Past case of death cap fatality in Australia, court hears
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC turns to recent death cap mushroom poisoning cases. Dr Thomas May says there is no central registry of death cap mushroom poisonings in Australia.
He points to a case, reported in 1997, where a husband and wife in Melbourne the previous year had cooked wild mushrooms. The husband later died in hospital.
Rogers takes May to a statement he made based on four images that were posted on the iNaturalist website.
May says the images are “highly consistent with amanita phalloides – death cap”.
He says the four images were posted together on the website but he cannot remember the exact date.
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Lawyer Sophie Stafford says Dr Thomas May has made clear the limitations of his opinion when looking at the 10 images and where he required further information.
“That is correct,” he says.
Under cross-examination by Stafford, May agrees that death cap mushrooms may not be reported on websites like iNaturalist because there are no regular surveys in the state besides “sweeps” done at some locations in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.
He agrees there is an under-reporting of death cap mushrooms in regional areas.
Fungi expert shown pictures of mushrooms in court
Erin Patterson’s lawyer, Sophie Stafford, has begun cross-examining Dr Thomas May.
Stafford is taking May through 10 images of mushrooms and asking him to identify which ones are consistent with death caps.
May says some images do not reflect the actual colour of the mushroom which can make it difficult to determine the species.
For all of these images there might be a possibility … it could be something else.
Fungi expert posted death cap mushroom location on naturalist site
Fungi expert Dr Thomas May says on 21 May 2023 he submitted a post about some death cap mushrooms he had spotted on a walk to the iNaturalist website with “several photographs”.
The post included the location of Outtrim.
He says he submitted the post under his iNaturalist profile name “Funkey Tom”.
The jurors are shown a screenshot image of the post.
May says the location uploaded was “fairly accurate.”
He says he dropped a pin location in the post to show where he had spotted the death cap mushroom.
‘High confidence’ mushrooms shown to him by police were death cap, expert tells court
The jurors are now shown three images of mushrooms that were supplied to Dr Thomas May by a Victorian police detective.
The first image shows about a dozen mushroom caps spread out on a tray.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers asks May if these are consistent with death cap mushrooms. May says “these photos are consistent with amanita phalloides”.
I have a high confidence it’s consistent with that.
But he says there are other mushrooms that could appear the same.
Another image shows five mushrooms on a scale.
May says these mushrooms are consistent with field mushrooms and button mushrooms, which he says can be bought from a supermarket or green grocer.
May says it’s possible the mushrooms have been collected in the wild.
Past case of death cap fatality in Australia, court hears
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC turns to recent death cap mushroom poisoning cases. Dr Thomas May says there is no central registry of death cap mushroom poisonings in Australia.
He points to a case, reported in 1997, where a husband and wife in Melbourne the previous year had cooked wild mushrooms. The husband later died in hospital.
Rogers takes May to a statement he made based on four images that were posted on the iNaturalist website.
May says the images are “highly consistent with amanita phalloides – death cap”.
He says the four images were posted together on the website but he cannot remember the exact date.
The jurors are back in the court room.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC is continuing her examination of May.
The jurors are on a lunch break and the trial will resume at 2.15pm.
Other mushrooms contain the toxins found in death caps, expert tells court
Dr Thomas May – a fungi expert – says there are other mushrooms that contain the toxins found in death cap mushrooms.
The death cap is different from other kinds of mushrooms in that it will appear in summer.
He says there appear to be cases in Australia where people have confused the death cap mushroom for another.
“Have there been cases or possibly fatalities where people, sometimes visitors to Australia, have mistaken the death cap mushroom from an edible mushroom?” prosecutor Nanette Rogers asks.
That does appear to be the case.
Dr Thomas May says death cap mushrooms appear for a short period “after suitable rain” – usually in autumn. They can also appear in winter or summer.
He says most observations of death caps have been made in May but also observed in all months from January to July, though rarely in December.
‘Death cap’ mushrooms found throughout Victoria, expert tells court
Dr Thomas May says, in Victoria, death cap mushrooms are found from eastern Melbourne to the Dandenong ranges – as well as in regional centres.
In the Gippsland region, there are three records of death cap mushrooms, in Loch, Outtrim and near Morwell, the court hears.
May says the Loch record was in April 2023 and the Outtrim record was in May 2023.
The third record, which is near Morwell, was within the past 20 years, he says.
May says there are more reports in well-populated areas such as Melbourne.
He says there are mushrooms that occur in Victoria that have a similar appearance to death caps, such as the stubble rosegill and marbled death cap.
Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers is walking Dr Thomas May through the website iNaturalist, a publicly available website where people post about nature.
May says you do not need an account to view observations on the website. But you do need an account to post an observation.
Each post contains an image, he says.
May says it is the “largest citizen platform” for fungi. May says each post also contains the location of where the fungi was spotted.
He says more than 440,000 images for fungi in Australia had been uploaded by February 2024.
Death cap mushrooms can last up to a few weeks in fridge, expert tells court
Dr Thomas May says mushrooms picked from the field last a few weeks before they begin to decompose but the exact rate would depend on the insect infestation.
He says if the weather is wet, the decay of mushrooms may be quicker.
He says a fresh mushroom from the field could last up to a few weeks in the fridge.
May says fresh, commercial mushrooms will last longer because they are not infested with insects.
Dr Thomas May: there are hundreds of species of amanita mushrooms
He says the mushroom amanita phalloides has the common name of “death cap”.
May says the mushroom’s “sporing bodies” appear for a few weeks at certain times of the year, the court hears.
The death cap’s native area of distribution to Europe and has spread to numerous countries – including Australia, May says.
He tells the jury that mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with trees.
In Australia, death caps are almost always with oak trees, he says.
May says the mushrooms’ gills are white and remain so at maturity, while the stems are white or pale yellow.
Prosecution’s next witness is Dr Thomas May, a mushroom expert
May is a mycologist – a specialist in fungi, the court hears.
In 2023, he was working at the Royal Botanic Gardens as a mycologist.
He is also an honorary associate at the Victorian Poisons Information Centre.
He’s one of Victoria’s leading fungi experts.
Video: recap of Erin Patterson’s trial so far
If you’re looking for a recap of the trial so far, here’s a quick run-through from our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci:
Dr Varuna Ruggoo says she deemed Erin well enough to be discharged
Ruggoo says Erin’s respiratory rate, blood pressure and body temperature were all within normal ranges.
Prosecutor Sarah Lenthall asks Dr Varuna Ruggoo if she deemed Erin well enough to be discharged.
I did.
There is no cross-examination.
Erin appeared ‘clinically well’ after mushroom lunch, doctor tells court
The prosecution’s next witness is Dr Varuna Ruggoo, an emergency physician at Monash Health. She says she assessed Erin on 1 August 2023.
Ruggoo says Erin had been administered IV fluids and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) for potential liver issues.
She says the review by Muldoon that morning concluded “there was no evidence of any sort of liver toxicity and that she was stable to be discharged”.
Ruggoo also reviewed Erin on 12.18pm.
She appeared clinically well. In a normal mood and affect.
She says Erin said she had not vomited or experienced diarrhoea before she was handed over to Ruggoo that morning.
Ruggoo tells the court that notes from Muldoon had indicated that Erin was not suffering from amanita phalloides — death cap mushroom — poisoning.
She wrote in her notes that there was no concern about that type of poisoning.
