Erin Patterson trial: Leongatha Hospital nurse claims alleged poisoner ‘didn’t appear unwell’
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s face turned red as video of her young daughter being interviewed by police was aired in her triple-murder trial.
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Alleged death cap mushroom poisoner Erin Patterson has reacted emotionally in court as a video of her daughter’s police interview was played to the jury.
Ms Patterson’s face turned red and she appeared upset as she stared intently at the screen while the video unfolded.
At one point she raised a tissue to cover her mouth.
Her daughter, then nine years old, was interviewed by a detective while sitting on a blue armchair in a police station.
“I wasn’t there so I don’t know what happened,” the daughter said when asked if she knew what happened at lunch.
She told the police officer her mother had told her the day prior she wanted to have a lunch with Ian, Heather, Don and Gail.
“I don’t remember what she said, I just remember she told me she was having a lunch with them,” the girl said.
“She just wanted to talk to them and I guess have lunch with them.
She said she wanted to talk to them about adult stuff.”
Ms Patterson was seen to take short, sharp breaths, with her eyes glued to the screen as the video played to the court.
Her daughter said she attended a movie and had McDonalds for lunch with her older brother and another boy when the lunch took place.
After the movie she said she was picked up by her father, Ms Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, and the pair spent the afternoon together.
The jury heard Ms Patterson told her the following morning she was ill.
“I don’t remember when she started to feel sick but I remember she started to feel sick the next day,” she said.
“She just needed to go to the toilet a lot and she felt sick.”
The daughter’s video recorded evidence will continue on Friday when the trial returns. Chef in mushroom trial’s 5-minute hospital stay
A nurse working at Leongatha Hospital has told Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial that she did not “appear unwell” when she visited her room.
Called to give evidence, Cindy Munro said she had been asked to start treatment about noon on July 31 after earlier assisting Ms Patterson’s lunch guest, Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, to be transferred to a large hospital.
“I recall Ian being so unwell he couldn’t lift his head off the pillow and Heather (Mr Wilkinson’s wife) was unsteady on her feet,” she said.
“Erin was sitting up in the bed and didn’t appear unwell to me.”
Ms Munro told the jury that she explained to Ms Patterson that they would start a series of treatments for suspected mushroom poisoning, but the accused woman repeatedly stressed that she did not want treatment.
“She stressed she didn’t want any of this,” Ms Munro said.
Ms Munro said she asked Dr Veronica Foote to explain why the medication was necessary, and Ms Patterson eventually consented to treatment.
By 1pm, she said Ms Patterson had been loaded into an ambulance and was on her way to Monash Hospital.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef wellington lunch and the attempted murder of a fourth who recovered, arguing the incident was a tragic accident and not deliberate.
Alleged poisoner quizzed on mushroom source: Doctor
Dr Conor McDermott, who was working as an on-call toxicological registrar, told the jury he was called on July 31 for advice on Ms Patterson’s treatment.
He said he had already been briefed on the suspected mushroom poisonings and was advised Ms Patterson was stable with her blood results “all within normal limits”.
Dr McDermott said he sought to clarify with Ms Patterson’s doctor on where the mushrooms were sourced and was placed on the phone with her.
“Because of the potential for other cases to be involved, it’s normal and proactive to get the source of the mushrooms,” he said.
The jury was told she advised him pre-sliced button mushrooms were purchased from Safeway in Leongatha and also used dried mushrooms purchased from a Chinese food shop in the Oakleigh area.
“I asked if she still had the packaging… and she said she wasn’t going to be able to find the packaging,” Dr McDermott said.
He told the jury he Googled Chinese food stores in the area and offered to read Ms Patterson a list to see if the name jogged her memory.
“She said she wouldn’t be able to remember… because they were bought several months ago in April,” he said.
‘Well enough to go home’
Ms Patterson’s sister-in-law has told the jury that she was present when doctors at Monash Hospital told the accused woman that she could leave.
Her husband’s brother’s wife, Tanya Patterson, was called to give evidence at the trial on Thursday.
Asked about their relationship after the separation, Tanya said “for many years it was really quite good” but she noticed a change in the 12 months before the fatal lunch.
“It started to deteriorate a bit,” she said.
“Erin and Simon didn’t really interact that much at family events.
“Simon didn’t go to the Christmas holiday and also Erin had taken the kids out of school to a different school without telling Simon.
“And Erin wanted Simon to pay child support, that wasn’t the plan really.”
Tanya said she messaged Ms Patterson about 5pm on July 31 asking if she could visit her in hospital, receiving the response that “she would love that”.
The following morning at 9.30am, she told the jury, she visited Ms Patterson at the Monash Hospital and asked how Mr Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail, and the Wilkinsons were doing.
“I told her things were going downhill quickly but I didn’t have the latest,” she said.
Tanya told the court that Ms Patterson informed her that she knew “Don and Gail were in a coma”.
She said she was present in the room as toxicologists from the hospital arrived with Ms Patterson’s latest blood tests.
“The toxicologist said Erin’s fine and well enough to go home,” she said.
“They said the (IV) drip overnight was only a precaution and then the toxicologist left.”
Alleged poisoner ‘co-operative’ with police
Constable Adrian Martinez-Villalobis told the court that Dr Webster asked him to secure any leftovers from her home for “analysis” and he was placed on the phone with Ms Patterson, who gave him permission to enter the property.
In a soggy Woolworths bag at the bottom of her outdoor bin, he found remnants of the beef wellington lunch and took them to the hospital.Constable MartinezVillalobis said Ms Patterson told him that she believed the food would be in the outdoor or indoor bin in the brown bag.
