Erin Patterson trial: Lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson gives evidence in case of alleged mushroom murders
The sole surviving guest of a deadly mushroom lunch has detailed how the group prayed for Erin Patterson after she gave them a shock health update.
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Lunch attendees at Erin Patterson’s house prayed for the mother-of-two after she allegedly revealed a “life-threatening” cancer diagnosis.
New details on the deadly meal with Ms Patterson’s in-laws were aired in court as lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson was called to give evidence.
Mr Wilkinson told the jury after the five people present finished their plates, Ms Patterson asked for their advice to how to break the diagnosis to her children.
But prosecutors at the start of the trial told the jury they would be alleging Ms Patterson had not been diagnosed with cancer and her claim was “deliberately false”.
“It is the prosecution case that the accused used the false claim that she had serious medical issues to ensure and to explain why the children would not be present at the lunch on 29 July,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said.
Mr Wilkinson said Ms Patterson announced she wanted advice on a “very serious, life-threatening” cancer diagnosis.
“She was anxious about telling the kids she was asking our advice about that; ‘should I tell the kids, should I not tell the kids about the threat to my life?’” he said.
Mr Wilkinson said Ms Patterson told the lunch guests about a diagnostics test that had shown a spot on a scan — with him believing it was either ovarian or cervical cancer.
The Baptist church pastor said Don Patterson said it would be “best to be honest with the kids”, with the rest agreeing.
He said he believed the conversation was quite short, cut off after Ms Patterson’s son arrived home.
The group prayed for Ms Patterson’s health and wisdom to tell the children, Mr Wilkinson said.
“I suggested that we pray and I prayed a prayer asking God’s blessing on Erin, that she would get the treatment that she needed, that the kids would be okay, that she’d have wisdom in how she told the kids,” he said.
Under cross-examination from Ms Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy SC, Mr Wilkinson was taken to his first police statement which read “Erin announced that she had a suspected cancer”.
Questioned on if it was possible Ms Patterson had said she suspected cancer, Mr Wilkinson denied this.
“No Erin was fairly clear the diagnosis was given,” he said.
“I think I was probably understating things at that point.”
Ms Patterson, 50, is facing trial in the Latrobe Valley accused of murdering three of Simon Patterson’s family members and attempting to murder Mr Wilkinson.
His wife, Heather, died in hospital in the week after Ms Patterson served a beef Wellington lunch allegedly spiked with death cap mushrooms.
She has pleaded not guilty, instead arguing the mushroom poisonings were not deliberate and a tragic accident.
Medical staff detail when mushroom poisoning first suspected
The trial has turned to the medical help given to Don and Gail Patterson after they called an ambulance to their Korumburra home the morning after the lunch.
Royal Flying Doctor Service patient transport officer Cindy Hyde told the jury she arrived at the Patterson’s home about 9.15am and transported them to the local hospital. “They have had vomiting and diarrhoea from about 12am for about 8 hours,” she said their notes indicated.
Ms Hyde said each had self-administrated anti-nausea medication but Don appeared “more symptomatic”.
Korumburra Hospital registered nurse Lisa Shannon said she met the pair about 10.10am, with initial tests showing the pair were within normal limits.
“Don was considerably sicker than Gail on arrival,” she said.
“I was literally taking Don to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so.”
Ms Hyde said when it became apparent Don was getting sicker, an on-call doctor arranged “immediate transfer” to Dandenong Hospital.
Dr Beth Morgan told the jury she met the pair about 10pm on Sunday, July 30, at Dandenong Hospital.
In the hospital, she said, tests found he had severe metabolic acidosis.
“This was a very very high lactate... elevated lactate is likely to be caused by tissue hypoxia or organ damage,” Dr Morgan said.
“I was quite concerned there was evidence of liver damage at this time.”
Dr Morgan confirmed staff at the hospital initially noted down it was believed Don’s illness was “most likely due to food poisoning”.
But, she said, after his conditions worsened despite treatment, she contacted the hospital’s toxicologist, Dr Mark Douglas, who suggested amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning could be a concern.
