Justice Christopher Beale ended a five-day summary of the evidence to the jury capping some of the final court proceedings in the trial, now in its tenth week.
Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving lunch guest who has attended almost every day of the trial, sat with relatives a few feet from Erin Patterson, seated in the dock at the rear of the court.
The case at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, a former coal mining town whose best-known tourist attractions until the trial were a rose garden and a regional art gallery, has fascinated Australia.
Members of the public have queued for hours for the limited seats in Court 4 where the trial is taking place, while television crews and photographers have been camped outside the building.
State broadcaster ABC's daily podcast on the trial is the country's most popular, while several documentaries on the case are already in production.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Jury due to begin deliberating in Sean ‘Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial
Jurors are set to start deliberating in Sean 'Diddy' Combs's sex trafficking case, weighing charges that could put the hip-hop mogul in prison for life. After receiving legal instructions from federal Judge Arun Subramanian, the jury of eight men and four women will head behind closed doors to deliberate on Monday. Advertisement They will sift through seven weeks of sometimes graphic and emotional testimony about the rap, fashion and reality TV impresario, including drug-fuelled sex marathons dubbed 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights'. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking — relating to two of his ex-girlfriends — and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly arranging to fly sex workers across state lines. In closing arguments last week, prosecutors and Combs's defence team took their last shots at convincing jurors to convict or acquit the Grammy Award-winning founder of Bad Boy Records. 'The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,' assistant US attorney Christy Slavik said. Advertisement 'He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.' Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo countered: 'This isn't about crime. It's about money.' He noted that one of Combs's accusers in the criminal case also sued him in civil court. In all, 34 witnesses gave evidence, headlined by Combs's former girlfriends Cassie — the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura — and 'Jane' who gave evidence under a pseudonym. Advertisement Both women said he often was violent towards them and forced them into hundreds of sexual encounters with paid male sex workers. Jurors also saw now-infamous security camera video of Combs beating, kicking and dragging Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 and clips from videos of sexual encounters. Combs chose not to give evidence, and his lawyers did not call any witnesses in their defence case. His lawyers elected instead to challenge the accusers' credibility during lengthy cross-examination questioning. Advertisement The defence has acknowledged that Combs veered into violence, but his lawyers maintain that the sex acts were consensual. They contend that prosecutors are intruding in Combs's personal life and that he has done nothing to warrant the charges against him.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Prison treatment of Indigenous teenager Cleveland Dodd was cruel, lawyer tells inquest
An Indigenous teenager who fatally self-harmed in detention was subjected to 'cruel and inhumane' treatment, a lawyer for his family said after the inquest into his death resumed. Cleveland Dodd was found unresponsive inside a cell in Unit 18, a youth wing of the high-security Casuarina prison facility for adults in Perth, in the early hours of 12 October 2023. The 16-year-old was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died a week later, causing outrage and grief in the community. A lawyer for Cleveland's mother Nadene Dodd was scathing of the care provided to the teenager by justice department staff, as he gave submissions to the Western Australian coroner's court on Monday. 'Cleveland was subjected to institutional abuse, cruel and inhumane treatment,' Steven Penglis told the inquest. The teenager spent more than 22 hours a day in his cell for 74 of the 86 days he was detained in Unit 18 before he self-harmed, he said. Over that period, he had four hours of recreation time, equating to about three minutes a day. His cell had no running water and in the hours before he was fatally injured he asked for water six times, Penglis said as he recapped evidence heard during the inquest that started in April 2024. Cleveland threatened to self-harm eight times and requested medical attention. His actions were the conclusion of a series of events, including being denied bail, a failed attempt to call his mother on her birthday and severe, untreated dental issues, Penglis said. 'Cleveland's death was preventable and predictable,' he said. An Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer, Julian McMahon, said the inquest revealed there was a readiness across all levels of the justice department to accept the unacceptable. 