“Her brain was a bit foggy at the time, so she couldn’t remember where,” he said.
He agreed with a suggestion by Ms Patterson’s barrister Sophie Stafford that she was “co-operative”.
Update in mushroom murder trial
The judge overseeing her triple-murder trial has shared a major update, informing jurors the case is likely to conclude earlier than the estimated six weeks.
Jurors in Ms Patterson’s case returned to the Latrobe Valley courthouse on Thursday morning in the second week of the trial as Justice Christopher Beale delivered the update.
He told the jury that after discussions with the prosecution and defence about the way the case was progressing, he now expected it would wrap faster than expected.
Justice Beale told the jury they would now no longer be sitting next Monday.
“There are things happening behind the scenes to try and condense the material that will be presented to you,” he said.
“If Monday is devoted to that rather than you sitting here … I expect the case will conclude earlier.
“We will sit Friday morning until 1 o’clock and then you’ll leave and return on Tuesday morning.”
Alleged poisoner appeared to have illness: doctor
Called to give evidence, Dr Foote confirmed that she assessed Ms Patterson at Leongatha Hospital once the accused woman returned for a second time about 9.45am.
She agreed her clinical opinion was that Ms Patterson was “moderately dehydrated due to ongoing diarrhoea and appeared to have a gastric illness”.
Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson did not eat the same poisoned meal, while her lawyers argue she did become sick, just not as sick as her guests.
“I discussed the treatment that was recommended to start with her while we were awaiting transfer,” she said.
Dr Foote told the jury that Ms Patterson had reported falling ill with diarrhoea and nausea the evening of the July 29 lunch but did not attend hospital until the morning of July 31.
She was found to have a high heart rate and somewhat high blood pressure, which Dr Foote said could also have been caused by uncontrolled blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, stress and anxiety.
Nurse ‘implored’ Ms Patterson to stay
The jury was told Ms Patterson first arrived at hospital at 8.03am but checked herself out against medical advice.
Called to give evidence, director of nursing Kylie Ashton told the jury that she “implored” Ms Patterson to greenlight being admitted to hospital.
“Erin identified she was the person who cooked that meal served on that day,” she said.
“She told me she had consumed the meal that was prepared and she had diarrhoea and nausea since that occasion but no vomiting.”
Ms Ashton told the jury that Ms Patterson said she had not come to hospital prepared to be admitted and she needed to go make preparations for her children.
“I implored her to stay,” he said.
“She just said (she needed) around 20 minutes so we just agreed to that.”
Questioned on what she did to impress upon Ms Patterson the seriousness, Ms Ashton said she communicated that “her life was at risk”.
“These guys were very unwell. We had two people in the ICU at the time,” she said.
Ms Ashton said Ms Patterson was forced to sign a form indicating she had checked out against medical advice before leaving and returned about 9.45am.
Under cross-examination, Ms Ashton agreed the accused woman had not expressed an unwillingness to be treated, just that she did not want to be admitted at the time.
Alleged poisoner left after 5 minutes: doctor
On Tuesday, the jury was told that just five minutes after attending hospital and announcing “I’ve got gastro”, the alleged mushroom killer left the building against medical advice.
Two doctors working at the Leongatha Hospital in July 2023 gave evidence at Ms Patterson’s murder trial on Tuesday.
Taking the stand, Chris Webster told the jury he first encountered Ms Patterson in the waiting room of the hospital about 8am.
“I apologised that she had been kept waiting … and I asked her why she had presented to hospital,” he said.
“She said, ‘I’ve got gastro’.”
Dr Webster said he then recognised her as the “chef of the meal” his two patients, the Wilkinsons, suspected had made them sick.
He told the court he explained they would need to start “emergency treatment of suspected death cap mushroom poisoning” and left her with a nurse to be triaged.
But five minutes later, he said he learnt Ms Patterson had discharged herself against medical advice and he called triple-0 for a wellness concern.
Dr Foote said she was approached by Ms Ashton, who advised her that Ms Patterson wanted to leave.
In two minutes of CCTV footage played to the jury, Dr Foote approaches Ms Patterson and stands between her and the exit as the pair talked.
“I talked to Ms Patterson and relayed our concerns for her health and the potential that she could become very unwell and that it was our medical advice that she stay and be further assessed and treated,” she said.
“She told me that she wasn’t able to stay at that point in time. She had to go home to do some things … make some preparations for her animals and children and that she would return to the hospital.”
Ultimately, Ms Patterson left the hospital at 8.10am after signing a form acknowledging she was self-discharging against medical advice.
Ms Patterson returned at 9.48am the same day and was admitted into the hospital, the jury was told.
Dr Foote said after Ms Patterson advised her two children had eaten leftovers of the meal, the meat with the mushrooms and pastry scraped off, she was told they needed to be examined.
Dr Foote said Ms Patterson wanted to leave and collect her children from school, but was advised against it.
“My advice was I thought she could become very unwell very quickly and that it was not safe for her or her children for her to drive them there and possibly other road users,” she said.
The doctor suggested her husband, Simon Patterson, could pick up the children.
“Ms Patterson told me that she didn’t think that that was in the best interests of her children,” she said.
Mr Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail, both 70, and Gail’s sister Ms Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital in the week after the gathering. Mr Wilkinson fell gravely ill but recovered.
Ms Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy SC told the jury that she did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests.
“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident,” he said.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
Originally published as Erin Patterson trial: Leongatha Hospital nurse claims alleged poisoner ‘didn’t appear unwell’
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