Erin Patterson trial latest updates: ‘She ate the same as us,’ daughter of accused says of mushroom meal leftovers

Welcome to our coverage of day eight of the Supreme Court trial of Erin Patterson in Morwell.

Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Her father-in-law, Don Patterson, mother-in-law Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died after eating a fatal lunch of beef Wellington at her home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023. Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, survived after months in hospital.

Alleged killer Erin Patterson.Credit: Jason South

Our rolling coverage of Thursday’s court proceedings has now finished for the day. The trial is expected to continue on Friday.

Daughter tells of events of June 29, 2023, in video played to court

The primary school-aged daughter of murder accused Erin Patterson says her mother dropped her and her brother in town while she hosted the fatal mushroom lunch, telling them she wanted to have an adult conversation with other family members.

A video recording of the girl’s evidence was played to the Supreme Court jury trial late on Thursday afternoon. She was seen sitting on a blue chair speaking with a male who asked her questions.

The girl sat with her arms crossed for much of the interview, later crossing her legs and blowing her nose. She was asked to recount what she could remember about the key weekend in July 2023.

“You understand it’s important to tell me only what happened,” the policeman said to the child.

The girl responded “yes”. While she wasn’t sure why she was being questioned, she said she believed it was about the lunch at her home.

The girl said she believed that the day before, July 28, 2023, her mother had told her she wanted to have the children’s grandparents Don and Gail Patterson over for lunch alongside their great aunt and uncle, Ian and Heather Wilkinson.

Left to right: Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died after ingesting poisonous mushrooms. Ian Wilkinson survived after spending months in hospital.

Crying in the dock as the video was played to the court, Erin Patterson watched via a television screen placed near her seat.

In the video, her daughter recalled that she and her brother, and her brother’s friend, were dropped at a McDonald’s restaurant and later went to see a film while in Leongatha while Erin Patterson hosted the lunch on July 29, 2023.

“She said that she was going to have the lunch at the dining table. She was going to talk to ... she said that she wanted to talk to them at adults’ time,” the child said. “I don’t exactly know what they had but I know [her brother] and me had some of the leftovers on the next day.”

The child recalled her mother making coffee the morning of the lunch, and telling her at the time that she and her brother would be going to the movies. The girl said she remembered seeing during that conversation with her mother meat cooking in the oven, where a light was on.

In the video, the girl said she also knew her parents were not living together but that they were still married. She said she was later dropped at McDonald’s with enough time to eat and play in the playground, before she and her brother and his friend walked to the nearby cinema to watch the film Elemental.

“Dad picked me up,” the girl said.

She said her brother was dropped home after the movies, but that she stayed with their father until 9pm.

Once at home, she said, she played on a tablet with her mother, then went to bed.

In the dock, Erin Patterson was seen nodding as the child recalled that her mother later started to feel sick.

Erin Patterson.Credit: Jason South

“She just needed to go to the toilet a lot and felt sick in the guts,” the child said. “She said that she had diarrhoea ... and her tummy was sore.”

The daughter said the family stayed home the next day, July 30, played Monopoly and did not go to church because her mother was feeling too sick.

They then ate leftovers from the lunch – steak, green beans and mashed potatoes – which the child said her mother also ate. “She ate the same as us. She wasn’t very hungry so she did not eat that much, so [my brother] ate the rest of hers,” the girl said.

She said her mother had still been using the toilet a lot before they all went to bed.

Her evidence is expected to continue on Friday.

Patterson struggled to recall where she bought mushrooms: toxicologist

Doctor Conor McDermott was working as a toxicology registrar at the Austin Hospital on July 31, 2023, when he was told a fifth patient had been identified in a potential series of mushroom toxicity cases.

That patient, he told the jury on Thursday, was Erin Patterson.

“When the call came through it wasn’t unexpected,” he said.

“I asked for the status of the patient. Observations, clinical presentation. Any investigations performed. I was told the patient was stable. Looked well.

“I was told she had complained about diarrhoea, which is what the other patients had complained of.”

McDermott said the patient’s potassium levels were slightly low and her pH slightly high, but all other results were within normal ranges.

