Ian Wilkinson says Gail and Heather offered to help Erin Patterson serve the food, but ‘the offer was rejected’
Ian Wilkinson, the only guest that survived the lunch, has for the first time shared details about the meal Erin Patterson allegedly laced with death cap mushrooms.
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Mushroom lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson says Erin Patterson refused help from two of her guests when serving up the deadly meal, telling a jury the accused triple murderer plated “all of the food” herself.
For the first time, Ian publicly revealed details about the lunch at Ms Patterson’s trial in Morwell, where she stands accused of murdering his wife, Heather Wilkinson, 66, as well as her sister Gail Patterson and her husband Don, both 70.
They died after she served them a beef wellington lunch allegedly laced with lethal death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Ian, 71, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the only guest to survive and took to the witness box on Tuesday in the second week of her highly anticipated trial.
Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, claiming what happened was “a tragedy and a terrible accident”.
THE PLATES
The Supreme Court heard the Pattersons drove the Wilkinsons to the lunch, arriving at the Gibson St home about 12.30pm.
Soon after, Ian said the individual beef wellingtons, served with mashed potato and green beans, were plated up by the accused at the kitchen bench.
“There were four, large grey dinner plates and one smaller plate, a different colour,” Ian replied, when asked by Crown prosecutor Jane Warren.
“It was an orangey-tan sort of colour.”
He said Gail and Heather stood at the bench opposite Ms Patterson, who was on the “kitchen side” of the bench, while he and Don stood further away near the table.
Ian told the court Gail and Heather had offered to help her serve the food, but “the offer was rejected”.
“Erin plated … all of the food,” he said.
According to Ian, Gail and Heather each took two grey plates to the table, while Ms Patterson carried the orangey-tan plate.
He said the guests ate off the grey plates.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC suggested that a set of four plates was not used for the lunch, but Ian replied: “My memory is that there were four plates that were the same.”
The court heard there was no seating arrangement, with the guests free to sit at any of six seats before they said grace.
Ian and Heather ate their entire meal, Gail ate the vegetables and half the beef wellington, while Don ate his entire meal and his wife’s leftover beef wellington.
Ian said he could not be certain how much Ms Patterson ate.
A cake brought by Gail and a fruit platter made by Heather was also served, but not much was eaten.
THE CONVERSATIONS
After the lunch, Ian said Ms Patterson revealed to her guests she had cancer.
“She said that she was very concerned because she believed it was very serious, life threatening,” he said.
“She was anxious about telling the kids. She was asking our advice about that.”
He said the conversation was fairly short, estimating it went for 10 minutes.
“I didn’t quite catch what she said but I thought it was … ovarian or cervical cancer.”
Under cross-examination, Mr Mandy suggested to Ian that Ms Patterson had said she had a “suspected diagnosis” of cancer.
Ian replied: “I think she was saying that she had cancer because she went on to talk about a diagnostic scan of some sort which showed a tumour.”
The defence last week conceded she had not been diagnosed with cancer.
Ian told the court he led the group in prayer after lunch.
“I prayed … asking God’s blessing on Erin that she would get the treatment that she needed, that the kids would be OK (and) that she’d have wisdom in how she told the kids.”
The court also heard Gail and Heather had a conversation about Ms Patterson’s pantry when they arrived.
“Heather was very interested in pantries at that time because we’d just built one at home,” Ian told the court, smiling.
He said he noticed Ms Patterson was “very reluctant” to show the women the pantry, but added that he thought it may have “been a mess” and she would be embarrassed if everyone took a peek.
THE SYMPTOMS
Ian and Heather made “fairly regular” trips to the toilet with gastro-like symptoms the night of the lunch, the court heard.
By dawn, the Wilkinsons found out the Pattersons were also sick.
Ian said he spoke to another church member and arranged to send his sermon notes so they could run the service in his absence.
His nephew Simon, Ms Patterson’s estranged husband, drove them to Leongatha Hospital.
Ian said doctors first suspected they had food poisoning.
“My memory was that suspicion was falling on the meat,” he said.
But they were abruptly woken by nurses the next morning after Dandenong Hospital indicated the symptoms were consistent with “suspected mushroom poisoning”.
Ian said the last thing he remembered was being given a charcoal substance as a drink.
As his condition deteriorated, he was sedated and transferred to Austin Hospital.
Unlike his wife of almost 50 years, Ian recovered from the poisoning and was discharged on September 11 to a rehabilitation hospital in Heidelberg.
The jury also heard on Tuesday from paramedic Cindy Hyde, nurse Lisa Shannon and doctor Beth Morgan, who treated Don and Gail the day after the lunch.
Dr Morgan said Don was administered N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to protect his liver.
But she said an antidote to death cap mushroom poisoning, silibinin, was not administered.
“At that time, we had no evidence that anyone else was unwell or that anyone else was experiencing the metabolic acidosis, kidney injury or liver injury,” she said.
The court heard another doctor contacted police after discovering Ms Patterson had discharged herself against medical advice.
THE INVITATION
Ian recalled Heather was “fairly excited” when they were invited to lunch at Ms Patterson’s home, adding that they were “very happy” to attend.
“It seemed like maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve,” he said.
Heather penned the date in her diary, which was shown to the jury.
He said he and Ms Patterson were “more like acquaintances”, with Ian describing their relationship as not having “much depth”.
When asked what type of person Ms Patterson was, Ian paused and said: “She just seemed like a normal person.”
“We never had arguments or disputes.”
THE DEHYDRATOR
Darren Fox, who ran a Betta Home Living in Leongatha, also gave evidence, telling the court one of his employees sold a Sunbeam dehydrator to Ms Patterson for $229.
The jury was shown a tax invoice with her details from April 28, 2023.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.
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Originally published as Ian Wilkinson says Gail and Heather offered to help Erin Patterson serve the food, but ‘the offer was rejected’
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