‘Very hurt’: How a belated birthday invitation to Erin Patterson sparked a family rift
By Erin Pearson
A family rift sparked by a late invitation to a 70th birthday in the months before three people died from death cap mushroom poisoning was revealed on day four of a triple murder trial in regional Victoria.
Accused killer Erin Patterson, 50, sat in the dock on Friday as her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was taken through message exchanges between the two in late 2022, at a time when the pair’s relationship became strained over child support issues.
Erin Patterson and her estranged husband Simon Patterson.Credit: Jason South
While under cross-examination from defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, Simon read out a text from October 2022 in which he asks Erin whether she would be attending his mother Gail’s 70th birthday lunch with their children the next day.
Erin replied that she knew nothing about the birthday celebrations, and that perhaps the belated invite was just an “afterthought”.
“I might pass … as I’d rather not go somewhere I’m not welcome,” Erin said.
After some back and forth, Erin said she felt “very hurt” about not being invited.
“And your response is to say, I’m being ridiculous,” she texted.
Simon responded: “You’re as far off the mark as you possibly could be on this, you already have the facts, however, of course, you’re free to choose to think whatever you want to despite them.”
The court heard that several hours after this text message exchange, Simon said he understood why Erin was “mad” at him but asked her to consider the feelings of his mother, whose birthday it was.
“I know they would love you to be there because they’ve been talking about this and losing sleep over this,” he wrote.
About an hour later, Erin messaged Simon to apologise for “lashing out”.
“I’m sorry I lashed out. I was feeling very hurt and lashed out. It’s no excuse. I’d like to not do that again,” she said.
Her estranged husband responded by apologising for raising his voice.
“I’m sorry I raised my voice and my tone, too. I wouldn’t call what either of us did shouting, but I’m sure we’re referring to the same thing, no matter what you call it,” he texted.
Simon told the jury that the issue of the birthday invitation had caused a lot of anguish for his parents.
“Mum and Dad were really stressed about it. They had genuinely believed that they’d invited Erin to the lunch. I think they thought Dad had invited her to the lunch. That’s what happened,” Simon told the court.
The court was also told child support payments had become a point of contention between the pair.
Text messages from December 2022 revealed Simon told Erin he intended to ask a mediator to help the pair resolve their child support concerns.
“I was keen to resolve it, and I could see that Erin and mine’s communication about it … wasn’t working. And, yeah, I guess, from my point of view, Erin was being extremely aggressive, and so I thought a mediator would probably help us communicate about it,” Simon told the jury.
Mandy challenged Simon on his use of the phrase “extremely aggressive”.
“That’s not the right way of categorising it, is it? She was upset; she was hurt,” Mandy said.
However, Simon insisted his phrasing was the correct characterisation of Erin’s behaviour at the time.
Don Patterson (left), Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned by a mushroom meal.
Months later, in July 2023, Erin invited her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s family members Heather and Ian Wilkinson, to lunch at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s south-east. Simon was also invited, but declined to attend at the last minute.
The jury earlier heard that on July 29, 2023, Erin served her lunch guests individually plated beef Wellington with green beans and mashed potato. They later fell ill and were diagnosed with poisoning by death cap mushrooms.
Don, Gail, and Heather died in hospital, while Heather’s husband, Ian, survived after a lengthy stay in intensive care.
Erin denies the charges against her and maintains the deaths were a tragic accident.
On Friday, when asked whether he kept Erin updated on his family members’ condition while they were in hospital after the lunch, Simon replied that he found it intriguing that Erin had not asked about them herself.
“And as their illnesses progressed in hospital, you didn’t pass onto Erin the seriousness of … Don and Gail and Ian and Heather’s [illnesses],” Mandy said.
“It intrigued me that she never actually asked,” Simon responded. “But no, I didn’t pass on their progress.”
The trial continues.
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