Английская Википедия:2023 Leongatha mushroom poisoning
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox civilian attack
The 2023 Leongatha mushroom poisoning is an ongoing legal case involving three deaths from suspected mushroom poisoning in Leongatha, Victoria, Australia. One person has been charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. The case will return to court in May 2024.[1][2]
The case has sparked significant media interest in Australia and overseas.[3][4]
Background
Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, located Шаблон:Convert south-east of Melbourne. At the Шаблон:CensusAU, Leongatha had a population of 5,869.[5]
Lunch and deaths
On 29 July 2023, Erin Trudi Patterson (49) cooked Beef Wellington for a lunch for her former in-laws Don (70) and Gail Patterson (70), Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson (66) and her husband Ian (68) at her home in Leongatha.[6] Patterson claims her two children went to the movies at the time of the lunch.[1] It is suspected the meal contained Amanita phalloides death cap mushrooms.[7]
The following day, all four guests were admitted to hospital with suspected gastro. Patterson went to Leongatha Hospital with reported stomach pains and diarrhoea.[8]
On 4 August, five days after the lunch, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died in hospital and an investigation was launched by Victoria Police. On 5 August, Don Patterson also died in hospital.[1]
Investigation and media reporting
Police confirmed on 14 August that Patterson provided them with a detailed statement, in which she said she had bought dried mushrooms from an Asian supermarket in Mount Waverley (around Шаблон:Convert away from Leongatha) three months before the lunch.[9]
Patterson also says in the statement that she intentionally disposed of the food dehydrator that police found in a skip bin at the Koonwarra Transfer Station after she says people "began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal".[10]
Ian Wilkinson was discharged from hospital on 23 September, having received a liver transplant. A funeral for his wife, Heather, was held on 4 October.[11][12]
Murder charges
On 2 November, Erin Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. The charges allege Patterson tried to murder her ex-husband, Simon Patterson, on four occasions between on 16 November 2021 and 29 July 2023 (the day of the lunch), with claimed incidents also in May and September 2022.[13][14]
Patterson appeared in Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Morwell on 3 November. She was remanded in custody to next face court on 3 May 2024.[15]
References
