Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Patterson dumped dehydrator at a tip because she knew it was ‘incriminating’, jury hears as murder trial reaches its final stages

Dr Rogers told the jury to dismiss Patterson’s (pictured) claims she had a distrust of hospitals and medical professionals as she had been in regular contact with them.

Addressing a possible defence of ‘panic’, Dr Rogers said it did not explain why Patterson persisted with the ‘lies while lives were at stake’.

Dr Rogers said Patterson told her online friend the mushrooms had come from an Asian grocer and she fed her kids the leftovers.

‘This lie could not have possibly been due to panic,’ she said.

Dr Rogers asked the jury if they’d ‘go into self-preservation mode’ and ‘lie to health officials even though the truth might help those you claimed to love?’.

‘You would tell treating medical practitioners every skerrick of information,’ Dr Rogers suggested.

‘You would move mountains if you heard your kids had consumed death cap mushrooms.

‘Erin Patterson acted the way that she did because she knew what she had done.’

The jury was told the defence could suggest innocent explanations for ‘Patterson’s incriminating conduct’.

Dr Rogers said these explanations could be why she discharged herself from hospital or didn’t accept treatment, why she dumped the dehydrator, and the wiping of phones.

Dr Rogers, who commenced with explaining why the accused’s reasons for leaving hospital was a lie, again played to the jury CCTV of Patterson attempting to leave the hospital with a backpack.

Patterson told police she went to get a ‘couple of bags of saline’.

Dr Rogers said it was ‘nonsense’ that she didn’t expect to be admitted.

The prosecutor said there were other ways she could have managed the kids and animals given she’d been told she may have ingested poison.

Dr Rogers said the other times the jury has previously heard Patterson discharged herself from hospital were ‘nothing like this’.

In 2015, Patterson discharged herself after having a chicken curry and suffering the runs and vomiting, the jury heard.

‘This was a far cry from discharging yourself after being told you may have eaten death cap mushrooms,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers said Simon claimed Patterson never asked him about the health of the other lunch guests.

‘It stood out to him,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers suggested if Patterson ‘loved them you’d expect her to inquire about them’.

‘Instead, she went on about her own symptoms,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘She never asked a question about Don and Gail (pictured).’

Dr Rogers told the jury Patterson expressed her true feelings about her in-laws to her online friends.

‘She described herself as an atheist to them,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers said Patterson showed a ‘duplicitous life’ to the Patterson family.

Dr Rogers claimed Patterson mocked the Pattersons and their religious beliefs to her online friends.

The jury heard Patterson believed Simon’s family were difficult to deal with.

‘[In the messages Patterson was] calling the family a lost cause,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘I don’t need anything from any of those people [is what Patterson wrote in those messages].’

Dr Rogers also recalled Patterson’s eye rolling emojis about prayer: ‘This family I swear to f***ing God.’

Dr Rogers said Simon described Patterson’s messages to Don and Gail (pictured) regarding financial arrangements as ‘aggressive’.

‘They were so aggressive,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Gail was not to read them anymore.’

The messages were sent in a group chat between Erin, Simon, Don and Gail.

Dr Rogers is now reminding the jury about Patterson’s relationship with her in-laws and Simon (pictured) and what she said about that relationship.

Dr Rogers said Patterson told police she loved Gail and Don.

‘On the surface, perhaps it seems that way, even to the family members themselves,’ Dr Rogers said.

The jury heard her actual relationship was not always harmonious.

Dr Rogers said Simon spoke of the change in his relationship with Patterson leading into the lunch.

The jury also heard Patterson told child welfare officer Ms Katrina Cripps ‘Simon had become nasty to her’.

‘She changed the kids’ school weeks before the lunch without telling Simon,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers also reminded the jury Simon didn’t attend the New Zealand Christmas holiday Patterson and her children went on in December 2022.

‘The decline in the relationship was certainly obvious to (their son),’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers (left) told the jury Patterson was not a ‘credible witness’ and her claims she accidentally put death caps in the Wellingtons should be rejected

The prosecutor told the jury just before the short break that the evidence indicating Patterson had an interest in foraging had only come from the accused herself.

‘We say you would not accept her account of this because she is not a credible witness,’ Dr Rogers said.

Justice Christopher Beale also told the jury he would be giving them more breaks during closings so they can ‘walk around a bit’.

Dr Rogers again reminded the jury ‘motive is not an element of the crime of murder’.

‘You don’t have to know why a person does something in order to know they did it,’ she said.

Dr Rogers said the question is not why the accused carried out the alleged crime.

‘Has the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the accused did this deliberately?’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers explained to the jury Patterson only had ‘one go at the cherry’ to explain her case.

