Recap
Here’s a recap of what the jury heard today:
1. Patterson said her estranged husband, Simon, accused her of trying to poison his parents using a dehydrator the days after the lethal lunch. Patterson says Simon asked, “Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?”
2. The accused said she believes there is a “possibility” she unintentionally added foraged mushrooms to her beef wellington mix while trying to improve its “bland” flavour.
3. Patterson says she lied to her lunch guests about requiring cancer treatment because she was “embarrassed” to tell them about plans for weight loss surgery. “I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate,” she said.
4. Patterson said she ate the remainder of a cake brought by her mother-in-law, Gail, to the fateful lunch. She says after consuming the cake in the evening, she felt “over-full” and “brought it back up again”.
5. Patterson also admitted she lied to Gail about requiring a needle biopsy the month before the lunch. She said when she mentioned a lump in her arm, her in-laws showed a lot of care, which “felt really nice”. “I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
Updated
Court adjourns
Mandy says the defence does not have long to go.
He says he will finish questioning his client in the morning.
The court has adjourned for the day.
The trial will resume at 10.30am tomorrow.
Updated
Patterson fights back tears describing her son and father-in-law’s relationship as ‘very close’
Mandy asks Patterson about her children’s relationship with their grandparents, Don and Gail.
“They were very close. Especially [my son] and Don. They were like two minds separated by 50 years,” she says.
Patterson’s voice is trembling, and she fights back tears.
“[My son] just loved him.”
Updated
Patterson says she had ‘really good’ relationship with her in-laws in 2022
Mandy asks Patterson about her relationship with her in-laws, who died after the beef wellington lunch.
She asks his client about evidence Simon gave that she sent an “inflammatory” message in a group chat with his parents in 2023. Simon said this was in reference to him raising that their son was always tired when he stayed with him, the court hears.
She says Simon suggested their son was tired because of her “poor parenting” and she was “hurt” by that.
Patterson says she understood she sent the message to Simon and not in a group chat.
Mandy shows the court messages between Patterson and her in-laws from 2022, including discussions about Don tutoring her son.
She agrees this tone was indicative of how she spoke to her in-laws at the time.
Patterson says she had a “really good” relationship with Don and Gail in 2022.
Updated
Erin Patterson tells court she was ‘baffled’ Nokia phone still in house after police search
Patterson says when she returned home after being interviewed by police she found the Nokia phone and phone A on the windowsill.
She says she took the sim card out of phone A and put it into the Nokia so she could use the phone.
Patterson says she was “baffled” the Nokia was still in the house.
Updated
Patterson tells court Samsung phone police say is missing was on windowsill during search of her home
Patterson says when police arrived to conduct a search of her Leonagtha home on 5 August 2023, a mobile phone referred to as “phone A” was on a windowsill near a charging station.
The court previously heard from the lead detective on the case that there were three phones – two Samsungs and a Nokia – connected to Patterson.
Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of the investigation, said one of the Samsungs (phone A) had never been recovered.
Patterson says she handed police phone B – the phone she had been using at the time.
Mandy shows his client a photo, taken by police during the search, which shows a black case on a windowsill.
Patterson says the photo shows “a black phone case with phone A inside.”
During his cross-examination, Eppingstall said whether the photo showed phone A was a matter for the jury.
Updated
Erin Patterson tells court she performed three of four factory resets of one of her phones
Mandy takes Patterson to a digital report, previously shown to the jury, which shows that four factory resets were performed on one of her phones.
The court previously heard four resets – one in February 2023 and three in August 2023 – were performed on the phone Patterson provided to police during a search on 5 August 2023.
Mandy asks Patterson if she is responsible for the factory resets.
“I’m responsible for the last three,” she says.
Paterson says her son did the first reset after he damaged his phone.
The second factory reset, on 2 August 2023, was to remove her son’s information from the phone.
She says the factory reset on 5 August 2023 was because she “panicked” and didn’t want detectives to see photos in the Google app of mushrooms and the dehydrator.
Regarding the factory reset on 6 August 2023, Patterson says after the police search, she wondered if she could login to her Google account and see where the seized devices were. She says she also wondered if police were “silly enough to leave it connected to the internet”.
“I hit factory reset to see what happened,” she says.
Updated
Erin Patterson says text messages from health department investigator made her ‘very anxious’
The court is shown text messages between Patterson and Sally Ann Atkinson, who was involved in the Department of Health’s investigation into the deadly lunch.
