By STEFAN BRADLEY and LIAM DURKIN
PROSECUTION went on the attack as the accused, Erin Patterson for the first time took the stand in the supreme court’s witness box during week six of her triple murder trial.
Three people died following a fatal beef Wellington lunch, which allegedly contained death cap mushrooms at the accused’s Leongatha home in July 2023.
Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson all died from the fatal meal. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson fell ill, however survived the incident. The accused has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The media interest in this case locally, nationally and worldwide is undeniable, and was even more apparent last week as a mass of people lined up outside Latrobe Valley Law Courts to watch the trial anticipating the accused giving evidence.
Erin Patterson was the first witness called by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC. The case has become very personal, and very public for the accused, as her past and relationship with her family has been examined by lawyers, the media and public, but ultimately it’s the jury who will decide her fate.
The Express was able to attend court on Wednesday and Friday. Erin wore a grey jumper on the Wednesday, and kept a neutral look until spoken to. She was dressed in a black top with white dots on Friday, where she cut a composed figure until speaking about her children and love for Don, Gail, Heather and Ian.
“I loved them, and still do,” she said, wiping back tears on Friday, upon being grilled during cross examination by Crown prosecutor, Nanette Rogers SC.
While questioning his client in court, the accused said that while she was at Leongatha Hospital, (on July 31, two days after the lunch) she had asked Dr Veronica Foote (an on-call doctor) why people were talking about death mushrooms.
“I asked if she could tell me why people were saying there were death cap mushrooms. She couldn’t tell me because of privacy,” Erin told the court.
“But none of them were her patients anyway.”
The court heard that Erin wanted to change her phone number because she was concerned about her privacy and security, and her deteriorating relationship with estranged husband Simon Patterson. But after the fatal lunch she decided against it because she needed to keep in contact with Simon and child protection was getting involved.
Simon was invited to the lunch, but declined. Text messages between the pair were exhibited, and read aloud by Erin.
Erin became very emotional and started wiping tears when she spoke about Don’s relationship with Erin and Simon’s kids on Wednesday. Erin said Don had a “very close” relationship with his grandkids.
Mr Mandy asked the accused about the deadly lunch and asked if she accepted that there “must have been death cap mushrooms in that meal”, to which Erin said, “yes I do”.
But Erin told the court she did not tell the fatal lunch guests that she had cancer. But the actual health issue she was concerned about was a potential gastric bypass surgery to deal with her weight, but she was too embarrassed to tell the lunch guests.
The accused was asked about key evidence shared throughout the trial. She was also asked about her relationship with her estranged husband and her in-laws, Don and Gail.
The court heard despite her issues with her estranged husband, her relationship with Don and Gail did not change.
“It never changed. I was just their daughter-in-law, and they just continued to love me,” Erin said.
Erin expressed regret about Facebook messages shared with the court that included comments about Don and Gail that the accused said were made in frustration. Erin agreed with Simon’s testimony earlier in the trial that Don and Gail Patterson loved Erin, and that she loved them.
The accused said she was not an atheist, although she was in the past, and eventually became a Christian after attending church services in South Gippsland led by Simon’s uncle Ian Wilkinson.
It was after one church service that Erin invited Don and Gail to the fateful lunch.
“Why is it that you invited Ian and Heather to the lunch on the 29th of July?” Dr Rogers asked on Friday morning.
“There were a few reasons,” Erin said.
“Ian had been my pastor for years and years, and I would see and speak with Ian and Heather a lot after church and I really liked them and I wanted to have a stronger relationship with them.
“When I had invited Don and Gail for lunch in June, Gail had said that what I had done to the garden was really nice, and Heather would really like to see it.
“I wanted to say thank you to them for being good to me over the years. Heather helped me a lot when (my daughter) was little … and I was shy and didn’t know many people. I wanted to say thank you to her,” she said, reaching for a tissue in the witness stand.
Erin hoped Simon would change his mind about not attending the lunch, after saying he felt “too uncomfortable” via text.
Dr Rogers suggested that Erin made an extra poisoned beef Wellington for Simon, and when he did not attend, threw it in the bin.
Erin confirmed she did throw the extra beef Wellington out, but denied attempting to poison her estranged husband.
On the Tuesday after the lunch, Erin spoke to Simon in hospital.
Erin previously said Simon confronted her, asking her if she’d used her food dehydrator to poison his parents. Erin’s food dehydrator has been widely discussed in the case as evidence. Simon denied ever asking this.
“It got me thinking about all the times that I’d used it (the dehydrator),” she said.
“And how I had dried foraged mushrooms in it weeks earlier. And I was starting to think, what if they’d gone in the container with the Chinese mushrooms.”
“You agree that you told police in your record of interview that you loved Don and Gail?” Dr Rogers asked.
“Correct,” Erin replied.
“Surely if you had loved them .. You would have immediately notified the medical authorities that there was a possibility that the foraged mushrooms had ended up in the meal,” Dr Rogers said.
“Well I didn’t,” Erin replied. “I had been told that … people were getting treatment for possible death cap mushroom poisoning. So that was already happening.”
Erin confirmed she didn’t tell “a single person” that foraged mushrooms might have been in the meal, and that she disposed of the dehydrator.
She also spoke about her own history battling low-self esteem. The court had previously heard she had concerns about her weight and health.
The court heard Erin became interested in wild mushrooms in early 2020. Her kids during the COVID lockdowns would go with her for walks at the Korumburra Botanic Gardens.
The court heard that mushrooms foraged by the accused were used in the dehydrator in addition to ones from grocery stores. Erin said over a number of months she was “confident” in her ability to distinguish between different wild mushroom species.
The accused told the court she was very fond of mushrooms and tried to include crushed mushrooms in her kids’ foods so they could eat more vegetables.
The only other witness last week was Detective Senior Leading Constable Stephen Eppingstall, who was the last witness for the prosecution and finished his testimony on Monday, June 2.
The defence questioned the detective about the limitations of phone records, noting that a sim card used by Erin had been used in at least seven devices between January 2019 and August 2023, and that it was difficult to determine when the cards may have changed handsets. The witness had said police believed Erin used three different phones, including one the police did not take during their investigations.
Much of Friday morning’s hearing consisted of Erin replying “I don’t know” to a number of suggestions from Dr Rogers.
This trial had originally expected to last up to six weeks, but Justice Christopher Beale flagged with the jury that the timeline of the trial will be extended.
The trial is expected to continue for the rest of June.
Court resumed yesterday (Tuesday), after not sitting on Monday due to the public holiday.
