As Erin Patterson looks on, the Morwell court is witness to family witnesses telling their stories

Several relatives gave evidence this week in the so-called mushroom murders trial where Erin Trudi Patterson faces three alleged murder charges.

Simon Patterson and his estranged wife, the accused Erin Patterson, who has pleaded not guilty. Pictures: supplied

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Grief is the criminal law’s closest relative.

For a full week, as an at-times weepingly sad Erin Trudi Patterson looked on from the back of the Morwell courtroom, the human toll of the three mushroom deaths was laid out to the jury.

Friday finished with the replaying of a 100-minute police interview with the accused’s 14-year-old son in 2023, not long after the death cap mushrooms were served at his mother’s house.

Teenage boys have their own rules. It was hard, however, not to feel discomfort at times when the child was questioned in the interview on the state of his parents’ relationship and what he knew and when of the beef Wellington meal.

The boy laboured as he detailed his role clearing up the lunch plates, commenting negatively on his father’s treatment of his mother and telling the interviewer about what Erin Patterson did on the night of the meal, July 29, 2023.

“Mum was building Lego upstairs,’’ he said.

At least for the first half an hour of Friday’s hearing, the 50-year-old accused struggled to contain her emotions, dabbing her eyes and once gulping visibly.

There were pockets of sadness in the courtroom and it was tough going watching the Patterson children subjected to the very adult world of police investigations. Patterson was watching the last part of her nine-year-old daughter’s evidence, followed by the son.

The week started with her husband Simon’s final stint on the stand, followed by his uncle and survivor Ian Wilkinson; then there were a roll call (by birth) of Pattersons and Wilkinsons.

By Friday, courtroom four of the Supreme Court had emptied of family in the gallery seats behind the bar table, but for a lot of the week the extended clan were among the 40 people looking on, including pastor Ian Wilkinson, bottle in hand.

Some of the family witnesses had statements read into the court record, others had to front up, knowing the public’s eyes were on the court complex built 20 years ago.

Don and Gail Patterson, who died after the meal. Picture: supplied

There was Anna Terrington, the daughter of the late Don and Gail Patterson, both 70; Anna’s older brothers are Simon, the pastor Matthew and Nathan.

Ms Terrington, who sobbed after taking the witness stand, told the court it was unusual that Heather and Ian had been invited to the lunch, as she said they hadn’t been to Erin’s place before.

Ruth Dubois, the daughter of the late Heather Wilkinson, 66, and survivor Ian Wilkinson, 71, also reported to the jury her surprise at why her parents had been invited by Erin Patterson to lunch on July 29, 2023.

“She (Heather) said that at church the previous weekend she was talking with Gail (Patterson) after the service and Erin had come up to them and said, ‘Just the two I was looking for’ and asked them to lunch, at which point I responded, ‘Really?’’ she told the court.

“Sort of confused because it was not something I would have imagined.’’

Don and Gail’s son Matthew said the accused and her ex had normally been civil and amicable after they separated but over time he noted a subtle shift in relations.

“I would say their conversations were a little bit more – slightly more mechanical, less casual than they were previously, yeah,’’ he said.

To the cynical, the justice system can appear at times like a meat grinder.

For Erin and Simon Patterson’s son, the interview 18 months ago just looked awkward.

The teenager, who can’t be identified, told the interviewer that Simon did a “lot of things to try and hurt Mum”.

“Mum didn’t put his name on the billing for the school,” he said. 

“Dad really wanted to be on that so he could have access to all the events (my sister) and me are doing and seeing our reports and stuff. Dad wouldn’t talk to Mum about that. He would just ring the school and tell the school to put his name on the billing … but the school said we can’t have that unless Mum says that can happen.”

Don and Gail Patterson’s daughter Anna Terrington and their son Matthew on the right, leave court for the lunch break. Picture: NewsWire/Ian Currie

The court has previously heard that after separating in 2015, Erin and Simon Patterson’s relationship was largely cordial but had become more strained after 2022 due to Erin’s concerns about changes to her estranged husband’s tax arrangements.

The accused became very upset when her son told the interviewer that three of the lunch guests had died but smiled when he tripped over the explanation of the family tree.

He couldn’t recall what time he returned to the house on the day of the lunch but said that “Papa Don” had asked him about his flying lessons.

“And I wanted to show him my textbook for flying,’’ he said.

Having been with a friend on the day, the son later said that he had eaten eye fillet for dinner on the Sunday night and he believed he had seen it being cooked on the previous day in a frying pan.

The meat was “very soft” and “very easy to cut” and “I really liked the meat”.

The court has previously heard that the Saturday lunch guests were served beef Wellington, beans and mashed potatoes. The son said he also was served mashed potatoes and beans on the Sunday – as well as the steak – and that the accused had said it was leftovers.

“I think she cooked it all on Saturday,’’ the jury heard.

On the Saturday, he said, he had collected all the plates from the fateful lunch and put them next to the sink, as well as gather the glasses and cutlery, before describing the plates as white with a raised edge. The plates have previously been described as grey.

He also remembered his mother taking a picture of a mushroom in the Korumburra botanic gardens during a walk in the first year of the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“I remember like it was just a very fond memory in my head,” he said in the recorded interview.

But as far as he is concerned, he doesn’t like eating mushrooms because they are “squishy” and “mushy” and he’s never actually foraged for them, nor has he picked them.

The Pattersons’ boy is tall for his age and was sitting during the interview, pretty much like every boy his age. Slightly slumped.

But, of course, being interviewed after your grandparents die from a family lunch is not exactly normal.

Nor is your mother watching the video replay from the dock.

Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty and the case will continue next week.