However, Dr Beth said, because the conditions of Gail, Ian and Heather were stable at that point in time, Dr Douglas advised her to continue supportive treatment.
The jury was told Don had eaten ½ of Gail’s lunch, with symptoms beginning an hour earlier for him.
About 2am on August 1, Dr Beth said Gail’s condition began to decline with tests showing her liver functioning getting worse.
By 6am she consulted with Dr Douglas who said death cap mushroom poisoning was the “more likely” cause and they arranged to move the Wilkinson’s to Dandenong Hospital.
Pastor details aftermath of Erin Patterson’s lunch
Mr Wilkinson, the long-serving pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church, is Ms Patterson’s estranged husband’s uncle through marriage.
The topic of questioning has turned to when Mr Wilkinson first felt ill, with the pastor saying his wife, Heather, rushed out of bed for the laundry.
“I don’t think either of us had gone to sleep ... Heather made her way to the laundry and I could hear her vomiting,” he said.
A short time later, he said, he also felt ill, with vomiting and diarrhoea continuing throughout the night.
“I couldn’t put a figure on it, we were starting to feel pretty washed out,” he said when asked how many times he’d vomited.
The following morning, Mr Wilkinson said, Heather received a call from Gail informing them they’d gone to hospital.
He said Ms Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson arrived and convinced them to go to hospital.
“Heather and I said ‘nah this is a case of gastro’... we’ll be right in a couple of hours,” he told the jury.
At Leongatha Hospital the pair were kept overnight, with medical staff initially suspecting the beef.
They were woken “abruptly” in the morning as nurses wheeled them into the ICU, where Dr Chris Webster said they were informed they would be urgently moved.
“He’d had communication from the Dandenong Hospital indicating suspected mushroom poisoning,” he said.
“He was very frank, he said it’s an extremely serious situation.”
Mr Wilkinson said the last thing he recalled was being given a charcoal drink, before waking up days later to learn he’d been sedated and intubated.
He was in the ICU until August 21, released into a rehab facility on September 11 and first allowed to go home on September 21.
After finishing his evidence, Mr Wilkinson sat with family in the body of the court where a younger man could be seen giving him a pat on the back.
His wife, the jury was told, died on August 4 along with Gail Patterson, while Don Patterson died a day later.
Laughter as judge cracks joke over faulty chair
The normally silent and sterile courtroom burst into laughter after the trial judge cracked a joke over a faulty chair.
Giving evidence, Mr Wilkinson twice had issues with his office chair descending and leaning backwards.
‘We do this to all our witnesses,” Justice Beale joked to loud laughter from the jury and packed public gallery.
“Is it possible to give Mr Wilkinson a different chair?”
The judge’s tipstaff replaced the chair, wryly saying they’d have to “wait and see”.
“ I feel secure,” Mr Wilkinson said with a smile.
Beef Wellington served on differently coloured plates: Pastor
Giving evidence about the lunch, Mr Wilkinson said Ms Patterson had declined offers of help plating up the food from her mother-in-law Gail Patterson and Ms Wilkinson.
“Each person had an individual serve, it was very much like a pasty,” he said.
“It was a pastry case, when we cut into it there was steak and mushrooms.
“The only preparation I saw was potatoes being mashed, food plating up, that’s all I saw.”
The meal, he said, consisted of beef wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans, with Don Patterson eating half his wife’s lunch.
“There was talk about husbands helping their wives out … She (Gail Patterson) thought the meal was a bit on the large side for her, that’s the reason I remember who ate what.”
Mr Wilkinson said the five meals appeared the same, with four served for the lunch guests on “large grey dinner plates”.
Ms Patterson, he said, carried her own smaller plate to the table.
“It was a sort of orangy-tan colour,” he said.
Pastor’s pause after one question
Asked his view on Ms Patterson as a person, Mr Wilkinson paused for about five seconds.
“She seemed like a normal person to me,” he said.
