Erin Patterson ‘never asked’ about dying family members after mushroom lunch, court hears
Simon Patterson, the estranged husband of accused mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson, has told a jury he was “intrigued” that she failed to ask him a particular question after the fateful lunch.
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The estranged husband of accused mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson says she never asked him about the conditions of his relatives as they lay dying in hospital after eating a lunch at her home, a jury has heard.
Simon Patterson returned to the witness box on Friday for his second day of evidence in Ms Patterson’s trial in Morwell, where she stands accused of murdering his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
The three family members died after Ms Patterson served them beef wellingtons allegedly laced with lethal death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023, with Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 71, the only guest to survive.
Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, claiming what happened was a “tragedy and a terrible accident”.
Under cross-examination, Simon was asked by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC whether he passed on to Ms Patterson the “seriousness” of his relatives’ conditions as they deteriorated in hospital.
He replied: “It intrigued me that she never actually asked.”
When pushed by Mr Mandy to answer the question, he said: “We didn’t have that conversation, I don’t think, at any time.”
The Supreme Court jury was shown several tense messages between Simon and his estranged wife, including one exchange from December 2022 where the pair talk about child support.
“I think we can fairly easily sort that out along the lines of what you’ve been discussing with mum and dad,” he texted Ms Patterson.
“I intend to ask a mediator to help you and me communicate about this.”
When asked by Mr Mandy about these messages, Simon said Ms Patterson was being “extremely aggressive” so he thought a mediator would probably help them to communicate.
Two months earlier, they messaged about Gail’s 70 birthday party at a local pub, with Ms Patterson claiming her invite to the event seemed like an “afterthought”.
She wrote: “I might pass thanks, as I’d rather not go somewhere I’m not welcome.”
“What I reckon is that everybody forgot to actually invite me to this thing and I feel very, very hurt about that,” she added.
Hours later, after she agreed she would come to the birthday, she apologised.
“I was feeling very hurt and lashed out. It’s no excuse. I’d like to not do that again.”
In another exchange shown to the jury, from November 2022, Ms Patterson asked Simon to pay for a medical bill relating to one of their children.
“The Department of Human Services instructed me not to pay you anything from now on, so I cannot pay you, I’m afraid,” Simon texted her.
“It’s not paying me, it’s paying his anaesthetist,” she said.
“Yes, that’s exactly the kind of thing they explicitly instructed me not to pay for,” he replied.
The prosecution on Wednesday alleged Ms Patterson had invited the lunch guests to her home “on the pretence” she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and wanted their advice on how to tell the children.
Simon told the jury she had never told him she was concerned about having ovarian cancer, but recounted a conversation he had with his father, Don, after the lunch.
“I came out of that … believing that Erin had had a diagnosis of cancer or at least she’d told him that she’d had a diagnosis of cancer,” Simon said.
The defence has admitted Ms Patterson has never been diagnosed with cancer.
Simon will return to the witness box on Monday.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
Missed something? Catch up on mushroom trial coverage from previous days here.
Originally published as Erin Patterson ‘never asked’ about dying family members after mushroom lunch, court hears
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