Erin Patterson trial: Jury set to hear first piece of evidence in mushroom murder trial

Jurors in the triple-murder trial of Erin Patterson over the alleged mushroom poisoning of her in-laws will hear from the first witness on Thursday.

Jurors in the triple-murder trial of Erin Patterson will hear from the first witness would be when the case returns to court on Thursday.

Ms Patterson, 50, is facing trial over the alleged death cap mushroom poisonings of her estranged husband’s parents and aunt and uncle at a lunch she hosted on July 29, 2023, at her Leongatha home.

The mother-of-two has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, arguing at trial the presence of poisonous mushrooms in her beef wellington dish was not intentional and not deliberate.

Ms Patterson maintains her innocence and is arguing the deaths were due to an accidental poisoning. Picture: Brooke Grebert-Craig.

Delivering her opening remarks to the jury over the course of about three hours on Wednesday, crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said there were “a lot” of witnesses and the prosecution would seek to present the case in a “chronological order”.

“We will do our best to play or call the witnesses in a rough chronological order but sometimes this isn’t always possible,” she said.

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson intended to kill the lunch guests attending her home after inviting them with the “false claim” of a cancer diagnosis.

“It is the prosecution case that the accused deliberately poisoned, with murderous intent, each … after inviting them for lunch on the pretence that she’d been diagnosed with cancer and needed advice about how to break it to the children,” she said.

“It is the prosecution case that the accused used the false claim that she had serious medical issues to ensure and to explain why the children would not be present at the lunch on July 29.”

Don and Gail Patterson died after eating the beef wellington dish. Picture: Supplied

Her husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital in the weeks after the gathering.

Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill but recovered.

Ian Wilkinson survived while his wife Heather Wilkinson died. Picture: Supplied

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC told the jury Ms Patterson did not dispute that the four lunch guests consumed deadly death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home.

“The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests at that lunch,” he said.

“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident.”

The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, is expected to last for up to six weeks.

Originally published as Erin Patterson trial: Jury set to hear first piece of evidence in mushroom murder trial