Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC: ‘Are you making this up as you go along, Ms Patterson?’
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson has denied claims put to her by the Crown and insisted lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson, her estranged husband Simon Patterson and her son were “mistaken” in their recollections.
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A Melbourne clinic that Erin Patterson claims she was planning to attend to explore gastric bypass surgery offers “cosmetic dermatology” and does not perform the weight-loss procedure, a lead prosecutor says.
The accused triple murderer took to the witness box on Tuesday for the sixth day and continued to deny claims put to her Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC under cross-examination.
Dr Rogers took Ms Patterson to the evidence of almost a dozen witnesses, with the mother of two telling a Supreme Court jury her estranged husband Simon Patterson, her son, a nurse and lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson were “mistaken” in their recollections.
At one stage, when questioned about Simon’s evidence, Dr Rogers asked: “Are you making this up as you go along, Ms Patterson?”
The accusation was met with an emphatic denial.
Ms Patterson is standing trial in Morwell, accused of murdering Simon’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
The prosecution alleges she served them individual beef wellingtons she had deliberately laced with death caps at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Heather’s husband, Ian, 71, was the only guest to survive.
Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, claiming she may have accidentally added foraged mushrooms into the meal with dried mushrooms she purchased from an Asian grocer.
During her evidence last week, Ms Patterson told the court she had a pre-surgery appointment at the ENRICH Clinic in Melbourne on September 13, 2023, to explore gastric bypass surgery.
She admitted she misled her guests at the lunch about potentially needing treatment for cancer to hide the fact she was planning to have the weight-loss surgery.
But within minutes of Tuesday’s cross-examination getting underway, Dr Rogers attempted to cast doubt on this claim.
She asked Ms Patterson whether she agreed that the clinic offers services in cosmetic dermatology and does not offer gastric bypass surgery.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
She then told the court she was “puzzled” because she remembered the appointment being for gastric bypass or at least a weight-loss surgery, since she was also “looking into liposuction”.
The court heard the appointment was cancelled on September 11.
Dr Rogers then took her to the description of the plates given by Ian, who testified that the guests ate off grey plates, while she ate off a smaller, “orangey-tan” plate.
But Ms Patterson rejected his account.
Dr Rogers asked: “Do you say that Ian Wilkinson has given incorrect evidence around the issue of the plates?”
She replied: “Yes, I do.”
Dr Rogers suggested that to “avoid any error” she took the extra precaution of using a different and smaller plate for her “non-poisoned serve”, but she denied this accusation.
“I don’t have a matching set of plates, so it’s possible mine was different to Heather’s … to Don’s,” she said.
“I don’t have five plates the same, so somebody would have had different plates.”
Dr Rogers then asked her about the events after the lunch, particularly her claim that she made herself vomit after she ate two-thirds of a cake leftover from the lunch.
Ms Patterson told the jury last week she has struggled with binge eating and bulimia for most of her life.
Dr Rogers asked: “Is it your evidence that the vomit was partially constituted by the beef wellington?”
She replied: “I have no idea what was in the vomit.”
Dr Rogers replied: “At all?”
She replied: “How could I? It’s vomit.”
Ms Patterson agreed that she did not tell any of the doctors or nurses she vomited, but denied that she was lying to try to account for why she did not fall seriously ill.
“I wish that was true, but it’s not,” she said.
Ms Patterson was also asked about Simon’s recollection that she told him she was worried she would “poo” her pants when driving their son’s friend home on the night of the lunch.
“I did not tell him I was afraid I’d poo my pants, no,” she replied.
Dr Rogers then asked Ms Patterson about the days after the lunch, taking her to the evidence of her son who said she was drinking coffee on the morning of July 30.
Dr Rogers replied: “Are you saying that (your son) is mistaken?”
She replied: “He is mistaken.”
The court heard Ms Patterson presented at Leongatha Hospital at 8.05am on July 31, with Dr Rogers pointing her to the evidence of nurse Kylie Ashton who testified that she told Ms Patterson her life was “at risk” due to suspected death cap mushroom poisoning.
“She did not say that,” Ms Patterson said.
Ms Patterson confirmed she discharged herself against medical advice about 8.10am, but disagreed that she “panicked and absconded” because she realised her use of death cap mushrooms in the meal had been “uncovered”.
She told the court she went home where she packed her daughter’s ballet bag, tended to her animals and lied down.
Dr Rogers suggested lying down would be the “last thing” a person would do in these circumstances.
“It might be the last thing you’d do, but it was something I did,” she replied.
She also denied the suggestion that she was “thinking about ways to cover her tracks”.
“I’m sure I did some thinking in that time, but it was not about covering my tracks,” she told the court.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
Originally published as Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC: ‘Are you making this up as you go along, Ms Patterson?’
Erin’s medical records make no mention of gastric bypass surgery
Erin Patterson told the jury she had “made preparations” to have the weight loss surgery, but under cross-examination she conceded the clinic she had an appointment at didn’t offer it – and medical records show she never sought a referral for the procedure.
‘Are you making this up as you go?’: Crown tries to catch Erin in a lie
Erin Patterson has undergone another intense day of cross-examination in her murder trial, with the Crown prosecutor accusing her of feigning her illness.