Here are the biggest takeaways so far from Erin Patterson's testimony in her murder trial

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Accused triple-murderer Erin Patterson has continued to give evidence in her own trial as it edges closer to an end.
Ms Patterson's defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, called her to the stand late on Monday to begin questioning her.
The 50-year-old has been charged with murder and attempted murder after three relatives died from death cap mushroom poisoning following a meal prepared and served by Ms Patterson.
Another relative, Ian Wilkinson, fell seriously ill but survived.
While Ms Patterson is expected to take the stand again on Wednesday — answering questions from her defence lawyers before the prosecution has the opportunity to cross-examine her — here are some of the key things we have learned so far during her testimony.
On Tuesday, Ms Patterson conceded that the beef Wellington dish she prepared for her relatives contained death cap mushrooms.
"Do you accept that there must have been death cap mushrooms in [the meal]?" her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked.
"Yes, I do," Ms Patterson replied.
Ms Patterson has always maintained her innocence and her lawyers argue the deaths were a tragic accident.
She told the court the majority of the mushrooms used in the deadly meal had come from the local Woolworths in Leongatha and some from a grocer in Melbourne.
She said mushrooms she purchased from an Asian grocer in April 2023 smelt "very pungent", so she put them in a container and took them back to her Leongatha home to store them.
Earlier in the trial, the jury was shown messages sent between Ms Patterson and some of her online friends criticising her in-laws.
In one of those messages, Ms Patterson wrote: "This family I swear to f***ing go".
"I'm sick of this shit, I want nothing to do with them … So f*** 'em," another message read.
On Tuesday, she told the court she wished she had never said those things.
The court heard that Ms Patterson regretted the language she had used and "played up the emotion" to get support from her online friends.
In previously heard evidence, a Facebook friend of Ms Patterson said she was openly an atheist and had described clashes with her estranged husband, Simon, stemming from his rigid religious beliefs.
But on Tuesday, Ms Patterson confirmed to the jury that she was Christian.
"They would gently make fun of the fact that I was religious, and I would try to, I don't know, evangelise back to them in a sense," she said when asked about the online comments she made to friends that she was an atheist.
"But it was all in good humour."
Ms Patterson outlined to the jury that she developed an interest in wild mushrooms while going on walks during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.
She told the court she noticed lots of them popping up at the Korumburra Botanical Gardens during those walks.
Eventually, she said, she became confident in her ability to identify different species of mushrooms, even eating some she picked herself.
"They tasted good and I didn't get sick," she said.
The court also heard that Ms Patterson would dehydrate mushrooms she foraged as well as some she purchased from the store to dry and preserve them.
Previously, the court heard she lied to police about owning a food dehydrator and foraging for mushrooms.
During her testimony on Tuesday, Ms Patterson recounted experiences that had damaged her trust in the medical system, including health episodes involving her children where she felt her concerns were not being listened to.
She told the jury she often turned to "Doctor Google", including one time when she convinced herself that she had a brain tumour.
She admitted to the jury that she never had ovarian cancer but that she had been experiencing chronic headaches, fatigue, abdominal pain, sudden weight gain and fluid retention.
Throughout the trial, the court has heard a cancer diagnosis was the reason Ms Patterson invited her guests to the lunch in question.
She also told the court she never had a needle biopsy on a lump on her elbow, which she spoke to her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, about in messages shown to the jury.
Ms Patterson outlined that she had had body image issues since she was a teenager and said that her mother had weighed her weekly as a child.
"I've tried every diet under the sun … it's been a rollercoaster over the years," she said.
Ms Patterson was visibly emotional when she spoke about being bulimic and binge eating.
Ms Patterson spoke about multiple separations between her and her estranged husband, Simon.
During her evidence, she said the separation was "difficult" but the pair "went back to just being really good friends".
"I didn't want to separate, but I felt there was no choice," she said on Tuesday.
"Our primary problem was, if we had a disagreement or any kind of conflict, we didn't seem to be able to talk about it in a way where either of us felt heard or understood.
"We just felt hurt, and we didn't really know how to do that well."
Ms Patterson told the court she had put three properties under her and Simon's names because she "wanted some way to demonstrate to Simon [that] I see a future for us".
Simon previously gave evidence of the pair's tumultuous relationship.
"I'll put it this way, she would leave each time … it was always her leaving me," he previously told the court.