Patterson says Atkinson’s messages and questions about the ingredients in the lunch made her feel “very anxious”.
In the messages, Atkinson asks Patterson to provide a description of what the package containing the dried mushrooms looked like.
She says by the Tuesday after the lunch she started to think that “perhaps they [foraged mushrooms] were in there too”.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she felt ‘frantic’ and ‘scared’ she would be blamed before dumping dehydrator at tip
Patterson says when she was discharged from hospital and returned home, she felt “frantic”.
“Child protection was coming to my house that afternoon, and I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator,” she says.
Patterson says she worried she would be blamed and went to dump the dehydrator at a local tip.
The jury has previously been shown CCTV footage of Patterson dumping the dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station And Landfill on 2 August 2023 – four days after the lunch.
Updated
Erin Patterson says husband asked ‘is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?’
Patterson recalls discussions she had with Simon while she was at Monash medical centre.
The court previously heard that while in hospital, Patterson told him she conducted a blind taste test with muffins cooked using dehydrated mushrooms.
Patterson says Simon later asked:
“He said to me, ‘Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?’”
Mandy asks what her response was.
“I said, of course not,” Patterson says, her voice trembling.
Patterson says the comment by Simon caused her to “reflect a lot on what might have happened”.
“It got me thinking about all the times I had used it [the dehydrator] … and how I had dried foraging mushrooms in it weeks earlier, and I was starting to think what if they had gone in the container with the Chinese mushrooms. What if that happened?”
“I was thinking maybe that’s how this all …,” Patterson says as her voice trails off.
Mandy asks how this made her feel.
“Scared, responsible,” she says.
She says she felt “really worried” because child protection was involved.
“Simon seemed to be of the mind that this was intentional … I just got really scared.”
Updated
Erin Patterson says she asked doctor why ‘people think that it’s death cap mushrooms’
Patterson recalls wanting to pick up her children from the hospital when staff mentioned they needed to be tested.
“I was their mother and they’re my children and I wanted to be responsible for them,” she says
The court previously heard Simon picked up the couple’s children and drove them to Monash medical centre. Patterson says she told Simon that she wanted her children to be at the same hospital where she would be transferred.
Patterson says in a discussion with a doctor, she asked, “Why do people think that it’s death cap mushrooms?”
She says she was administered fluid saline and NAC – a liver function medication – at Leongatha hospital.
On route to Monash medical centre in an ambulance, Patterson says she was given anti-nausea medication and fentanyl for a headache. She says the fentanyl made her feel “loopy” but helped the pain.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she told police leftovers were in a bin but she couldn’t remember which one
Mandy asks Patterson about a phone conversation with police, facilitated by Webster, about where the leftovers from the meal were.
She says she spoke directly to police at one point and told them the gate code to the property. She said she told police the beef wellington leftovers were in a bin, but could not remember if it was an outside bin or a kitchen bin.
Patterson says Simon’s brother, Matthew, called her that morning and said someone from toxicology wanted to know where the mushrooms in the meal were sourced from.
“I told him they came from Woolies and the grocer, the Asian grocer,” she says.
Patterson says she may have mentioned Oakleigh as a suburb where the grocer was.
She says she was trying to convey that she didn’t remember but was mentioning “possible places” where she shopped.
Updated
Erin Patterson agrees she told hospital she would return in 20-30 minutes and that records indicate she took longer
Mandy takes Patterson to when she left Leongatha hospital and went home.
Patterson agrees she told medical staff she would return in 20-30 minutes and that her medical records indicate she returned after about an hour and a half.
She recalls some of what she did:
“I lay down for a little bit. I went to the toilet a couple of times.”
Patterson says she did not leave the house during this time.
She says she brought a phone charger, a toothbrush and toothpaste to the hospital, and staff told her she needed to be transferred to Melbourne.
Recalling the urgent care area, Patterson says she got into the bed in the cubicle and waited to be assessed.
She says the topic of her children and whether they had eaten the beef wellington came up in the conversation with Webster.
“I would have told him not on the Saturday but on the Sunday they had the leftovers,” she says.
Updated
The jury has returned to the court room in Morwell.
Guardian Australia’s justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci, was in court in Morwell this morning and filed this report.
The court has adjourned for a lunch break.
Patterson’s trial will resume from 2.15pm.
