Erin Patterson told health official mushrooms were intended for ‘a pasta dish’

Erin Patterson suggested to a Victorian health official she used mushrooms bought from an Asian grocer in a pasta dish, before saying they were used only in her fatal beef Wellington.

Victorian health official Sally Ann Atkinson (right) gave evidence in Erin Patterson’s murder trial on Monday. Picture: Supplied/ NewsWire.

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Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson suggested to a Victorian health official that she used mushrooms purchased from an Asian grocer in a pasta dish, a court has heard, before later saying they were used only in her fatal beef Wellington.

Victorian Department of Health adviser Sally Ann Atkinson, giving evidence in Ms Patterson’s murder trial, said she had trouble contacting the Leongatha mushroom chef after she hosted a lunch that killed three people, and asked a child protection worker to connect the two over the phone.

Ms Patterson is on trial in the Victorian Supreme Court for allegedly using poisonous death cap mushrooms served in a beef Wellington to murder three elderly relatives of her estranged husband at a lunch in her home on Saturday, July 29, 2023.

She had also been charged with the attempted murder of a fourth relative, who ate the meal but survived after a lengthy stay in hospital. She has pleaded not guilty.

The jury on Monday was told Ms Atkinson reached out to Ms Patterson in the days after the lunch to ask about preparation of the meal. Ms Atkinson said Ms Patterson reported experiencing diarrhoea on July 29 and 30, 2023, describing it as “explosive”.

Erin Patterson arriving at her Leongatha home in 2023. Picture: Jason Edwards

In an initial conversation on July 31, 2023, Ms Atkinson recalled Ms Patterson saying the day after the lunch she had gone to the toilet every 45 minutes, but by the end of the day she had felt better.

She then she ate a bowl of cereal and started to feel worse again, Ms Atkinson said.

She said Ms Patterson told her she had bought the mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Oakleigh, Clayton or Mount Waverley in southeast Melbourne in April 2023.

“She explained that during school holidays, she would often take her kids – she would book school holiday activities up that way,” Ms Atkinson said.

“She said she used to live up that way and would take her kids up there, drop them at their activities, and then would drive around before picking them back up.”

Ms Atkinson said Ms Patterson told her she had bought the dried mushrooms, which came in a small see-through bag with a handwritten label, and stored them in a Tupperware container.

“She had said she had purchased it originally for a specific meal she was making, which I think she said was a pasta dish or something, but when she opened it she said they smelled funny so she thought she wouldn’t use them all so she put them in a container,” she said.

Ms Atkinson said she tried to contact Ms Patterson again on Aug­ust 2, 2023, and left a voice message saying she had further questions.

When she heard child protection worker Katrina Cripps was visit­ing Ms Patterson at her home, Ms Atkinson asked if Ms Cripps could connect the pair by phone.

Ms Atkinson said Ms Patterson told her the mushrooms had not been used in a previous meal. “The initial conversation seemed to indicate she had used some of them in the first dish and then saying … she had not,” Ms Atkinson said. “But she wasn’t very clear.”

She also told the court Ms Patterson had said she bought ingredients for the Saturday lunch, including discounted steaks, the night before but in a text message exchange between the two on Aug­ust 2, 2023, Ms Patterson said she may have purchased them on “Wednesday, Thursday, Friday”.

Ms Atkinson wrote: “Council have just asked what time of day did you buy the ingredients on Friday. Council are looking at the supermarket receiving deliveries and storage, etc, time of shopping would help with their investi­gation. Thank you, Sally.”

Ms Patterson responded saying it was “hard to pinpoint” on what day she bought the ingredients.

“Hi Sally, I’m not sure exactly what time of day. I went a few times last week and I know I got some of the ingredients on Wednesday or Thursday (I know I bought some discounted eye fillet steaks one time on one of those two days) and then I went back to either Thursday or Friday and bought a couple more but they weren’t discounted,” she wrote.

“And I bought the rest of the ingredients at one of those shopping trips. I often go daily or every second day to pick up a bag or two and get what I need as I go so it’s hard to pinpoint an exact day I bought this or that but I know I bought all of it at one stage last week on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.”

Ms Atkinson said that information was different to what Ms Patterson previously told her when she said “she had bought everything on the Friday evening”.

On August 3, 2023, Ms Atkinson said she called Ms Patterson and asked how many batches of mushroom paste she had made for the beef Wellington. “She confirmed she had only cooked one batch.” She said Ms Patterson mentioned Glen Waverley when asked again about the location of the Asian grocer. “She hadn’t mentioned Glen Waverley before,” she said. “She had mentioned Mount Waverley.”