A mother accused of murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt by feeding them poisonous mushrooms lured them to the meal by faking a cancer diagnosis, prosecutors claim. Erin Patterson is on trial over the deaths of her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, which occurred in July 2023. The 50-year-old, from the state of Victoria in southern Australia, has also been charged with the attempted murder of Mrs. Wilkinson's husband, Reverend Ian Wilkinson.
All four fell ill after eating a lunch of beef Wellington, mashed potatoes, and green beans at Patterson's home in the town of Leongatha, the court has been told. Prosecutors said Patterson knowingly laced the beef pastry dish with deadly death cap mushrooms, also known as Amanita phalloides, at her home. Patterson denies the charges. Her husband, Simon Patterson, with whom she has two children, was also invited to the lunch and initially accepted but later declined.
The jury was told on Tuesday that prosecutors had dropped three charges that Patterson had attempted to murder her husband, who she has been separated from since 2015. In the trial's opening arguments that began on Wednesday, prosecutor Nanette Rogers said Patterson fabricated a cancer diagnosis and hosted the lunch on the pretense of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness. "The accused said that it was important that the children were not present for the lunch," Ms. Rogers said. She also told the court, "It is the prosecution case that the accused deliberately poisoned (the victims) with murderous intent. The prosecution will not be suggesting that there was a particular motive to do what she did."
Defending Patterson, barrister Colin Mandy told the court the deaths were a "terrible accident," and the accused had no intention of killing her lunch guests. "The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests," he said. The guests ate individual portions of beef Wellington off four large grey dinner plates, while Patterson ate from a smaller, tan-colored plate, the court heard. The guests fell ill later that day and were taken to hospital the day after. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Wilkinson later died, while Reverend Wilkinson spent weeks in hospital and survived.
Patterson went to the hospital two days later, where she initially discharged herself against medical advice, the court was told. She had mild symptoms of illness, but further tests revealed no evidence of toxins consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning, the prosecution said. Patterson resisted attempts by doctors to have her two children tested, who she claimed had eaten leftovers of the lunch, saying she did not want to frighten them, Ms. Rogers said. "She was reluctant to have the children medically assessed, because she knew that, like her, they had not eaten any poisoned food," the prosecution lawyer said.
The defendant denied ever owning a food dehydrator, but police traced one owned by her to a nearby garbage dump, that was later found to contain death cap mushrooms, Ms. Rogers said. Mr. Mandy said his client had lied repeatedly during the investigation because she "panicked" due to the intense scrutiny surrounding the case which has gripped Australia.
Patterson married Simon in 2007 and had two children together, the court heard. They separated temporarily several times before splitting permanently in 2015. They remained amicable, sharing custody of the children and going on family holidays together. That changed in 2022 when Simon listed himself as separated on a tax return, Ms. Rogers said, with communication deteriorating and the pair disagreeing over child support.
The trial has seen intense interest from local and international media, with podcasters, journalists, and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, around two hours east of Melbourne, where the trial is being heard. The court is expected to hear the first of dozens of witnesses and scientific experts on Thursday. The trial, scheduled to run until early June, continues.
The jury in Erin Patterson's murder trial has heard the accused tried to persuade her estranged husband to attend the lunch where four guests ate meals containing death cap mushrooms. Ms. Patterson maintains her innocence of three charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Today’s proceedings in the trial centered on evidence given by Simon Patterson, the estranged husband of Erin Patterson.
Mr. Patterson told the court he was paying about $40 a month in child support payments, but was to be reassessed on how much he would pay in the future. He says that although he was previously paying for school fees, he stopped doing so on advice. Mr. Mandy has not finished his questioning regarding the child support, but that will continue tomorrow morning.
The court has now adjourned. Erin Patterson doesn't have 'high self-esteem', estranged husband says. Mr. Mandy puts to Erin Patterson's estranged husband Simon that his wife's appearance had changed "over the years" and she was embarrassed about how she looked. "She didn't really say that too much ... I don't remember her saying that at all," Mr. Patterson says. But he says he doesn't think his estranged wife is "particularly happy with how she is". "Including probably most aspects, I don't think she has high self-esteem," Mr. Patterson says.
Mr. Mandy presses Mr. Patterson on his statements regarding crockery in Erin Patterson's Leongatha home. "You were to some extent familiar with the crockery Erin had," Mr. Mandy asks. "When Heather said to you, is it possible that Erin's maybe short of crockery, your response was she doesn't have a lot of crockery, that may well be the reason for the different colored plate." "Something along those lines," Mr. Patterson responds.
Mr. Mandy presses Mr. Patterson on the plates in the house and has him confirm for the court that there was no uniform set of plates in the house. “Perhaps eight or ten plates in the house?" Mr. Mandy asks. “I guess, yeah, that’s probably fair,” Mr. Patterson says. Mr. Mandy asks Simon about the relationship between Erin Patterson and her in-laws. Mr. Patterson is pressed on the relationship between his parents and Erin Patterson. He says that his parents loved Erin and that Erin also appeared to love his parents.
Erin became a 'regular church attender' during marriage, court hears. The hearing has resumed and Erin Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy SC has resumed cross-examination of Erin's estranged husband Simon Patterson. Mr. Mandy outlines that Erin Patterson was an atheist when she met Simon, but suggests she converted to Christianity as a result of his influence. Mr. Patterson says while he reckons the "causation there's probably a bit strong", he agrees that she was influenced by his religious beliefs. "She did become a regular church attender," he says.
The jury has been given a break and will return soon. The trial is expected to take up to six weeks, and the jury is expected to hear from key witnesses including Patterson’s estranged husband Simon and the lone survivor Ian Wilkinson, as well as medical experts. After hearing from the witnesses, both the prosecution and defence will deliver closing arguments, and the jurors will be sent out to deliberate until they can reach a unanimous verdict.