Erin Patterson says she tried to argue against being transferred to Melbourne for treatment
Mandy asks his client about what occurred next.
Patterson says she was told she needed to be transferred to Melbourne for treatment. She says she had a water bottle, bag and a warm jumper with her at the hospital.
She recalls trying to explain to medical staff why she could not go straight to Melbourne. She says she needed to make preparations for her daughter’s ballet and secure her pets at her house.
Patterson says she could not move her brain away from what she thought “the day was going to look like”.
She compares it to trying to “turn a really, really big ship”.
Patterson says she lived about 10 mins away from Leongatha hospital and told staff she could return quickly.
Updated
Patterson tells court she was ‘shocked and confused’ when told of death cap mushroom fears
Patterson was asked about the ingredients used in the beef wellington lunch.
Webster expressed concern the lunch contained death cap mushrooms.
Patterson says she was “shocked and confused”.
“I didn’t see how death cap mushrooms could be in the meal,” she says.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she told doctor ‘I’ve just got gastro’ at Leongatha hospital
Arriving at Leongatha hospital on Monday morning, Patterson recalled telling a staff member she needed to use the toilet.
“I waited in the waiting area for someone to come out,” she says.
Patterson recalls Dr Chris Webster, who previously testified, opening the doors to the waiting room and apologising for the delay.
He told her the urgent care centre had two “critically ill” people.
“I told him that’s fine, I’ve just got gastro. It’s not urgent,” she says.
Patterson says when she told Webster her name, he said “we’ve been expecting you.”
She says this “could be wrong” but is “just what she remembers”.
Patterson was then escorted into the urgent care centre.
She says she felt “thrown” by Webster knowing who she was.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she decided to go to hospital when unable to retain fluid
Patterson says on the Sunday evening she removed the mushroom and pastry from the leftover beef wellington. She then served it to her children.
She recalls not being able to each much food. Patterson went to bed about 10pm or 11pm.
During the night, she felt the diarrhoea coming back “more strongly” than before.
Patterson got up around 6am the following morning.
She says she was unable to “retain” fluid and decided to go to hospital.
Patterson recalls calling Simon because she did not want to go to the hospital alone. Simon told her he was sleeping and she should drive herself, the court hears.
Updated
Erin Patterson says Simon told her his parents were in hospital on Sunday morning
Patterson says on Sunday morning Simon told her his parents also had diarrhoea and were at Korumburra hospital.
She recalls driving her son to his flying lesson in Tyabb. Her daughter was also in the car.
Patterson says en route she pulled to the side of the road and went to the toilet in a bush.
She says she had diarrhoea.
Mandy asks about evidence heard earlier in the trial, that Patterson and her children stopped at a service station.
“The internal footage shows you going into the bathroom,” Mandy says.
Patterson says she put the soiled tissues in the bin in the toilet. She then bought food for her children.
I bought either a wrap or sandwich for [my son], a sandwich for [my daughter] and some sour straps.
Patterson says she did not buy anything for herself and did not eat any of the purchased food.
Her son’s flying lesson was cancelled due to poor weather and they turned back, the court hears.
On the way back, Patterson says her son bought a coffee for her at a donut van. She says she asked her son to get her a drink and he likely bought her a coffee as “habit”.
When they returned home, Patterson ran for the toilet, the court hears.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she had nausea and diarrhoea at 11pm
Patterson says around 11pm she began to feel nauseous and was experiencing diarrhoea.
She says she experienced “quite strong cramping” and an “urgent need to go”.
She says it was “every 20 minutes” at times and was difficult to go back to sleep.
Patterson says this lasted several hours. She took an anti-diarrhoea tablet and was able to sleep for a little bit, the court hears.
Patterson got up around 10am the day after the lunch – 30 July 2023.
She says she made herself a herbal tea.
Updated
Jury shown CCTV footage from Subway in Leongatha
The jury is shown CCTV footage, previously shown to the court, from Subway in Leongatha.
The court was previously told the footage, captured hours after the lunch, showed Patterson dropping her son at Subway.
Patterson says she did take her son to Subway after the lunch but says the footage does not depict her son.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she ‘felt sick’ after eating leftover cake
Mandy then turns to what occurred after the lunch guests left.
Patterson says her son helped her tidy up. She said the leftovers included the remainder of her beef wellington and the entire sixth one.
