Erin Patterson concocted cancer diagnosis to ensure children missed fatal mushroom lunch, murder trial hears
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 South Gippsland in 2023
Erin Patterson panicked and lied to police about having never foraged for mushrooms or owning a food hydrator because she was overwhelmed that her lunch guests died after eating food she had cooked, her lawyer has told a Victorian court.
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 South Gippsland in 2023.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.
She is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.
Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, told the court on Wednesday during his opening submission that it was also not in dispute that Patterson had never been diagnosed with cancer.
The court previously heard Patterson told her lunch guests she had ovarian cancer.
But Mandy said an issue in the trial would be how Patterson acted after her lunch guests fell ill, and whether that was reasonable in the circumstances, especially given the “extreme” public health, media, and police scrutiny.
“Three people died because of the food Erin Patterson served that day,” Mandy said.
“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.”
Patterson, who cried a number of times during Wednesday’s hearing, again became emotional when Mandy started speaking about her relationship with her children, and their closeness to the grandparents who died after eating the lunch.
Mandy said it was not in issue that death cap mushrooms caused the deaths; rather, the main issue was that Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to 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.
Mandy said that Patterson had also become sick from eating the same meal as her other guests, but was not as unwell.
He said she lied to police about never foraging mushrooms, but denied ever having deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.
The court earlier heard that the prosecution will allege Patterson’s phone records suggest that she twice visited areas where death cap mushrooms had been reportedly discovered.
Her visits corresponded with public posts on the iNaturalist website, which contained images of the mushrooms and information about their respective locations in the towns of Loch and Outtrim.
Mandy also said Patterson lied about the dehydrator.
Nanette Rogers SC, the prosecutor, said in her opening submissions that Patterson told police she had never owned a food dehydrator nor dehydrated food, but then said she may have owned one years ago.
She had, in fact, been sharing photos of the dehydrator and her habit of using it to dehydrate mushrooms with Facebook friends she met on a group dedicated to discussing the case of convicted baby killer Keli Lane.
CCTV footage later showed her dumping a dehydrator at a local tip. Forensic analysis later revealed it had her fingerprints on it and contained traces of death cap mushrooms.
The disposal of the dehydrator had been done to conceal her actions, Rogers said.
Rogers also said that police never recovered a phone used by Patterson at the time of the deadly mushroom lunch, and another phone seized during their investigation was subject to a “remote factory reset” while they were searching her house.
Rogers said Patterson concocted the story regarding medical issues and her cancer to ensure the children were not present for the lunch.
Simon was also invited to the lunch at Leongatha on 29 July 2023.
Patterson served individual beef wellingtons to her lunch guests, three of whom died from death cap mushroom poisoning, the court has heard.
Rogers said the prosecution also alleged that Patterson had not eaten the same lunch as her guests, but pretended she had the same type of illness to cover this up, had not fed the leftovers to her children and lied about where she had sourced the mushrooms.
The prosecution “will not be suggesting there was not a particular motive” for the alleged murders and attempted murder, Rogers said.
“You might be wondering, now, ‘why would the accused do this, what is the motive?’
“You might still be wondering this at the end of the trial.
“But motive is not something that has to be proven by the prosecution … you do not have to be satisfied what the motive was, or even if there was one.”
Rogers said in her opening submissions in the case that Patterson had invited Simon and his relatives to her house to discuss “medical issues” she had, and how to break the news to her and Simon’s two children.
She invited the group to her lunch during a service at the Korumburra baptist church, where Ian was the pastor, on 16 July 2023.
The night before the lunch, Simon texted Patterson that he “felt uncomfortable” attending, but that he would be happy to discuss her health with her another time.
Rogers said Patterson responded five minutes later saying she was disappointed, and emphasising the effort she had put into the lunch, which was a “special meal” of the kind she may not be able to have for “some time”.
The Wilkinsons had been puzzled about the lunch invite, Rogers said, as they had never visited Patterson’s home before.
When they arrived, they were shown around the property, before being taken into the dining area.
Rogers showed a photo of the dining table, which had six seats and ran parallel to a kitchen island bench, to the jury during her opening.
Patterson served individual beef wellingtons, consisting of a piece of steak covered in mushrooms and encased in pastry, with mashed potato and green beans on four large grey plates to her guests.
Her meal was served on a smaller, lighter-coloured plate, Rogers said.
They said grace and started the meal. The Wilkinsons ate their meal, with Gail finishing half of hers and Don eating all his and the rest of Gail’s, Rogers said.
After the meal, Patterson announced she had cancer, and asked whether she should tell the children. Patterson had earlier discussed with Gail that she had a biopsy and other tests taken regarding a lump she had found on her elbow.
The group agreed she should be honest with them and they prayed together about Patterson telling the children, Rogers said.
All the lunch guests started to fall unwell about 11 or 12 hours later, Rogers said, before being transferred to local hospitals and then to intensive care at hospitals in Melbourne.
Rogers said Patterson had an amicable relationship with her husband, despite their 2015 separation, until November 2022. Simon had maintained hope that the couple would reconcile, Rogers said.
She said at that time Patterson asked why Simon had referred to himself as “separated” on his tax return and although he said he was willing to amend it she said she would instead be seeking child support payments.
About four weeks before the beef wellington lunch, Patterson invited Simon and his parents, Don and Gail, to lunch.
Simon texted to say he could not come, and the meal passed without incident.
After the subsequent beef wellington lunch, when all the guests became increasingly unwell, medical experts eventually came to the conclusion the symptoms were in line with death cap mushroom poisoning, Rogers said.
Patterson also went to Leongatha hospital, saying she was suffering diarrhoea.
Rogers said Patterson was asked on multiple occasions by medical professionals and others, including Don and Gail’s son Matthew, where the mushrooms for the meal had been sourced. She said half were fresh from Woolworths and the other half were dried mushrooms bought from an Asian grocer in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.
She further specified in these conversations that she had bought a 500g pack of pre-sliced fresh mushrooms from Woolworths and that the dried mushrooms had been removed from their packaging and placed in a plastic container after they were bought in April 2023.
Patterson said she made a paste with these mushrooms for the meal, and that she had used all the dried mushrooms and not cooked with them previously, Rogers said.
Rogers said Patterson initially resisted treatment at Leongatha hospital and signed a “discharge against medical advice form” before leaving. The jury was shown a still from CCTV footage of Patterson leaving the hospital.
Rogers said a doctor at the hospital, Dr Christopher Webster, was so concerned she had left that he called the police, asking if they could attend her house to force her to return.
Patterson returned about 45 minutes later.
Patterson told Webster her children, aged 9 and 14, had eaten the leftovers, but that she had scraped the mushroom off. When he insisted they be taken from school and assessed, she became upset, Rogers said.
Patterson asked Webster “is this really necessary, they don’t have symptoms, they didn’t eat the mushrooms, I don’t want them to be scared or panicked”, to which Webster replied: “They can be scared and alive, or dead”.
Soon after, Rogers said, the police who had been called by Webster to check on Patterson arrived at her house.
One officer spoke to Patterson via mobile phone, and she directed him to where he could find the leftovers of the meal, in a brown Woolworths bag in an outside bin.
Beale said in his instructions to the jury on Tuesday that Patterson was no longer accused of attempting to murder her estranged husband.
The trial in Morwell continues.