David Littleproud calls for ‘common sense' changes after Victoria childcare horrors
A bombshell Herald Sun report revealed on Sunday that a man convicted of accessing nearly 1000 images of child abuse material visited multiple childcare centres while awaiting prosecution for some three years.
At one centre, he taught children about 'ancient tools such as boomerangs, stones and ochre clay' and 'Aboriginal dance and ochre painting' despite police flagging him as potentially dangerous.
The man, Ron Marks, was allowed to continue working with children because had not been charged.
Mr Littleproud, responding to the report on Sunday, called for 'common sense' changes to child safety in childcare.
'It's frightening, and as a father who sent his children to childcare, you do it in good faith that they're going to be safe,' he told the program.
'I get that we have this principle of presumption of innocence in this country, but we also have this thing called common sense.
'And if someone who's working with children is charged and you're not normally charged unless there's significant evidence, you still have that presumption.
'But you should take the precautionary principle and you shouldn't be allowed to go near children – that's common sense.'
Last week, detectives arrested and charged a 26-year-old Joshua Dale Brown with more than 70 offences, including child rape and possession of child abuse material.
He was a worker at a childcare centre and had a working with children check.
Education Minister Jason Clare has vowed to introduce legislation that would let Canberra cut federal funds to childcare centres that 'aren't up to scratch' on children's safety.
'It has taken too long for governments to act,' he told Seven's Sunrise on Thursday.
'This is sickening and it demands serious action. We've already taken action around mobile phones in childcare centres and mandatory reporting.
'But there's more that we have to do – there's a lot more we have to do.'
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Australian woman found guilty of triple murder with toxic mushrooms
An Australian woman murdered her husband's parents and aunt by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with toxic mushrooms, a jury found Monday at the climax of a trial watched around the world. Keen home cook Erin Patterson hosted an intimate meal in July 2023 that started with good-natured banter and earnest prayer -- but ended with three guests dead. Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world's most-lethal fungus. But a 12-person jury on Monday found the 50-year-old guilty of triple murder. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder a fourth guest who survived. The trial has drawn podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in the state of Victoria better known for prize-winning roses. Newspapers from New York to New Delhi have followed every twist of what many now simply call the "mushroom murders". On July 29, 2023, Patterson set the table for an intimate family meal at her tree-shaded country property. Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the elderly parents of her long-estranged husband Simon. Places were also set for Simon's maternal aunt Heather and her husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church. Husband Simon was urged to come but he declined because he felt "uncomfortable". In the background, Patterson's relationship with Simon was starting to turn sour. The pair -- still legally married -- had been fighting over Simon's child support contributions. Patterson forked out for expensive cuts of beef, which she slathered in a duxelles of minced mushrooms and wrapped in pastry to make individual parcels of beef Wellington. Guests said grace before tucking in -- and prayed once more after eating -- with Heather later gushing about the "delicious and beautiful" meal. Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity. - 'Not survivable' - The guests' blood was soon coursing with deadly amatoxin, a poison produced by the death cap mushrooms known to sprout under the oak trees of Victoria. Don, Gail and Heather died of organ failure within a week. "It was very apparent that this was not survivable," intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow told the trial. Detectives soon found signs that Patterson -- herself a true crime buff -- had dished up the meal with murderous intent. Patterson told guests she had received a cancer diagnosis and needed advice on breaking the news to her children, prosecutors alleged. But medical records showed Patterson received no such diagnosis. The prosecution said this was a lie cooked up to lure the diners to her table. She also lied about owning a food dehydrator which police later found dumped in a rubbish tip. Forensic tests found the appliance contained traces of the fatal fungi. "I agree that I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible," Patterson told the trial. A computer seized from her house had browsed a website pinpointing death cap mushrooms spotted a short drive from her house a year before the lunch, police said. - 'Super sleuth' - Death caps are the most lethal mushrooms on the planet, responsible for some 90 percent of all fatalities due to consuming toxic fungi. Baptist preacher Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive, pulling through after weeks in hospital. He told the court how guests' meals were served on four gray plates, while Patterson ate from a smaller orange dish. But he could not explain why Patterson wanted him dead. Patterson was a devoted mother-of-two with an active interest in her tight-knit community, volunteering to edit the village newsletter and film church services. She was also a well-known true crime buff, joining a Facebook group to chew over details from infamous Australian murders. Friend Christine Hunt told the jury Patterson had a reputation as "a bit of a super sleuth". Patterson said the meal was accidentally contaminated with death cap mushrooms, but maintained through her lawyers it was nothing more than a "terrible accident". "She didn't do it deliberately. She didn't do it intentionally," defence lawyer Colin Mandy told the trial. "She denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms." The trial heard from doctors, detectives, computer experts and mushroom specialists as it picked apart the beef Wellington lunch in forensic detail. Confronted with countless hours of intricate expert testimony, it took the jury a week to judge Patterson guilty. She will be sentenced at a later date.