Patterson says “quite a lot” of the cake Gail had brought was left over. She says about two-thirds of the cake remained after lunch.
She says afterwards she began eating the cake and continued to eat slice after slice.
Mandy asks how many pieces of cake she ate.
“All of it,” she says.
Asked what happened afterwards, Patterson says she “felt sick”.
“I felt over-full,” she says. “So I went to the toilet and brought it back up again.”
She says she began to have loose stools about 5.30pm that evening.
• In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is at 1800 33 4673. In the UK, Beat can be contacted on 0808-801-0677. In the US, help is available at nationaleatingdisorders.org or by calling ANAD’s eating disorders hotline at 800-375-7767. Other international helplines can be found at Eating Disorder Hope
Updated
Erin Patterson says she ate between ‘a quarter’ and a ‘third’ of her beef wellington
Mandy asks about how much each guest ate of their beef wellington.
She says Ian and Heather ate all of theirs. Don ate all of his while Gail ate a lot of hers, but not all of it, the court hears.
Patterson says she ate somewhere around “a quarter” or a “third” of hers.
When pressed by Mandy about evidence heard earlier that his client ate half of hers, Patterson says she cannot be precise.
She then says she ate “some” of her beef wellington.
Mandy asks her why this was. She says she was “talking a lot” and “eating slowly”.
Updated
Patterson tells court 'I shouldn't have lied to' lunch guests about having ovarian cancer
Mandy shows Patterson a photo of the dining room table and chairs, marked up by Ian to show where each guest sat.
My memory was that Gail and Don were reversed.
But I could have been wrong about that too.
Patterson says there were no assigned seats or plates at the lunch.
Mandy asks Paterson what was discussed at the lunch.
She says they spoke about what her children had been up to and a bit of politics and. She says Don mentioned a relative of his who had throat cancer.
Paterson says the conversation stayed on this topic.
I mentioned I’d had an issue a year or two earlier when I thought I had ovarian cancer.
Then – I’m not proud of this – but I led them to believe that I might be getting some treatment in regards to that in the next few weeks to months.
Patterson says she referred to “upcoming treatment”. She says she was thinking she may need help getting her children to their activities and needed an explanation for why she was going to hospital.
Mandy asks if she misled her guests.
“I did,” she says.
Patterson says they “all showed a lot of compassion about that”.
The guests then noticed Simon’s car pulling into the driveway and Ian suggested praying for Erin. Simon was returning to drop off her son nd his friend, the court hears.
“That’s what we did,” she says as her voice trembles.
Patterson says “I did lie to them.”
She explains her decision:
I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate. I was ashamed of that and embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell anybody. But I shouldn’t have lied to them.
• In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is at 1800 33 4673. In the UK, Beat can be contacted on 0808-801-0677. In the US, help is available at nationaleatingdisorders.org or by calling ANAD’s eating disorders hotline at 800-375-7767. Other international helplines can be found at Eating Disorder Hope
Updated
Mandy asks Patterson about her children’s movements on the day of the lunch.
She says she dropped her kids off at McDonald’s at about 11.45am to 12pm.
Mandy shows the court a photograph of Patterson’s dining room table in her room.
He asks about Patterson’s evidence that Heather and Gail spoke to her at the island bench in the kitchen before the group sat down to eat.
Patterson says “at least one or both” of them offered to help her serve.
She says she did not need any help.
Patetrson says she was preparing the gravy at the stove before she sat at the table.
Updated
Patterson tells court she does not own any grey dinner plates
Patterson says her children were at the movies with a friend during the lunch.
Mandy asks Patterson about the lunch guests’ arrival at 12.30pm.
She says the group went into the garden before returning to the kitchen.
Patterson says she started serving mashed potato, beef wellingtons and beans.
Mandy asks what plates she used.
“Just the dinner plates I had,” she says.
I think there are a couple of black, a couple of white, one that’s red on top and black underneath and then I’ve got one that [my daughter] made at kindergarten.
Mandy asks if she owns any other plates or grey plates. Patterson replies “no” to both questions.
Earlier in the trial, Ian Wilkinson said Patterson served beef wellingtons for her guests on grey plates while she ate from an “orangey-tan” coloured plate.
Patterson says she plated up five beef wellingtons and put the oven tray with the remaining beef wellington in the oven to “worry about later.”
Patterson says at this point Gail asked if she was coming to an upcoming birthday celebration.
