Erin Patterson told online friends her estranged husband was controlling and coercive, court told
By Erin Pearson
Erin Patterson discussed her love of mushrooms and asked for tips on how to make beef Wellington in a true crime group chat in the weeks before she served a fatal lunch at her Leongatha home.
On day five of Patterson’s triple-murder trial, three women told the court that Patterson and others used the chat group to share their interests in true crime as well as recipes and family updates.
Erin Patterson.Credit: Jason South
One member also said Patterson said she felt her estranged husband, Simon, was controlling and coercive, and that she struggled with how religious he and his family were, feeling they put the church before her family.
Another recalled Patterson saying she was hiding powdered mushrooms “in everything” after purchasing a food dehydrator in early 2023.
Christine Hunt gave evidence from Queensland.
Christine Hunt said she met Patterson online about six years ago. Their true crime group of about 2000 members eventually whittled down to one with less than a dozen people who formed friendships.
Giving evidence via video link from Queensland, Hunt told the court Patterson was a highly regarded member of the Facebook group and was known as a “super sleuth” for her ability to research true crime.
She said that at some point, Patterson shared that she and her husband had separated and that she was concerned about him paying his share when it came to the children.
“He was very controlling and she used the word coercive at times and also that his family were very demanding. She was really challenged by their demands, particularly about the kids attending a faith-based school,” Hunt said.
“Being an atheist and Simon being from a very strong Baptist background, she found that very challenging, and the decisions around things like divorce, separation and how the kids should be educated and brought up.”
Hunt said Patterson told the group she was an atheist but attended church, which she felt took up a lot of her time.
Erin Patterson and her estranged husband Simon Patterson.Credit: Jason South
Another member of the group, Melbourne woman Daniela Barkley, first met Patterson online in 2019 and recalled Patterson later sharing details of her family, including fears her estranged husband was favouring one of the children over the other and that he was living in an unclean home.
“Sometimes she felt as though he put the church before her. I especially remember at one time when the power went out, she was very, very upset. He left the kids at home and ... instead he went to the church to set up,” Barkley said.
Witness Jenny Hay.
She said Patterson had posted photos to the group chat of her food dehydrator with mushrooms on the trays.
In one message shown to the jury, Patterson wrote: “I’ve been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea.”
Closer to the fatal July 2023 lunch, Barkley said Patterson asked for tips on how to make beef Wellington.
A third woman from the group, Jenny Hay, who gave evidence from Tasmania, said she learnt of the deaths on the news before receiving an email from Patterson asking her to call.
During the 10-minute call, Hay said Patterson told her the mushrooms she’d used in the fatal meal had come from an Asian grocer.
Don Patterson (left), Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned by a mushroom meal.
Earlier on Monday, on his third day in the witness box, Simon Patterson was asked about a discussion he had with his estranged wife at Monash hospital after she and their two children were admitted following the deadly lunch.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, said Erin and Simon had had a discussion about a dehydrator to get dried mushrooms into food for one of their kids.
“You said to Erin: ‘Is that what you used to poison them?’” Mandy asked.
Simon replied: “I did not say that.”
Simon Patterson was also taken back to evidence he gave on Friday about “inflammatory messages” Erin had sent to the family Signal chat group, which included his parents, Don and Gail Patterson.
In one long message sent on December 5, 2022, read out to the court, Erin said she was still thinking about comments made by her father-in-law that her and Simon’s child support issues could be easily solved.
In the exchange, Erin said the implication of Simon putting “separated” on his tax return in late 2022 was that she would no longer be able to claim the $15,000 annual family tax benefit.
After Don replied that he may have “misled” Erin, she said she understood Don and Gail not wanting to get involved as it was “uncomfortable and awful”.
“I respect your position, but I will continue to put messages in here on matters which I think are significant and for which I think Simon needs accountability for the difficulties he is causing me. I would hope that you as his parents would be concerned that he’s making the decisions that are in the best interests of his children, and not just operating from a place of being angry,” Erin wrote.
Months later, in July 2023, Erin invited Don and Gail, and Gail’s sister and brother-in-law, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, to lunch at her home in Victoria’s south-east. Simon was also invited, but declined at the last minute.
Don, Gail and Heather died from death cap mushroom poisoning after eating beef Wellington cooked by Erin. Ian survived after spending weeks in hospital.
Erin denies the charges against her and maintains the deaths were a tragic accident.
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