The Australian component of the murder of the family of the ex-husband using death mushrooms

From Rod McGuirk

Melbourne (AP) – The Australian host of a weekend family meal at the weekend is brought to court

The public prosecutor's office Nanette Rogers opened its case against Erin Patterson, 50, at the Supreme Court of the State of Victoria on Wednesday. Patterson has not guilty for all charges.

On July 29, 2023, she served meals with beef Wellington, potato and green beans in her house in the rural city of Leongartha. Her guests included their in -laws Gail and Don Patterson (70), Gail Patterson's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Wilkinson's husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68.

The next day, all four guests were admitted to the hospital with a poisoning of death cap fun, also known as Amanita Phalloides, which were added to the beef and confectionery court. Ian Wilkinson survived after a liver transplant.

Erin Patterson's husband Simon Patterson, 50, was also invited to lunch, but declined.

Attempted suspicion of murder were dropped

The jury was announced on Tuesday that the public prosecutor had dropped three charges that Erin Patterson tried to murder her husband, from whom she had been separated since 2015.

Two weeks before poisoning, Erin Patterson had invited her husband and relatives to lunch when she visited a service from Korumburra Baptist, in which Ian Wilkinson was the pastor. Simon Patterson initially accepted the invitation.

“She said the purpose of lunch was to discuss some medical problems she had and get advice on how to interrupt the children,” said Rogers.

“The accused said it was important that the children were not present for lunch,” added Rogers.

The Wilkinsons were surprised by the invitation because they were never in Erin Patterson's large house with five bedrooms.

Lunch guest confused with the host's plate

When Heather Wilkinson was taken to the hospital the next morning, she said Simon Patterson that she had been confused by Erin Patterson, who had eaten from another plate than the guests.

“I noticed that Erin put her food on another plate. Her plate had colors. I wondered why that was.

Simon Patterson told his aunt that his wife may run out of the plates.

Rogers told the jury that Erin Patterson invented a diagnosis of ovarian cancer to explain why her children did not take part in lunch.

“After lunch, the accused announced that she had cancer and asked for advice whether they should tell the children or keep them from it,” said Rogers.

“They had a discussion that it was the best thing to be honest with the children. They prayed as a group for the health and wisdom of the accused about the story of the children,” added Rogers.

The defender says that poisoning is a “terrible accident”.

Defender Colin Mandy informed the jury that his client had never had cancer and that the guests were poisoned by mushrooms that she had served, but that the poisoning was random.

“The defense case was a tragedy. A terrible accident,” said Mandy.

Rogers told the jurors that she would not provide a motive motive.

“You may be wondering why the accused should do that? What is the motive? You may still be wondering at the end of this process,” said Rogers. “You don't have to be satisfied what the motive was or that there was a motive.”

Two days after lunch, Erin Patterson went to the hospital and complained about diarrhea and nausea. Until then, the medical staff had diagnosed their guests as a fatality poisoning.

Erin Patterson told the authorities that they had cooked with a mixture of fresh mushrooms that were bought in a supermarket and dried mushrooms bought in an Asian grocery store.

The accused told the police that she had not eaten after wild mushrooms

Mandy said his client lied to the police when she said she hadn't asked for wild mushrooms.

“She was looking for mushrooms. Only so that we can make it clear, she denies that she has ever deliberately sought death capitation mushrooms,” said Mandy.

The doctors insisted that Erin Patterson's two children between the ages of 9 and 14 are tested because their mother said they had eaten beef remains.

Erin Patterson said the children were safe because she scraped out the pastries and mushrooms from the steak. She explained that the children didn't like mushrooms.

Rogers said Erin Patterson had not eaten toxic mushrooms and did not feed the remains of the lunch break to her children. Mandy said she ate the mushrooms, but became less sick than the others.

The process was postponed until Thursday and is expected to take six weeks. She is charged with three murder cases and one of attempted murder. The murder endures a maximum punishment for lifelong imprisonment and the attempted murder has a maximum of 25 years in prison.

Originally published: April 30, 2025 at 4:29 p.m. Edt

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