Police must determine who picked the mushrooms that are believed to have caused the death of a 53-year-old woman at an alternative health retreat on the weekend before they can decide if any charges will be laid, a criminologist has said.
Rachael Dixon, 53, attended the Soul Barn Creative Wellbeing Centre in Clunes, near Ballarat, and became seriously ill on Saturday after she is believed to have crushed up mushrooms and consumed them in a drink.
She died shortly after midnight.
University of Newcastle criminologist Xanthe Mallett, speaking on Channel 7’s Sunrise on Wednesday morning, said psychoactive ‘magic mushrooms’ alone would be very unlikely to be fatal, and Ms Dixon could have consumed highly toxic fungi – many of which look very similar to ordinary mushrooms.
Professor Mallett said if fatal toxic mushrooms were on the health centre’s premises to be consumed, any legal culpability for that depends on who brought them there.
‘That really depends on who possibly scavenged for those mushrooms,’ Prof Mallett said.
‘They will be probably growing at this time of year. It is autumn.
‘So it really depends on who picked them and who knew what was in those drinks.
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