Last July, hundreds descended on Australia's Gippsland region from around the country for the most exciting event on the annual table tennis calendar. But as elite players vied for medals at the national championships, one of the biggest criminal cases in the nation's history - that of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson - was unfolding just a few kilometres away. This tournament inadvertently became part of a perfect storm which the triple killer's lawyers are now arguing "fatally undermined" the fairness of her trial.
The jury which condemned Patterson to prison were supposed to be isolated - sheltered from the frenzy surrounding the case while they deliberated. But accommodation shortages in the region, exacerbated by the table tennis competition, meant they shared a hotel with members of the prosecution, a key police witness, and journalists. Now Patterson's legal team is trying to overturn her convictions on appeal.
"The only proper remedy is... the order for a re-trial," Patterson's barrister Richard Edney said. When Patterson served her estranged husband's relatives a poisonous mushroom-laced lunch in 2023, killing three and gravely injuring another, she thrust the sleepy Gippsland region into the global spotlight. The community of Korumburra, where the victims were beloved figures, became shrouded in grief.
Leongatha, where Patterson lived, was gripped by shock. And Morwell, host of the lengthy trial, was overwhelmed by journalists, lawyers and spectators - as were towns nearby. You couldn't walk down the main street without spotting some of the courtroom's stars, or grab a coffee without overhearing chatter about the case.
Mushroom murders and cancer lie: Nine weeks of evidence that gripped a courtroom 'Everyone knows somebody affected': The small towns in shock after mushroom murders It was this frenzy from which the jury of 12 needed protection, the trial judge decided. Jurors are required to consider only the evidence presented to them in court, and must only talk about the case among themselves. In Australia, these rules are so strict that discussion with outsiders is forbidden even after a trial wraps up.
To reduce the risk of contamination and the temptation of gossip, Justice Christopher Beale decided the jury should be sequestered once deliberations began - a relatively rare move which meant they would stay in supervised accommodation with little to no contact with the outside world until they reached a decision. But finding the jury, and the jury keepers watching them, somewhere to sleep became something of a logistical nightmare. As the trial dragged on, stays became longer than anyone anticipated and accommodation became a constant scramble.
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