The prosecutor is now going through the predicted arguments lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC (pictured centre with legal team) might offer on behalf of his client.

Dr Rogers said the ‘key argument’ the defence has is that Patterson innocently foraged mushrooms.

She also said Patterson may argue she accidentally collected death caps, dehydrated them, put in a Tupperware container and unknowingly included them in the Wellingtons.

Dr Rogers said evidence indicating Patterson had an interest in foraging had only come from Patterson herself.

The prosecutor said no one else during the trial had ever seen or heard of this supposed interest and police found no books on foraging during their searches.

‘The accused never discussed foraging for mushrooms with her online friends…,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Even though they discussed “absolutely everything”,’ Dr Rogers said

The jury was reminded Patterson denied using foraged mushrooms even on August 1.

‘The suggestion now that these mushrooms may have been accidentally foraged, we suggest is a very late change to the accused’s story,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘She had to come up with something new.’

Dr Rogers told the jury to dismiss this late foraging defence.

‘The only evidence you have about the accused having a habit of picking and eating mushrooms… comes from her own mouth,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers said police were still able to pull some potential evidence from Phone A.

This included linking her to Loch on April 28, when it is alleged she was looking for death caps.

On May 22, Patterson also had Phone A, which connected to Loch, when the Crown alleges she was again looking for death caps.

Phone A also pinged at Outtrim on that same day when it is alleged she looked for death caps – one day after fungi expert Dr Tom May’s observation of death caps on the street.

Dr Rogers claimed Patterson used Phone A when she bought the dehydrator and went on the death cap mushroom hunt but told the jury police were never able to examine the device.

The prosecutor also asked the jury to dismiss any possible defence criticism of a lack of tech evidence.

‘Remember the police couldn’t interrogate the accused’s phone because of what we say she deliberately did,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers told the jury by 1.40am on August 6 – the day after the warrant – the Phone A SIM (783) went into a Nokia smart phone which was also never recovered by police either.

Dr Rogers said the 783 number was Patterson’s main phone but when police asked, Patterson gave them a number ending in 835.

‘We say she lied about her phone number in the police interview,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘This was not her usual phone number, it was not her true phone number.’

The jury heard Patterson continued to use that Phone A even after the police interview.

Dr Rogers said it was ‘designed to frustrate’ the police investigation.

‘And it was done so because the accused knew the information on Phone A would implicate in the deliberate poisoning of her lunch guests,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers argued Patterson (pictured) hadn’t lost Phone A and had it on her during the police search.

‘To this day police have never been able to recover phone A,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Phone B – the dummy phone – was what police were provided.’

Dr Rogers said Phone B was a ‘dummy phone’ set up deliberately ‘to trick police’ and the device ‘contained nothing’.

‘Its contents were wiped,’ Dr Rogers said.

Phone B was wiped just after 11am on August 2 which was the day after Patterson left hospital and just before she dumped the dehydrator.

On August 3, SIM card 835 connected to Phone B.

On August 5, at 1.20pm, Phone B was wiped locally by Patterson.

‘This was during the execution of the search warrant,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers told the jury the phone had been wiped by someone holding the phone and urged them to accept the times indicated by police.

Dr Rogers said Patterson remotely factory reset the phone again after it was seized as evidence.

Dr Rogers also told the jury Patterson, who is today wearing a pink shirt, deliberately dumped her phone, known through the trial as ‘Phone A’.

The prosecutor said phone data records indicated Phone A was used during the police search on August 5 but the device has never been found.

Dr Rogers said Patterson also used Phone A while at hospital on July 31 and again the next day.

The jury was shown a CCTV still image which depicted Patterson at Leongatha Hospital carrying Phone A in a pink case.

Dr Rogers said Phone A was her primary device leading up to the lunch.

The jury heard when police requested Patterson hand over her phone they expected her usual phone but instead they were handed a ‘dummy phone’ known as ‘Phone B’.

Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers (left) has continued giving her closing address to the jury.

Dr Rogers is still talking about Patterson’s alleged ‘fourth deception’ and how the accused killer dumped her dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station tip shortly after getting out of hospital on August 2.

The prosecution suggested Patterson dumping the dehydrator just a few months after buying the appliance amounted to ‘incriminating conduct’.

Dr Rogers claimed Patterson dumped the dehydrator because she knew she used it to ‘prepare the deadly meal and wanted to hide the evidence’.

Dr Rogers said this was not ‘wild panic’ and asked the jury to completely reject the defence’s explanation it was.

The prosecution also said Patterson’s claims about Simon’s accusations where he asked her whether the dehydrator was the one which ‘poisoned my parents’ is ‘nonsense’.

Dr Rogers said Simon had denied that allegation during the trial.