Patterson told Gail she would attend, the court hears.
Patterson says she assumed “everybody grabbed a plate”.
She says she accepts Ian’s evidence that Gail and Heather “took two plates each” to the table.
Updated
Patterson tells court she was ‘hurt’ Simon would not attend lunch
Mandy takes Patterson to messages between her and Simon the evening before the lunch. In the message, Simon said he felt uncomfortable about attending the lunch. Patterson said she was “disappointed” Simon would not attend and had spent a “small fortune on beef eye fillet” and had spent “hours” preparing for the lunch.
Paterson says apart from the fact she had spent a “small fortune” she was “exaggerating” in the message.
She says she was “hurt” Simon would not attend.
I was also really anxious and stressed about this upcoming procedure that I was going to have, and I just wanted to know that it would be sorted.
Asked about the “upcoming procedure,” Patterson says she had an upcoming appointment booked for weight-loss surgery.
Mandy asks how many beef wellingtons Patterson made.
“I made six,” she says.
Updated
Erin Patterson says it was ‘a possibility’ foraged mushrooms were in container
Mandy turns to preparations for the meal.
Patterson says she “did a bit on the Friday” including salting the steaks and “Googling tips for how to not stuff it up”.
Patterson says on the day of the lunch she started preparing the mushroom duxelle for the beef wellington at about 9.30am-10am.
“I fried up garlic and chopped shallots,” she says.
She says she emptied “two tubs” of mushrooms from Woolworths into a blender.
“It was a lot,” she says.
I cooked that for a very long time.
You’ve got to get almost all of the water out so it won’t turn your pastry soggy.
She says she tasted it and it tasted “bland”.
I decided to put in the dried mushrooms which I bought from the grocer which I still had in the pantry.
She says she put them in a strainer, poured water over them to remove the “crispness”, chopped them up and “sprinkled over the mushroom duxelle” and pushed them in “with an egg flip, something like that”.
Patterson says she believed the container with the dried mushrooms contained only store-bought mushrooms from a grocer in Melbourne.
“Now I think there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,” she says as her voice breaks.
A visibly emotional Patterson dabs her eyes with a tissue.
Updated
Patterson says if you make a beef wellington as individual steaks you need to use more mushrooms and puff pastry.
“That wasn’t the only change I had to make,” she says.
She says the recipe “called for making a crepe” and bought filo instead.
Patterson says she omitted mustard and prosciutto in the version she made.
She says this was because Don did not eat pork.
Erin Patterson tells court about ‘deviations’ from beef wellington recipe
Mandy asks Patterson about her reasons for hosting the fateful lunch on 29 July 2023.
Patterson says her children had enjoyed seeing their grandparents when she hosted them for lunch in June and wanted to do it again. Earlier, she said she invited them to her Leongatha home in June because she had become worried about “some distance” between her and the Patterson family.
She says at the June lunch Gail remarked that Heather would like to see her garden.
“Heather and Ian had been really good to me over the years. I wanted to have some more connection to them,” she says.
Patterson recalls asking Gail and Heather to come to lunch at church.
“They said they’d love to,” Patterson says as her voice trembles.
Mandy asks why Patterson decided to cook a beef wellington dish.
Patterson says she made a shepherd’s pie when Don and Gail came to her place in June. She says they liked it but it “didn’t seem special enough”.
She says her mother had made beef wellington when she was a child.
“It was in my recipe book. RecipeTin Eats. I think that’s where I found it initially,” she says
She says in the lead-up to the lunch, she bought the “majority” of ingredients from Woolworths in Leongatha. She says she also bought some ingredients at the IGA and Aldi.
Mandy asks if she followed the recipe for beef wellington in the Recipe TinEats cookbook.
She replies “roughly” but says she made some “deviations”.
She said she could not buy a single beef tenderloin so bought individual eye-fillet steaks.
Updated
Patterson agrees text messages about medical appointments 'were lies'
Mandy takes the jury to messages from June 2023 between Patterson and her mother-in-law, Gail.
In the messages, Gail asked Patterson about a medical appointment. Patterson later replied and said she had a needle biopsy conducted.
Patterson says:
I must have told them I was having a medical appointment that day.
I think I just said I was having a problem or a lump on my arm checked out.
Mandy asks if Patterson had a lump on her arm.
“I thought I did at one point,” she replies.
