Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old woman accused of murdering three people and attempting to murder another, will again take the stand as a defence witness in her trial at the Supreme Court in regional Victoria. For the past two days, she has been providing evidence, recently admitting to the jury that the beef Wellingtons she served contained toxic death cap mushrooms.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from a July 2023 lunch where she hosted her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. Tragically, all three individuals died in hospital shortly after consuming the meal, while Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, is the sole survivor. He has been present in court during the trial.
During her testimony, Patterson disclosed that she began foraging for wild mushrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that she had harvested them from various locations, including the Korumburra Botanic Gardens and her properties in Korumburra and Leongatha. She expressed that she started cooking and consuming wild mushrooms a few years before the lunch, claiming, “They tasted good and I didn’t get sick.”
When questioned by her defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, Patterson acknowledged the presence of death cap mushrooms in the dish served to her family. As she elaborated on her mushroom foraging practices, she shared that she had even purchased a food dehydrator to preserve her wild mushroom harvests, aiming to enjoy them longer despite their short growing season.
Patterson described her experimentation with drying mushrooms, mentioning that some, after being dehydrated whole, retained a mushy texture which made her question her technique. She explained that she would mix dehydrated mushrooms bought from Woolworths with her wild foraged ones, storing them in containers in her pantry.
As the trial continues, Patterson maintains that the poisonings were accidental and not a deliberate act. She is set to return to the witness box for a third consecutive day, further detailing her experiences with foraging and cooking mushrooms as her defence unfolds.