Prosecutors have claimed alleged triple murderer Erin Patterson told a series of lies before and after the fatal lunch at her home in Leongatha as the trial in regional Victoria continues.
The 50-year-old mother, who has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges and one of attempted murder, faced the first full day of her jury trial on Wednesday.
The charges relate to a lunch at her house in South Gippsland in July 2023 where she served a meal of beef wellingtons, consisting of steak covered in a paste containing death cap mushrooms, wrapped in pastry. She has said she did not intend to poison her guests.
Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband Simon, fell ill and never recovered after the meal. Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson also died. Her husband Ian Wilkinson was hospitalised and later recovered.
Among the false claims, according to prosecutors, was that she had cancer, lied to police about disposing of a dehydrator and that she did not go foraging for mushrooms ahead of the poisonous lunch in July 2023. Prosecutors also alleged she feigned illness after eating her portion of the lunch.
On Wednesday, the court heard Patterson had told her lunch guests she had organised the meal to discuss her ovarian cancer diagnosis. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC told the jury Patterson concocted the story regarding medical issues and her cancer to ensure the children were not present for the lunch, as reported by The Guardian.
“There is not sufficient evidence … to support the assertion that the accused was diagnosed with cancer,” Rogers said.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC said at the hearing Patterson accepted some of the claims she lied, but denied she had not told the truth about becoming sick after the lunch.
He claimed she told some lies because she had “panicked” after her guests became ill from her cooking, amid intense police, health official and media scrutiny.
According to Mandy, an issue in the trial would be whether Patterson’s actions, after her lunch guests became unwell, were reasonable, especially given the scrutiny.
“Three people died because of the food Erin Patterson served that day,” Mandy said, as reported by The Guardian.
“How did she feel [about that] … and how might that have impacted on the way she behaved?
“Is it possible that people might do and say things that are not well thought out, and might in the end make them look bad … is it possible a person might lie when they find out people are gravely ill because of food they served up.”
He told the 15 jurors Patterson had no intention to kill or cause “any harm” to any of her guests.
“She did not intend to cause any harm to anyone on that day. The defence case is this was a tragedy and terrible accident,” Mandy said.
He said Patterson had also become sick from eating the same meal as her other guests, but was not as unwell.
On the topic of the mushrooms, the defense barrister told the jury Patterson lied to police about never foraging them, but denied ever having deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.
The court also heard that prosecutors plan to allege Patterson’s phone records show she visited two locations where death cap mushrooms had reportedly been found. The timing of those visits is said to match public posts on the iNaturalist website, which included photos and location details of the mushrooms in the towns of Loch and Outtrim, as reported by The Guardian.
On Wednesday, Prosecutor Rogers told the court Wilkinson recounted the meals were served on differently plates to Patterson’s own plate. While the individual beef wellingtons were served on four large grey plates to guests, Patterson’s meal was served on a smaller, lighter coloured plate.
The prosecutor told the court Wilkinson later reflected on this fact after falling ill, per ABC News.
“Yeah I noticed Erin put her food on a different plate to us. Her plate had different colours on it. I wondered why it was,” the court heard Wilkinson is alleged to have said.
The first witness in the trial is expected to be called at the Latrobe Valley Courts in Morwell on Thursday morning as the trial continues.
With input from the AAP.
Lead image: AAP
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