Erin Patterson on trial: Critical timing update in mushroom murder case
The judge sitting in the triple-murder trial of accused mushroom killer Erin Patterson has given a timeline for when the jury will start deliberating on whether she is guilty or not guilty.
The judge presiding over the trial of accused mushroom killer Erin Patterson has instructed the jury to reject a prosecution argument relating to claims her two children would have fallen ill had they eaten the leftovers of a toxic beef Wellington.
Victorian Supreme Court judge Christopher Beale, in summarising the case for the jury, said the prosecution had argued that because Ms Patterson’s son and daughter did not experience symptoms, her evidence that they ate the leftovers of the meal with the mushrooms and pastry scraped off must have been a lie.
But Justice Beale said no expert witness was asked whether they would have expected the children to fall ill after eating the modified leftovers, and instructed the jury to “disregard” the argument.
“You have no expert evidence as to whether that would be the case,” he said, adding the jury would be “speculating if you were to go down that path”.
Ms Patterson is on trial for the murders of her estranged husband’s parents and aunt after allegedly knowingly serving them a beef Wellington she had laced with death cap mushrooms at a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
She has also been charged with the attempted murder of a fourth lunch guest, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal and has watched from the gallery for much of the trial.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty. While she accepts death cap mushrooms were contained in the meal, she says she never intended to harm anyone.
Justice Beale on Thursday indicated the jury would begin formal deliberations on Monday. He told 14 jury members in the Latrobe Valley Law Courts they would be “able to go home for the weekend”, and he would continue his address to them next week.
Once his charge was completed on Monday, he said, a ballot would be conducted to determine which 12 jurors would enter deliberations. Those jurors are expected to stay in accommodation nearby – instead of going home – during the process.
“Whilst you’re engaged with your deliberations, at the end of each day you’ll be sequestered,” Justice Beale said.
On Thursday he continued his charge to the jury by taking them to evidence about Ms Patterson’s son and daughter eating leftovers of the meal the day after the lunch. During the Crown’s closing address, prosecutor Nanette Rogers questioned why Ms Patterson would feed her children the leftover meal knowing that it had caused her guests to fall ill.
Dr Rogers suggested Ms Patterson “certainly” did not feed her children the food – a suggestion Ms Patterson denied.
During her evidence, Ms Patterson said she included mushrooms she believed she had bought from a Chinese grocer and had stored in a Tupperware container in the meal. It was not until after the lunch, she said, that she realised wild fungi she had foraged may had been mixed with the dried Asian mushrooms.
Justice Beale revisited testimony from various witnesses in regards to what Ms Patterson said at the time of the lunch when asked where she bought the mushrooms for the meal.
Doctor Chris Webster, who witnessed Ms Patterson admit herself to Leongatha Hospital two days after the lunch, gave evidence she had told him she bought the mushrooms used in the meal from Woolworths, Justice Beale said.
Justice Beale: “He told you he said to her there is a concern of death cap mushroom poisoning, ‘where did you get the mushrooms’? She replied, ‘Woolworths’.”
Under cross-examination, Dr Webster was asked whether he actually asked Ms Patterson where she got the “ingredients” for the meal, not specifically the mushrooms.
Dr Webster denied this, maintaining he asked her where she got the mushrooms from.
Justice Beale took the jury to evidence from Leongatha Hospital doctor Veronica Foote, who said Ms Patterson told her she bought some mushrooms from Woolworths and others from an Asian grocer.
Ms Patterson’s brother in law Matthew Patterson, Justice Beale said, had also given evidence about the mushrooms. Justice Beale said Matthew Patterson called Erin Patterson in the days after the lunch to ask where she bought the mushroom from as his father, Donald Patterson, was dying in hospital.
“He recounted how she had told him there were two sources for the mushrooms in that beef Wellington,” Justice Beale said.
Justice Beale also took the jury to evidence given by Ms Patterson regarding where she sourced the mushrooms.
He said Ms Patterson told the jury she “wasn’t trying to mislead anyone” when she initially told people she believed the only mushrooms included in the meal were from Woolworths and an Asian grocer.
He recalled she gave evidence about how she started feeling “scared, responsible, really worried” when she started to suspect she may have accidentally included mushrooms she had foraged in the meal.
“She told you she was scared that everyone would blame her and take her children,” Justice Beale said, adding that she “didn’t tell anyone” after she started to suspect wild mushrooms were in the meal.
Justice Beale said Ms Patterson agreed the RecipeTin Eats method she followed to make the meal called for 700g of mushrooms. She accepted she bought 1kg of mushrooms four days before the lunch, and another 750g two days before it.
“As to what happened to those mushrooms, she told you she ate 1kg of mushrooms before she came to prepare the beef Wellingtons,” Justice Beale said.
Justice Beale’s charge will continue on Friday.
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