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an hour ago
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Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook found guilty of poisoning four members of husband's family with beef wellington lunch
After nine weeks of trial in the country Victorian town of Morwell, it took jurors seven days to return unanimous verdicts finding Erin Patterson guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. 'Guilty,' the forewoman said after each charge was read. Erin appeared in court dressed in a paisley top, and appeared nervous as the courtroom packed out ahead of the bombshell verdict. She tried to meet the eyes of the jurors as they entered the room about 2.16pm, but not one met her gaze. She remained expressionless as the forewoman softly said 'guilty' in response to each charge. There were soft gasps from some members of the public as the first verdict was read, and one supporter of Ms Patterson was seen shallow breathing and staring at the ceiling. Outside the court, about 200 people were gathered. The case had centred around a lunch Patterson hosted on July 29, 2023, at her Leongatha home about a 45 minute drive southwest of Morwell. At the lunch were her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson. At the meal, the five people present ate individually-portioned beef wellington parcels Patterson had modified from a RecipeTin Eats recipe. During the trial, jurors were told by Patterson's defence that it was not disputed that death caps were in the lunch, but the key question was whether she had deliberately poisoned her guests. The trial was told Patterson invited her husband, Simon Patterson, to the lunch as well, however he pulled out the night before via text. Each of the guests fell critically ill after the lunch, with Don, Gail and Heather dying of multiple organ failure caused by death cap mushroom poisoning in early August. Ian, the pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church, recovered after spending about a month and a half in hospital. The jury heard the four family members began experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms about 12 hours after the lunch and were taken to hospital the following morning on July 30. The two couples' conditions rapidly declined and each were in induced comas by August 1. Conversely, the jury heard, Patterson told others she began experiencing loose stools the afternoon following the lunch and suffered diarrhoea regularly through the night. She attended the Leongatha Hospital the morning of July 31, two days after the lunch, was taken to Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne and released on August 1. Doctors found no clinical or biochemical evidence of amanita (death cap) poisoning, although an intensive care specialist said her medical records were consistent with a diarrhoeal illness. Prosecutors argued the evidence could prove she intentionally sourced and included the deadly fungi while defence maintained it was an accidental poisoning. In her closing remarks, Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC pointed to five 'calculated deceptions' she said sat at the heart of the case against Patterson. These allegedly were; a fake cancer diagnosis used as pretence for the lunch, that a lethal dose of death caps were 'secreted' in the meal, Patterson faking the same illness as her guests, a 'sustained cover up' and, untruthful evidence given from the witness box. Dr Rogers argued Patterson's actions in the days following the lunch could only reasonably be explained by her knowing the guests were poisoned with death caps while she was not. Jurors were told these included dumping a dehydrator on August 2 that was later found to contain death cap remnants and lying to police by claiming she had never foraged for mushrooms or owned a dehydrator. It was also alleged she lied about feeding leftovers from the meal, with the mushrooms scraped off, to her children the night after the lunch as an effort to deflect suspicion. Dr Rogers said, on the evidence, the jury could 'safely reject any reasonable possibility that this was a terrible accident' and allow them to find she committed each of the crimes. 'We say there is no reasonable alternative explanation for what happened to the lunch guests, other than the accused deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms and deliberately included them in the meal she served them, with an intention to kill them,' she said. She pointed to evidence Patterson had previously used the website iNaturalist to look up death cap sightings in May 2022 and her phone records to suggest she deliberately sought out the poisonous mushroom in April and May 2023. One iNaturalist post on April 18 identified them growing in Loch while a second post on May 21 located death caps in Outtrim. 'This evidence tends to show that the accused had the opportunity to source death cap mushrooms at a time approximate to the lunch,' Dr Rogers said. The prosecutor also pointed to an image found on a Samsung tablet of mushrooms on a dehydrator tray that an expert said was 'consistent' with death caps. Dr Rogers also submitted lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson's testimony of Patterson eating from a different plate to her guests as a 'striking piece of evidence'. 'That choice to make individual portions allowed her complete control over the ingredients in each individual parcel,' she said. 'It is a control, the prosecution says, that she exercised with devastating effect.' Turning to Patterson's time in the witness box, including when she claimed to have been foraging for mushrooms for years, Dr Rogers urged the jury to reject her account. 'You should simply disregard this new claim that this was a horrible foraging accident, as nothing more than an attempt by the accused to get her story to fit the evidence that the police compiled in this case,' she said. 'She has told too many lies and you should reject her evidence.' Patterson's defence, led by barrister Colin Mandy SC, argued the prosecution had worked back from the belief she must be responsible for what happened and cherry picked evidence that supported this. He sought to paint the case against his client as 'illogical' and 'absurd', highlighting that there was no identified motive for what Patterson had allegedly done. Mr Mandy said the evidence in this case showed Patterson loved her in-laws and had a mostly positive relationship with Simon Patterson since their separation in 2015. 'Why on earth would anyone want to kill these people?' he asked. 'There's no possible prospect that Erin wanted in those circumstances to destroy her whole world, her whole life. Surely it's more likely that her account is true.' Mr Mandy pointed to Patterson's testimony from the witness box, where she said she was feeling isolated from her support network by Simon and the lunch was a proactive effort to keep the family in her and her children's lives. He argued her account was far more likely than the prosecution's 'convoluted' theory Patterson planned for these murders months out. Patterson told the jury she'd always loved eating mushrooms and developed an interest in foraging wild mushrooms during the early Covid lockdowns of 2020. She maintained what she told health authorities after the lunch was true, that she used fresh button mushrooms from Woolworths and added a packet of dried mushrooms purchased from an Asian grocer in Melbourne earlier that year. But Patterson said she now believed she may have added dehydrated wild mushrooms to the same Tupperware container she stored the purchased mushrooms in her pantry. Mr Mandy told the court his client admits she lied to police and tried to hide the dehydrator, explaining it as the actions of a woman who believed she would be wrongly blamed. 'You heard the accused say that she regrets telling lies, but that's what she did,' he said. 'She's not on trial for being a liar.' The defence barrister argued the evidence his client had previously looked up death caps on iNaturalist had an innocent explanation – that a novice forager would want to see if the deadly mushroom grew in her area. He pointed to Patterson's account of binge eating cake and vomiting after the lunch as a possible explanation for why she did not get as sick as her guests. But Mr Mandy also said the expert evidence in the case was that two people, eating the same meal containing death caps, could experience different severity of illness based on a range of personal factors. Patterson will return to court at a later date.
