On Trial Australia

A public health official tells the court she had trouble reaching Erin Patterson on the phone as she tried to find the source of the poisoning. The jury hears the pair exchanged text messages  and a digital forensics officer faces questions from the defence. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An intensive care specialist tells the court how doctors fought to save the four lunch guests' lives, and recalls how close Ian Wilkinson came to death.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook messages discovered on a phone found in Erin Patterson’s home are read to the jury, calling Simon Patterson a ‘deadbeat’ and his parents ‘a lost cause’. The court is also shown photos of mushrooms in a dehydrator and screenshots of cancer information, taken from a tablet police say was seized from Patterson’s home.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The jury is shown internet history taken from devices seized from Erin Patterson's home. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A phone tower expert answers dozens of questions about the limitations of mobile phone records. Service station footage is also played to the jury, showing the accused killer visiting a toilet area.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A phone tower expert says Erin Patterson’s mobile possibly pinged in the same areas where death cap mushrooms were sighted. A poisons expert tells the jury she posted about death caps in Gippsland in the months before the lunch.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A forensic expert tells the jury mushroom toxins were found in leftovers seized from the fatal lunch. Another witness says Erin Patterson told her she cooked up the beef Wellington using the help of the RecipeTin Eats cookbook.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this bonus episode, the court hears a juror in the murder trial is dismissed over concerns they may have discussed the case with friends and family. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A second fungi expert gives evidence that she found no pieces of death cap mushroom in a beef Wellington sample. The jury is also shown CCTV from a Gippsland rubbish tip and photographs of a food dehydrator the prosecution says police recovered from inside an e-waste bin.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A mushroom expert gives the jury a lesson on Amanita Phalloides, the scientific name for death cap mushrooms. In his evidence the mycologist also recalls posting on a website photos and a location, showing where the deadly fungi were growing in Gippsland. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.