Dr Rogers argued the only explanation for dumping the dehydrator was because she had dehydrated death caps in it.

‘Why hide it?’ Dr Rogers asked.

‘Because she knew it was incriminating… she tried to make it disappear.’

Dr Rogers said it was only because police found a bank record for the tip that anyone found the dehydrator.

The jury was reminded that Patterson said ‘blankly’ during her police interview on August 5 she knew nothing about owning a dehydrator.

The prosecution alleged Patterson deliberately foraged and prepared the lethal mushrooms, orchestrating a ‘sinister deception’ to kill her guests.

Dr Rogers claimed Patterson’s story about purchasing dried mushrooms from an Asian store had been thoroughly debunked.

The prosecutor said the jury could reject the ‘obvious and ridiculous lie’ that the Asian store-bought mushrooms was the source of the death caps.

‘It was a lie she told time and time again,’ she said.

Health investigations confirmed that all mushrooms in the inspected stores had been commercially produced, with no evidence of death caps or non-commercial suppliers.

The jury had previously heard from expert Dr Tom May (pictured), who testified that death caps, which do not grow in Asia and cannot be cultivated, could not have been sold in stores.

The absence of other poisoning cases further undermined Patterson’s claim, Dr Rogers argued, with no other reports of death cap poisonings ever reported in the areas where Patterson thinks she may have purchased them.

The prosecution further accused Patterson of sending health officials on a ‘wild goose chase’ by providing vague and inconsistent details about the alleged shop, mentioning suburbs like Oakleigh and Glen Waverley, but failing to pinpoint a location.

‘She was not forthcoming with the Department of Health because the story she was telling about the Asian grocer was not true,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Every time she was pressed about the details, that lie became more and more apparent.’

The trial continues at 10.30am.

Patterson’s son said his mother was insistent they attend a flying lesson in Tyabb the Sunday afternoon after the lunch.

Dr Rogers said Patterson could have cancelled the lesson but didn’t.

The jury heard Patterson drove towards Tyabb for more than an hour before being told it was cancelled.

On the way back, Patterson claimed she had to go to the toilet in the bush but her son made no mention of it and if she had ‘that is something he would have recalled’.

The jury was then reminded Patterson was seen on CCTV at the Caldermeade BP where she made a nine-second visit to the toilet.

Dr Rogers said Patterson then ‘leisurely’ entered the BP and bought food.

‘There was nothing in her behaviour on the CCTV to indicate she was suffering from a serious illness let alone explosive diarrhoea,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers said Patterson barely had any time to clean herself in the BP toilet and told the jury they could dismiss any notion it had anything to do with her supposed ‘bush poo’.

Patterson also claimed she took Imodium but never mentioned that to staff at the hospital.

Dr Rogers said Patterson would have told hospital staff if that was true and told the jury to reject that claim.

The prosecutor said Patterson did not have diarrhoea on the Sunday ‘at all’.

Dr Rogers also said Patterson’s daughter could not even recall going to Tyabb that day and called on the jury to treat her version of events ‘with some caution’.

Dr Rogers reminded the jury about all of the lies Patterson told about her cancer claims.

‘She was setting up a fiction that she was facing a serious health issue,’ Dr Rogers said.

The prosecutor also reminded the jury Patterson told the guests she had cancer but there was no record showing she ever did.

Dr Rogers said Patterson thought ‘the lie would die with them’.

‘That she counted on all her guests dying,’ Dr Rogers said.

Dr Rogers said ‘these were calculated, deliberate lies’ designed to get her guests to the lunch.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson (pictured) survived the lunch and gave evidence in court he, Don, Gail and his deceased wife Heather Wilkinson ate off large grey plates while Patterson ate from a smaller, different-coloured plate.

Dr Nanette Rogers SC (pictured) commenced her closing address yesterday morning by telling the jury there were ‘four deceptions’ to Patterson’s alleged crime.

The jury was told Patterson fabricated a cancer claim to lure her guests over for lunch.

Dr Rogers said Patterson ‘secreted’ lethal doses of poison into the Wellingtons.

The prosecutor added Patterson faked an illness after the lunch.

And finally, Dr Rogers said Patterson had a ‘sustained cover-up she embarked upon to conceal the truth’.

Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers commenced her closing address to the jury in the Erin Patterson murder trial yesterday morning.

Ms Rogers has indicated she will conclude her address today and then the defence will give its closing address.

This follows after Patterson entered the witness box for her eighth and final day in her own marathon murder trial last Thursday.

Patterson has been a big drawcard with dozens of members of the public braving the cold to queue up outside (pictured) the courthouse very early each morning to get a front row seat in the courtroom.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.