“When we met things were friendly, no arguments or disputes, she just seemed like an ordinary person. I don’t know how else to describe her.”
Quizzed on what his wife thought when they were invited around to Ms Patterson’s for lunch, he said Ms Wilkinson was “excited”.
“She was fairly excited and she said that’s good news sort of thing, I really can’t remember in detail,” he said.
“I remember wondering why the sudden invitation … I was very excited, it seemed like maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve.”
Dehydrator sold for $229 on April 23
The owner of a small goods store has told Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial one of his employees sold her a dehydrator.
Hartley Wells Betta Home Living operator Darren Fox gave evidence he was approached by a staff member in November 2023 who advised him she believed she sold Ms Patterson the Sun Beam Food Lab dehydrator.
An invoice, shown to the jury, contained Ms Patterson’s name, home address, phone number and purchase details on April 23, 2023 for $229.
Jury’s note to judge
Earlier, as the jury entered about 10.50am trial judge Justice Christopher Beale said he had received a note from the jury.
The note read; “the jury is still struggling to hear when the crown and defence are facing away”, he said.
Responding to the note, Justice Beale said it can be difficult for the lawyers when asking a witness a question but “I’m sure they’ll bear that in mind”.
Husband’s sharp response to poison question
On Monday, Ms Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson delivered a sharp reply to one question as his time in the witness box drew to a close after three days in the witness box.
Simon, who remains married to the woman accused of murdering his parents and aunt, was the first witness called when her trial began in the country Victorian town of Morwell last week.
Over the course of Thursday, Friday and Monday, the civil engineer faced hundreds of questions about his relationships and actions around the deadly beef Wellington lunch he did not attend on July 29, 2023.
Shortly before midday on Monday, Ms Patterson’s barrister, Colin Mandy SC, asked a series of questions about the first time Simon saw Ms Patterson after four of his relatives were hospitalised.
Last Thursday, Simon had given evidence he spoke to his separated wife a number of times over the course of July 31 as they arranged picking their two children up from school and meeting her at the hospital.
He told the jury the topic of mushrooms had been brought up by his daughter, prompting Ms Patterson to share that they’d once done a “blind taste test”.
“Erin said that sometime in the past, I’m not sure when … she’d cooked some muffins and then she had dehydrated some mushrooms and then put different amounts of mushrooms in the muffins,” he said.
“They all found it interesting that (their daughter) actually preferred the muffin that did have some mushrooms in it; I can’t remember if it was 1 or 2 grams, but she didn’t prefer the non-mushroom muffin.”
Returning to the topic on Monday, Simon confirmed that he was in and out of her room at Monash Hospital in Melbourne – wandering the halls and taking calls from family.
Mr Mandy followed up with a question on if he and Ms Patterson were ever alone.
Initially, Simon said he “couldn’t be sure”, but when prodded on if there was a time the children went to a vending machine, he conceded it was likely.
“It’s quite possible that that did happen, yeah. They did go to the vending machine, I remember that,” he said.
Mr Mandy then questioned if Simon had quizzed his wife while they were alone — drawing a sharp rebuke.
“And that was just after, let me suggest, just after the conversation about the dehydrator and you said to Erin, ‘Is that what you used to poison them?’,” Mr Mandy asked.
Simon responded: “I did not say that to Erin.”
Prosecutors alleged Ms Patterson deliberately poisoned the individually portioned beef wellington meals after inviting Simon, his parents and his aunt and uncle around for lunch.
It’s alleged she did not consume death cap mushrooms and feigned her illness.
Simon’s parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital in the week after the gathering.
Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill but recovered.
Ms Patterson, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of manslaughter, maintains she did not deliberately or intentionally serve the poisoned meal.
“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident,” Mr Mandy said.
“The defence case is that she was not feigning illness, she wasn’t pretending to be sick. The defence case is that she was sick too, just not as sick.”
The trial, before Justice Beale, continues.
Originally published as Erin Patterson trial: Lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson gives evidence in case of alleged mushroom murders
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