'What happened at Unit 18 was horrific,' he said in his submissions. There was an 'epidemic of self-harm' among a cohort of mostly Aboriginal children, he said. 'By self-harm, I mean attempted suicide,' McMahon said. There had been at least 17 self-harm threats in the 24 hours before Cleveland fatally injured himself, he said. Lawyers for senior justice department staff said their clients should not be subject to adverse findings, including former director general, Adam Tomison. How the facility was run was not his responsibility and corrective services staff should have followed policy, lawyer Jerome Allan said Tomison previously agreed children had been subject to appalling, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment in Unit 18 under his watch. The justice department apologised to Cleveland's family and said there were many issues in Unit 18 in 2023, including damaged infrastructure, excessive detainee confinement and staff shortages. On the night Cleveland self-harmed, he was not properly supervised and should have been given more water, lawyer Tim Russell said. 'More should have been done,' he said. But the department did not accept Unit 18 was unfit for youth detainees. The inquest previously heard Cleveland self-harmed about 1.35am and paramedics arrived at 2.06am, but did not get access to him for nine minutes. Cleveland died, surrounded by his family, on October 19, 2023. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Beauty & The Geek star's shock transformation from reality TV glam to shaven-headed suspect in boyfriend's decapitation
A FORMER reality TV star charged with the murder of her partner was acting strangely in the weeks beforehand, locals say. Bizarre videos of Tamika Chesser, known from Beauty and the Geek, have surfaced - as cops search for the missing head of Julian Story, allegedly decapitated by her on June 17 in southern Australia. 5 5 5 Police allege Tamika, 34, murdered and dismembered Julian, 39, on the bathroom floor of his home in Port Lincoln. She then allegedly disposed of the victim's head, carrying it in a bag and dumping it in an unknown location. Tamika was arrested at the scene and charged with murder two days later. Police and emergency services are scouring cliffs and waters off the Eyre Peninsula for the missing head, Daily Mail Australia reports. Bizarre CCTV released by police - along with videos filmed by locals - shows Tamika acting strangely in the weeks leading up to the murder. Footage obtained by Channel 7 shows her at a Port Lincoln hotel wearing a long dark wig and a hat before ripping it off and screaming. Two locals told Daily Mail Australia they'd only ever seen Tamika with a shaved head since she arrived in town months ago. In another video, she is seen doing gymnastics on bars outside a coffee shop. In a third video, Tamika is seen wearing a wedding veil and standing bare-chested at the Port Lincoln War Memorial. Police earlier circulated CCTV footage and photographs of a woman, which they claim is Tamika Chesser, strolling through Port Lincoln hours after the alleged murder. Beauty & The Geek star, 34, pictured 'topless in wedding veil' in strange stunt days before arrest over partner's murder Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke told reporters last week: 'While I won't provide any further detail about that at this time, I can tragically say that we have not recovered the head of Julian Story. 'I can only imagine, and I want you to imagine, the grief this news is causing Julian's family. 'Recovering Julian's head to return it to his family so they can have a peaceful outcome, have a funeral and lay him to rest is a really important aspect for us.' Supt Fielke added: 'I'm appealing to local residents to review CCTV or dash cam footage which they may have, which may assist the investigation.' 5 Court documents earlier revealed officers found Tamika sitting in the back garden of the property 'in a catatonic and unresponsive state' before her arrest. She was also charged with disposing of human remains to pervert the course of justice and assaulting a police officer, The Telegraph reports. Police have so far not been able to find a motive, with Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott admitting there were still 'a lot of unanswered questions' in what he described as a complex crime scene. A suppression order protecting Tamika's identity and banning publication of the alleged circumstances of Julian's death was lifted on Friday. The ex-reality star, who appeared via video link, has been denied bail and remains under a mental health detention order ahead of a committal hearing set for December. Tamika's sister, Kiya-May, claimed her family is devastated by reports she'd been charged with murder. She told Daily Mail Australia: 'Please report how my sister is in a mental psychosis... This is not her... She would never do these things.' She added her sister had suffered 'a life of trauma and abuse, and now this – it has fried her brain'. Meanwhile, Julian's grieving family has thanked police, emergency workers and the community for their support during what they called an 'unimaginable loss'. 'Your care has brought comfort amid the chaos,' they said.
