Police prosecutors said each participant had been aware of what they were consuming, and that Dixon died after consuming the magic mushrooms.
Police prosecutors said each participant had been aware of what they were consuming, and that Dixon died after consuming the magic mushrooms.
By Erin Pearson
March 12, 2025 — 11.55am
The woman who ran a healing retreat where a woman died after drinking magic mushroom tea has pleaded guilty to trafficking the illicit substance.
Deanne Mathews, 54, faced Bacchus Marsh Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, almost a year after hosting the fatal retreat at Clunes.
Mathews was charged with trafficking drugs but has not been charged over the death of a participant, Ringwood mother Rachael Dixon.
Police prosecutor Kerrie-Ann Moroney said that on April 13, 2024, Mathews had hosted a $500 per head healing ceremony where the hallucinogenic substance was weighed and provided in a tea.
She said each participant had been aware of what they were consuming, and that Dixon died after consuming the magic mushrooms.
Moroney said one witness told police: “All the consummation of the tea is totally up to the individual, you are never pushed to try this.”
Another witness told police most of the participants attended because of the draw of the psilocybin tea provided.
Matthews, dressed in a long brown shawl and sandals, sat with her arms and legs crossed during the brief hearing, which she left with no conviction imposed.
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Defence lawyer Jon Ross noted Dixon’s death but reminded the court no link between the mushroom tea and her death had been substantiated.
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He said his client and all participants were distressed about what had occurred.
The court heard Mathews had called emergency services and performed CPR on Dixon before she died.
“It’s important context. There is no evidence of a causal link between the event hosted and the untimely death. The evidence is simply not there,” Ross said.
“As tragic as this whole situation is, this sentencing exercise is about trafficking psilocybin on that day.”
Ross said his client had suffered significant trauma as a child, leading her to build the therapeutic practice, which included Reiki, breathwork, meditation and sound healing to assist clients over many years.
As part of her own trauma healing, Ross said Mathews had experimented with magic mushrooms and wanted to help others do the same.
“Since this matter, no such events have been held. This is not a prominent feature of what she does, this was at the time a very small subset of her practice,” Ross said.
“Something irregularly infrequent and relatively new.”
“We’re not talking about drug dealing in a rave scene, we’re not talking about meth. She’s unlikely to be back before the courts again.”
Magistrate Julia Barling fined Mathews $3000 without imposing a conviction.
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Erin Pearson covers crime and justice for The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.
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