The doctor said he initially thought there may have been a wider public health issue occurring with the mushrooms possibly being sold at a commercial level, so he sought information from Erin Patterson over the phone about the lunch.

“She said that they had been ... button mushrooms in ... packaging from Leongatha Safeway,” McDermott said.

“I also clarified that she had been to a Chinese food store in Oakleigh,” he said.

“I was told they were unbranded.”

McDermott said he went on to do a Google search for Chinese food stores in the Oakleigh area and offered to read the names out to Patterson in an attempt to track down the seller.

“She said she would not be able to remember,” McDermott said. “She said because they were bought several months ago in April.”

While under cross-examination, the doctor agreed with defence barrister Sophie Stafford that Erin Patterson may have said the possible purchase location was both Oakleigh and Glen Waverley.

Tanya Patterson leaves the court after giving evidence on Thursday.Credit: Jason South

Sister-in-law told Erin Patterson that ‘things were going downhill quickly’

Tanya Patterson, wife of Don and Gail Patterson’s son Matthew Patterson, sat in the witness box dressed in a sage green jumper on Thursday afternoon, telling the court that she knew Erin Patterson and her husband Simon Patterson – Matthew’s brother – had a quite good relationship after their final separation.

But in the year leading up to the July 2023 beef Wellington lunch she noticed things began to change, Tanya told the court.

“It started to deteriorate a bit,” she said of the relationship between Erin and Simon after they had separated.

“Erin and Simon did not really interact that much at family events. Simon did not go to their Christmas holiday that they normally had and also, Erin had taken the kids out of school and [enrolled them] into a different school without telling Simon.”

Tanya said she went to visit Erin in Monash Medical Centre, where she was receiving treatment in the days after the fatal beef Wellington lunch.

“I asked if she’d like me to visit her on the Tuesday. She said that would be lovely, she wasn’t sure she’d still be in there but if she was she’d like me to come visit. She said that she was feeling nauseous, dizzy and tired,” the witness said.

“I got there about 9.30am. To begin with, Erin asked me how everyone was. I said things were going downhill quickly but that I did not have the latest information.

“She told me she knew Don and Gail were in a coma.”

Soon after, Tanya said, medical staff who she believed were toxicologists came into Erin’s hospital room.

Tanya recalled Erin asking about her low potassium levels, and the medical staff telling her the levels were fine and not as low as they would have expected for someone who was experiencing diarrhoea.

During cross-examination, Tanya said she was first introduced to Erin when Erin began dating Simon in 2005.

She agreed the two couples maintained contact over the years, even when Erin and Simon moved to Western Australia for some time.

Tanya also agreed that her immediate family had always had a good relationship with the accused woman, who she saw as a doting, attentive mother.

Police officer attended Erin Patterson’s home after welfare check request

Senior Constable Adrian Martinez-Villalobos said he was working out of Mirboo North Police Station on July 31, 2023, when he was paged to a job in nearby Leongatha.

He told the court a doctor from Leongatha Hospital had called police requesting a welfare check on Patterson, who had attended the hospital that day but left soon after.

Senior Constable Adrian Martinez-Villalobos outside court.Credit: Jason South

Arriving at her Gibson Road home about 10am with his colleague, Martinez-Villalobos said the gate was locked and there were no signs of anyone being at home.

He returned to the police car and called the hospital back, when he learned that Patterson had since returned to the urgent care centre.

Martinez-Villalobos said the doctor on the phone, Christopher Webster, then asked him if he could find any leftovers from the beef Wellington meal at the house.

“[Webster] told me she’d returned to the hospital, but while we are at the address he asked if we could do him a favour and collect samples of some tainted food to help them analyse it,” the officer said.

Martinez-Villalobos said a phone was then passed to Patterson, who told the officers where to look for the leftovers.

Dr Chris Webster outside court on Wednesday.Credit: Jason South

“She gave me two possible options. An outside bin – a red lid bin – then another indoor option,” he told the jury.

“With that information and the gate code we’ve driven up into the driveway … I’ve gone in double-gloved.

“I searched through food items. She’d given me some pretty specific directions … which bin they may be in.”

