For the first time, Erin Patterson has been asked publicly about the meal at the centre of her high-profile trial
Erin Patterson says she has spent years foraging for wild mushrooms and started dehydrating them in the months before the fateful lunch, as she admitted there were lethal death cap mushrooms in the beef wellington meal.
The Mushroom Cook
Don't miss out on the headlines from The Mushroom Cook. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson has personally admitted there were lethal death cap mushrooms in the beef wellington meal she cooked for her lunch guests.
For a second day, Ms Patterson took to the witness box in her own murder trial, telling a Supreme Court jury she had foraged for wild mushrooms since 2020 and started dehydrating them in the months before the fateful lunch.
Ms Patterson is standing trial in Morwell, accused of murdering her estranged husband’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, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 71, was the only guest to survive.
Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, claiming what happened was a “tragedy and a terrible accident”.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC on Tuesday asked his client for the first time publicly about the meal at the centre of her high-profile trial.
“Do you accept that there must have been death cap mushrooms in that meal?” Mr Mandy asked.
“Yes I do,” Ms Patterson replied.
When asked where the mushrooms in the meal came from, she said the “vast majority” were from a Woolworths at Leongatha and a grocer in Melbourne.
The jury has previously heard she told officials she bought them from an Asian grocer in April, but she told the court the purchase was “not clear” in her mind.
“What’s your memory of what you did with those mushrooms?” he asked.
“I remember that I was going to use them the day that I bought them, but they were very pungent. I didn’t think that would be a great smell for what I was making, so I just put them in a container and put them in the pantry at that point,” she replied.
Ms Patterson confirmed she had bought mushrooms from Asian grocers before – such as shiitake, porcini and enoki – but had also bought a dehydrator in April 2023 because she wanted to “preserve” wild mushrooms.
The court heard the mother of two started picking mushrooms around Leongatha and the nearby town of Korumburra during the Covid lockdowns in 2020.
Ms Patterson said she started identifying the fungi she found, such as field and horse mushrooms, with the help of Facebook groups for “mushroom lovers”.
“When I got to a point where I was confident … I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it, then saw what happened,” she said.
Mr Mandy asked: “What happened?”
Ms Patterson replied: “They tasted good and I didn’t get sick.”
Ms Patterson said after that she started to pick mushrooms and cook them in meals, including those for her children.
She confirmed she started drying mushrooms “within days” of purchasing the dehydrator, including field mushrooms she picked from her property and some other “interesting ones” from the local botanic gardens that she believed were edible.
When asked what container she used for the dehydrated mushrooms, she said: “I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there, so I would just dry them and put them in a container.”
Ms Patterson confirmed the container with the dried mushrooms from the Asian grocer was in her pantry when she was dehydrating mushrooms in May and June.
She told the court she remembered putting dehydrated wild mushrooms into a container already holding other dried mushrooms.
Earlier, Ms Patterson confirmed she has never been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
The prosecution alleges she falsely claimed at the lunch to have cancer to ensure and to explain why the children were not present, while the defence has suggested she only told the guests she had a “suspected” diagnosis of cancer.
When asked about her “concerns”, Ms Patterson told the court she consulted “Dr Google” because she was worried about ovarian cancer due to her family history and a cyst she had removed 20 years ago.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
Additional reporting by Anna Shreeves
Originally published as For the first time, Erin Patterson has been asked publicly about the meal at the centre of her high-profile trial
Erin Patterson details her ‘panic’ after lunch guests fell ill
The woman accused of killing three people with death cap mushrooms says it was an accident, describing her fear at being “blamed” for the tragic deaths of her family members.
‘Grab a plate guys’: How Erin made the meal that killed lunch guests
Accused mushroom murderer Erin Patterson has told a court why she picked beef wellington to serve her lunch guests and about “deviations” she made to the cookbook recipe — admitting the possibility existed there were foraged mushrooms in the mix.