He asks if she had been to a medical appointment.
“No,” replies Patterson.
“Had you had a needle biopsy of the lump?” asks Mandy.
“No,” says Patterson.
Mandy:
Were those lies?
Patterson:
Yes.
He asks why she said that.
She says a few weeks prior she had pain in her arm and thought there was a lump. She says Don and Gail had shown a lot of care in response.
“Which felt really nice,” she says.
The issue started to resolve and I felt a bit embarrassed I had made such a big deal about it. I didn’t want their care of me to stop so I just kept it going.
I shouldn’t have done it.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she was aware poisonous mushrooms growing in Gippsland
Mandy asks Patterson if at some stage she became aware of poisonous mushrooms growing in Gippsland.
“I did,” Patterson says.
She says she also found out there were mushrooms growing on her property that were “probably toxic to dogs”. She says these included inocybe.
She says found out about toxic mushroom species in Gippsland that “shouldn’t be eaten”.
Asked about death caps, Patterson says:
I became aware of death caps quite early in this period.
She says she looked up to see if they grew in south Gippsland and found out “they didn’t”.
Mandy takes his client to previous evidence about the search history found on a computer seized at her house. It showed a webpage on death cap mushrooms sightings had been visited in May 2022.
“Was that you conducting that search?” Mandy says.
I don’t specifically remember doing that day but it’s possible it was me.
It’s possible that’s part of the process I went through to see if they grew in Gippsland.
Mandy asks: “Did you ever forage for mushrooms in Loch?”
“No,” says Patterson.
Mandy asks: “Did you ever forage for mushrooms in Outtrim?”
“No,” replies Patterson.
Patterson says she did not see the posts reporting sightings of death cap mushrooms from mycologist Thomas May in Outtrim and retired pharmacist Christine McKenzie in Loch.
Patterson says she did not.
Updated
Patterson has placed her glasses on as she looks at the photos on the screen in front of her in the witness box.
Mandy asks his client about the photo showing mushrooms on pages of newspapers.
“That was on the bench in my kitchen,” she says.
Patterson says it was taken at her home in Korumburra.
In another photo showing mushrooms laid on a newspaper. Patterson says the person in the background is her daughter.
A reminder that a suppression order prevents either of the Patterson children from being named.
Updated
Erin Patterson says she took photos of mushrooms during first Covid lockdown
Mandy takes Patterson to her prior evidence that from early 2020 she became interested in wild mushrooms.
He shows the court images from an SD card police seized from Patterson’s home in Leongatha.
Some images show mushrooms laid out on pages of a newspaper. Others are closeup shots of mushrooms in the wild.
Mandy asks Patterson if these are images she took.
“Yes, I did,” she says.
Patterson says she took these photos “early in 2020” during the first Covid lockdown.
The jury is also shown stills of videos. Two people are captured in some of the stills. Patterson says they are her children, as her voice begins to crack.
“We were on the rail trail. I believe that was coming out of the Leongatha trailhead,” Patterson says.
Updated
The jury have entered the courtroom in Morwell.
Patterson, dressed in a grey jumper, has returned to the witness box to give evidence for a third day.
Defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC is questioning his client.
Updated
While we wait for today’s proceedings to get under way, here’s a reminder of what the jury heard on Tuesday:
1. Erin Patterson said she accepted the beef wellington she served her lunch guests on 29 July 2023 contained death cap mushrooms.
2. Patterson said she developed an interest in wild mushrooms during Covid walks in early 2020 when she noticed them in the Korumburra Botanic Gardens.
3. The accused said she wished she had never messaged her online friends in a private Facebook group chat “this family I swear to fucking god” in relation to her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson. She told the court she felt “ashamed” for saying it.
4. Patterson told the court she had not been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She said she was worried about potentially having ovarian cancer and described her history of consulting Google to research her symptoms.
5. Patterson detailed her daughter’s health history, including being diagnosed with an ovarian mass as a baby in 2014. She says from her daughter’s birth, when she cried a lot, she believed something was wrong but doctors told her she was an overly anxious mother. Patterson said she eventually lost faith in the medical system.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to day 26 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial.
Patterson, who began testifying on Monday, is expected to continue giving evidence this morning.
We’re expecting the trial to resume from 10.30am once the jurors enter the courtroom in Morwell.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
She is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The attempted murder charge relates to Heather’s husband, Ian.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
Updated
