Every day the sole surviving death cap mushrooms guest braved the evidence of the Erin Patterson trial
The sole survivor of Erin Patterson’s deadly beef Wellington lunch stared darkly at the accused when he first walked through the court, leaving Patterson as isolated as ever.
It was the moment that defined the courtroom battle between the families of the dead and Erin Patterson.
Ian Wilkinson, walking through the court, gave Ms Patterson a cold, deliberate stare before moving through the room, later telling the jury that he and his wife weren’t particularly close to the accused.
Mr Wilkinson declared that “we didn’t consider the relationship was close’’ with Ms Patterson but they had still accepted the lunch invitation.
When he gave his evidence, he laughed and smiled for much of it, but the glance at Ms Patterson told the story of the 40-day trial.
Deep unhappiness and an enduring pain caused by the deaths.
About an hour after the jury retired on June 30 to deliberate, Mr Wilkinson, his daughter Ruth Dubois, and the prosecution team were gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Mr Wilkinson thanked senior crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC and prosecutor Jane Warren, who cried as she hugged the Baptist pastor.
Ms Warren wore large, black sunglasses covering her red, splotchy eyes as she left the Latrobe Valley law courts.
Mr Wilkinson became a fixture at the court precinct, leaving only at the very end of the trial.
Without fail, Mr Wilkinson battled the early morning cold in Morwell and the drive to the Latrobe Valley to sit in court to listen to often distressing evidence in the mushroom murders case.
At one point, detailed information about the suffering of the victims was outlined to the court, which included multiple organ failure and crippling pain.
As the only survivor among the guests invited to Erin Patterson’s home for a lunch of beef Wellington, his testimony was key for the prosecution.
Mr Wilkinson, 71, was surrounded by family throughout the trial, often entering the court building with them, helping Ms Dubois in her wheelchair and exchanging greetings with members of Victoria Police.
He wore an ichthys symbol – a badge declaring an affinity with Jesus – and seemed largely bemused by the role of the media.
Mr Wilkinson, pastor at the Korumburra Baptist Church, told the court that he was happy to have received an invite to the lunch but he and his late wife Heather weren’t particularly close to Erin Patterson.
“I think we were more like acquaintances, we didn’t see a great deal of each other,’’ Mr Wilkinson said.
He and Heather were so ill the night of the meal that they slept next to the two toilets in their Korumburra house, before being rushed to the local hospital.
It was Heather who had noticed Ms Patterson had a different plate to the rest of her guests, although the colour make-up of plates was contested by Patterson and her son gave a different version of events.
Following the meal, Mr Wilkinson was critically ill for weeks. He faced the possibility of a liver transplant and at one point wasn’t expected to live.
But he rallied, becoming the only survivor of the four elderly people who had travelled from nearby Korumburra to Ms Patterson’s home in Leongatha.
Heather, 66, was the sister of Gail Patterson and the two couples were described as close.
Mr Wilkinson is respected in Korumburra for his community work and lives a humble life.
He rarely became emotional during evidence but struggled when the court discussed the sickness faced by his wife.
In many ways, he was Ms Patterson’s shadow, sitting just a few metres from her as she was flanked by court security, he also struggled to accept her claim that she had defecated on the side of the road on the day after the meal was served.
This, she claimed, was because she had the runs after eating some of the beef Wellington.
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