How the mushroom murder trial gripped Australia

Independent

2 days ago

The 'mushroom murder trial', as it has popularly become known, has gripped Australia over the past 11 weeks.
More than that, it's prompted worldwide headlines, multiple daily podcasts, and even YouTube videos of self-proclaimed 'body language experts' assessing defendant Erin Patterson 's every move.
There's an ABC drama series in the works.
Acclaimed Australian author Helen Garner has been in the courtroom.
But why did this tragedy, in which three people died and a fourth was lucky to survive, grip the public consciousness in way no other contemporary Australian case has?
A not-so-wholesome family lunch
On 29 July 2023, in a sleepy town called Leongatha in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges in Victoria, a very normal woman called Erin Patterson made an ostensibly very normal lunch of beef wellington.
She was cooking for her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and Heather's husband Ian. Erin's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was also invited, but chose not to attend.
Simon and Erin had two children, a boy and a girl, who did not attend the lunch either.
Shortly after the lunch, all four guests were admitted to hospital with suspected gastroenteritis. Erin Patterson also presented to hospital, but refused to be admitted.
Within a few days, Gail, Don, and Heather all died as a result of what was later confirmed as poisoning with Amanita phalloides, better known as death cap mushrooms.
Ian survived, but he was lucky. He spent seven weeks in hospital and needed a liver transplant.
The questions became, how did the mushrooms get into the beef wellington? Was this an awful accident or something more sinister?
Public obsession
These questions became the focus of very significant public and media attention.
Erin Patterson spoke to the media in the days after the incident. She presented as your typical, average woman of 50.
That is, in my opinion, where the obsession with this case began.
This case had the feel of a Shakespearean drama: multiple deaths within one family, death by poison, and a female protagonist.
The juxtaposition between the normality of a family lunch (and the sheer vanilla-ness of the accused) and the seriousness of the situation sent the media into overdrive.
Then there were the lies. Patterson lied about foraging for mushrooms, and about having cancer to encourage the guests to attend.
The location also played a huge part. Leongatha is known for its staggering natural beauty and thriving food and wine scene. It's hardly a place where the world expected a mass murderer to live.
However, the perception that rural areas are utopias of safety and social cohesion, and cities are dark and dangerous places, is a myth.
One study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare paints a different picture.
For serious assault cases that resulted in hospitalisation, for major cities the rates were 65 per 100,000 people. In rural areas, this rose to 1,244 people per 100,000.
And for murder, in very remote areas the rate was five per 100,000 population, but fewer than one per 100,000 in urban areas.
Then there was Erin Patterson's unusual behaviour. She disposed of the desiccator in which the mushrooms she had foraged were dehydrated. She used multiple phones, one of which underwent multiple factory resets on in the days following the lunch. One of these resets was done remotely after police seized her phone.
There are also the much-discussed plates. The court heard she prepared her meal on a different-coloured plate to those of her other guests so they were easily identifiable.
The public latched onto these details, each providing a new talking point around water coolers or spurring new Reddit threads dedicated to unpacking their significance.
The courtroom as a stage
Ultimately, after three months, Erin Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She pleaded not guilty.
The trial lasted 40 days. The prosecution alleged Patterson intentionally poisoned her guests, whereas the defence suggested it was all an awful, tragic accident.
The jury took six-and-a-half days to deliberate. During that time, various media outlets did everything they could to keep the story on the front page.
Bizarre pieces began appearing online from credible sources such as the ABC, profiling people who had attended court.
They included stories of people turning down work to attend the court daily, cases of friendships blossoming during the trial between regular attendees, and the outfit choices of locals turning up every day to watch the drama unfold.
There were also articles profiling local cafe owners and how they felt about being at the centre of the legal theatrics. The daily podcasts continued even when news from the courtroom didn't.
The vibe felt more appropriate for a royal visit than a triple murder trial.
It seemed everyone in Australia was gripped by one event, united in a way few other things could manage. We all waited with bated breath to see what the 12 men and women of the jury would decide.
Humanity behind the spectacle
The end to this strange and unique criminal case came on Monday 7 July.
The result? Guilty on all four counts. Erin Patterson is formally a mass murderer, though many in the court of public opinion had reached the same conviction months earlier.
Leongatha will always be known for being the setting of (arguably) the most infamous multiple murder case in Australian history. It will join Snowtown in South Australia (home of the 'bodies in the barrel' murder case), Kendall in New South Wales (where William Tyrrell disappeared), and Claremont in Western Australia (the murder or disappearance of three women) as places forever linked to tragic crimes.
While the trial is over, there's much more content still to come, the public's appetite yet to be satiated.
But the final word should be saved for the Patterson and Wilkinson families. This is an awful tragedy, and there are no winners. Ian and Simon have lost loved ones. The Patterson children have lost grandparents and now have to come to terms with the fact their mother caused those deaths intentionally.
Amid the spectacle, it's easy to lose sight of the humanity at the centre. As the media spotlight dims, may the families get the privacy and respect they deserve.
Xanthe Mallett is a Criminologist at CQUniversity Australia
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