The latest developments in Australia's high-profile Australian court case Erin Patterson are the murders of her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and her ex-husband's aunt Heather Wilkinson and videotapes of her ex-husband's uncle Ian Wilkinson's attempt to murder her daughter.
On the eighth day of the murder trial, the video was recorded on August 16, 2023, showing her daughter a meal her mother made on July 29 of the same year.
Patterson, 50, pleaded not guilty and her legal team said she was “panicked” after accidentally providing poison to her family in a “terrible accident.”
Her daughter has not been named yet, and she told police she ate leftovers of the leftover beef Wellington rice, with her mother and brother mashed potatoes and mung beans the day after her mother gave her to her ex-in-law and the Wilkinsons’ family.
Patterson's daughter said her mother said she fell ill on the morning of July 30 the next day after lunch.
Later that night, Patterson provided her children and herself with “leftovers” from the meal, including mashed potatoes, mung beans and steak – but without mushrooms.
When the officer asked Patterson's daughter to tell him everything she remembered when her mother presided over the lunch, she said, “I'm not there, so I don't know.”
“She wants to have lunch with my grandparents, Heather and Ian,” she told the officer, and they will talk about “adult stuff.”
On the sixth day of the trial, Ian Wilkinson told the court on May 6 that Patterson told guests that she had cancer. “She said she was very worried because she thought it was very serious and life-threatening,” he said. “She wanted to tell the kids. She was asking us for advice. ' Should I tell the kids or not tell the kids about the threat to my life?'''
The court also heard Cindy Munro, a nurse on duty at Leongatha Hospital on July 31, 2023, hear that they were very ill and they were sick, vomiting and diarrhea the same night of lunch.
Munro said Patterson “looks uncomfortable” compared to her two lunch guests. She told the court that Patterson was angry and emotional about the hospital treatment and repeated: “I don't want anything.”
The nurse said that only her observations were her, Patterson didn’t look as ill as the Wilkinsons, who were transferred to a large hospital in Melbourne.
“She doesn’t look as uncomfortable as Heather and Ian,” Munro said. “Ian looked very uncomfortable and he could hardly raise his head. [Patterson] It's not uncomfortable for me. ”
Munro also told the court that she learned that Patterson's children had eaten the deadly meal but the mushrooms were scraped off.
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She said she told Patterson that the death cap mushroom toxin could “seep into the meat” and advised her children to seek medical care immediately.
“She doesn't want to cause any trouble, she doesn't want to take them out of school,” Munro said of Patterson's response. “That's when she becomes very crying and very worried… saying 'I don't want the kids to be involved.'”
Throughout the trial, the jury heard details about the lunch, and there was no doubt that the Wellington beef, mashed potatoes and mung beans contained death cap mushrooms, which were extremely fatal when ingested and caused serious illness to guests.
The judge told the jury that the main issue in the case was whether Patterson planned to kill or cause serious harm to the meal she prepared.
Wilkinson had previously told the court that Patterson had plated with “all the food” and seemed to “guntly” get her lunch guests into the pantry, according to the BBC.
Heather Wilkinson (left) and Ian Wilkinson (right) attended lunch with a relative, resulting in Heather's death and let Ian fight for his life. Police believe they were poisoned by the death cap mushroom.
Savior Australia – Museum/Facebook
“Everyone has a personal serving, just like a pastry,” Wilkinson said. “It's a pastry case and when we cut into it, there's steak and mushrooms.”
They all ate from four gray plates, he said, and Patterson ate from “orange tan” plates.
He told the court: “Irene picked up the strange plate and brought it to the table. She brought it to the table.”
Wilkinson also said his wife told him the next day that she “noted the color difference in the plate.”
He said he and his wife “had a whole meal” while he had another half of the beef and Gale had not finished.
“Someone talks about husband helping his wife,” he said.
Patterson's ex-husband Simon Patterson turned down the lunch invitation. Last week, Judge Christopher Beale told jurors that prosecutors filed separate charges against Patterson, accusing she also attempted to murder her estranged husband with a poisonous mushroom, also known as a death cap mushroom.
Death cap mushrooms are found in many forests in British Columbia but can also be found in urban settings related to many imported tree species. According to the British Columbia Centers for Disease Control, mushrooms were found in Vancouver Island and in the Lower Land.
Death cap mushrooms look similar to regular bubble mushrooms, but should never be eaten. If you suspect you may have consumed Death Cap mushrooms, you should seek emergency medical services immediately.
Symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning include hypotension, nausea and vomiting.
Patterson's trial is expected to last six weeks. If she is found guilty, she will sentence the maximum sentence for murder to life imprisonment and may be up to 25 years behind attempted murder.
– Documents with Michelle Butterfield of Global News
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