The officer said he found the leftovers at the bottom of one of the outdoor bins Patterson had suggested, in “a brown paper Woolworths bag”. There were about 1½ beef Wellingtons inside.

“I used another one of the bags, they were in the bin as well, and put the bag with the food into that bag because it was seeping a bit from the bottom.”

Martinez-Villalobos said Patterson was co-operative throughout the call. He then took the bagged leftovers to the hospital, arriving about 10.19am, and handed them to staff.

‘We really needed to assess her’: Patterson left against medical advice

The second witness called on Thursday, Leongatha Hospital nurse Kylie Ashton, told the jury she recalled Patterson first arriving at hospital about 8.05am on July 31. This was around the same time the Wilkinsons were being transferred out, she said.

Ashton took Patterson’s vital signs, but said the accused was adamant she couldn’t stay there and left – against medical advice – about five minutes later.

“Erin advised she was the person who cooked the meal … and that her children weren’t present on the day, but her children had consumed leftovers with … the mushrooms scraped off,” Ashton said.

Witness Kylie Ashton outside court.Credit: Jason South

“Everyone else was severely unwell, so we needed to make sure she was well.

“I did tell her the other attendees … were unwell and required transferring out.”

Ashton recalled Patterson saying she was not prepared to be admitted to hospital, before agreeing to return later and leaving through the ambulance bay.

“She said she hadn’t come prepared to be admitted [and] needed to go sort out her children. I implored her to stay and suggested we really needed to assess her,” Ashton said. “She said she needed to leave.”

Ashton said she told Patterson her “life was at risk”, attempting to communicate that information as seriously as she could. She was there when Patterson returned around 10am.

Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned by a mushroom meal.

‘She appeared upset’: Accused didn’t want to stay at hospital, asked after lunch guests

The first witness on Thursday, a doctor working at Leongatha Hospital when Patterson arrived seeking treatment for suspected gastro symptoms, says the accused killer asked after her lunch guests who had been hospitalised.

Dr Veronica Foote was the director of nursing when Patterson attended urgent care about 8.10am on July 31, the day after her guests had been hospitalised at two regional hospitals.

The jury heard that nurse Kylie Ashton told Patterson to go into a cubicle to be assessed, but that Patterson wanted to leave the hospital.

Dr Veronica Foote.Credit: Jason South

Foote said Ashton had asked her to speak to the patient as she stood near the hospital entrance.

The jury heard that Patterson told Foote she wasn’t able to stay and needed to go home to make some preparations for her children and animals, and that she would return to the hospital.

At 10.30am, the witness said, Patterson returned.

While under cross-examination from defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, Foote said Patterson told staff she was feeling unwell. Her vital signs indicated a high heart rate and blood pressure.

Foote said during a physical examination, the accused said she had generalised abdominal pain and diarrhoea, but no vomiting.

“She told me that she’d eaten the same meal as the other guests on the Saturday for lunch, and I asked her where she sourced the mushrooms. She said she sourced them from Safeway and also an Asian grocer,” Foote told the court.

“She appeared upset.”

Foote said it appeared Patterson had a gastro-type illness and was told by staff that her children should also be taken to hospital for assessment.

When Patterson told staff she wanted to take her children herself, Foote said she warned her against it, telling her she could be a risk to herself and other road users if she became increasingly unwell.

Erin and Simon Patterson.

Foote said Patterson then spoke with her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, to arrange for the children to be collected from school.

Foote confirmed that during her time with Patterson, they discussed potential treatments including IV fluids, a liver-preserving drug and antibiotics, as well as the possibility of being transferred to a Melbourne hospital.

The doctor confirmed the worst-case situation could be a liver transplant, if required.

Mandy queried whether Patterson had asked about the condition of her lunch guests – Gail and Don Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson – who had also been admitted to hospital.

“She asked you about the state of the other patients?” Mandy asked Foote.

“She did. I responded that I wasn’t able to give her information about other patients due to patient confidentiality,” Foote replied.

Foote told the jury that Patterson had reported having eaten the same meal as her lunch guests on July 29, and said she had suffered diarrhoea since that night.

The trial continues.

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