Mushroom cook crying, emotional in hospital after lunch
Accused triple murderer Erin Patterson "became emotional" and cried about her children after taking herself to hospital two days after serving a poisonous beef Wellington, a jury has been told.
Nurse Mairim Cespon on Thursday took the jury in Patterson's trial back to her interactions with the mushroom cook at hospital on July 31, 2023.
Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges and one attempted murder over a lunch she cooked at her home two days earlier, on July 29.
Three of her lunch guests - Patterson's former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66 - died in hospital days after consuming the meal.
The mother-of-two claims it was a terrible accident and she did not intentionally poison any of her guests, including Heather's husband Ian who survived the meal.
The jury has been told Patterson suffered diarrhoea after eating the beef Wellington and took herself to her local hospital at Leongatha in regional Victoria on July 31, where she initially appeared for a few minutes before discharging herself.
Ms Cespon, who had also treated Heather and Ian, said she let Patterson back into the hospital when she returned less than two hours later.
"She was nauseated, she had diarrhoea, but she wasn't vomiting," the nurse told the jury of 14.
Ms Cespon said she was settling Patterson into a cubicle in the hospital's urgent care section when doctor Chris Webster came in and had a conversation about her two children.
Dr Webster told Patterson the kids needed to be medically reviewed as they might have ingested toxins since they ate leftovers from the meal, Ms Cespon said.
"Erin became emotional, she was crying, she was saying is it necessary if her kids didn't eat the mushrooms, they didn't have any symptoms," Ms Cespon said.
"She didn't want them to be stressed or panicked ... for the kids to be pulled out of school to be assessed."
The nurse said she helped Patterson go to the toilet several times and asked her to use a pan that looked like a "witch's hat" to catch her bowel movements.
"When I was about to collect it she did mention 'it does look like it's wee but it was a bowel motion'," Ms Cespon said.
"I told her that every time she goes to the toilet just let me know, so I can have a look."
After her first bowel movement, Patterson told the nurse her pain was "seven out of 10" and she felt cramping before she opened her bowels each time.
Under questioning by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, Ms Cespon agreed it was not unusual for a bowel movement to look like that in a patient who had been suffering diarrhoea for some time.
Ms Cespon also said she handed Patterson the phone when police called after arriving at her home for a welfare check, and Patterson told officers they could break into her home to retrieve leftovers from the meal.
"She mentioned that it would be in a bin, it was food scraps from the meal, it would be inside a Woolies paper bag in the bin," she said.
"She mentioned the food scraps was the meal that she scraped from the kids', because the kids don't eat mushrooms."
The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.
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The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Lies, damn lies: The admissions and denials of an accused killer cook
The cancer Whether Patterson had cancer and had shared this with others was discussed repeatedly. Sole lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson recalled in his evidence that it was at the lethal lunch that Patterson broke the news of her cancer, telling her guests she was anxious about telling her children. Patterson's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, told the jury that while his family was sick in hospital after the lunch, his father relayed to him that Patterson had said she was going to have chemotherapy and surgery. Don told him Patterson said she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and needed help breaking the news to her two children. But Patterson told the jury on Thursday she had never been diagnosed with any type of cancer and went on to quibble with the suggestion she'd told her guests she had been. During cross-examination, this was referred to as the accused woman's 'so-called cancer diagnosis'. Instead, Patterson suggested she had researched the symptoms online for things, including stage-four cancer, because she was worried she may be very unwell. The 50-year-old denied doing so as part of any type of ploy to convince her family she was seriously ill. 'I suggest you never thought you'd have to account for this lie about having cancer because you thought the lunch guests would die,' Rogers said. 'This would allow you to tell a more convincing lie about having cancer?' Patterson replied: 'I mean, theoretically that's true, but that's not what I did. I was concerned that I had ovarian cancer, I was concerned that I had something wrong with my brain.' Patterson agreed she didn't have any medical appointments relating to cancer in the lead-up to the lunch, despite telling Gail she was undergoing medical investigations. She did, however, claim to have had a pre-surgery appointment booked for a gastric bypass to lose weight. Rogers asked Patterson if she purposely carried on the fiction that she had a serious illness. Patterson agreed. The foraging In her recorded interview with police on the afternoon of August 5, 2023, Patterson said she'd never foraged for mushrooms in the wild. 'Is that something you've done in the past?' Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall asked Patterson at the Wonthaggi police station. 'Foraged for mushrooms?' 'Never,' Patterson replied. While on the stand this week, Patterson's story changed. She told the jury she developed a love for mushrooms and an interest in foraging for them from early 2020 during the COVID lockdowns. She told the jury she started off by picking field mushrooms. Then she began picking others, such as horse mushrooms and slippery jacks, as she grew more confident in identifying the species she picked in her yard, the nearby botanical gardens and a rail trail between Korumburra, Loch and Leongatha. She said that she initially believed the mushrooms she'd used in the fatal beef Wellington were prepackaged button mushrooms from Woolworths and dried mushrooms she'd bought from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. As the investigation went on, though, she said she began to think that maybe dried foraged mushrooms had also made their way into the meal. She told the jury she now accepted that death cap mushrooms had been inside the pastry-encased parcels. While under cross-examination, Patterson agreed it was on August 1, 2023, that Simon first asked if she'd used the dehydrator to kill his parents. She said it was then that she began to wonder whether other mushrooms may have made their way into the meal. 'You agree you told police in your record of interview that you loved Don and Gail?' Rogers asked. 'Yes,' Patterson replied. Rogers: 'Surely, if you had loved them, you would've immediately notified medical authorities about there being a possibility that the foraged mushrooms had gone into the container with the Chinese mushrooms?' 'Well I didn't. I did not tell anybody,' Patterson responded. 'They did love me and I did love them. I do love them.' The dehydrator Loading A tax invoice displayed on screens across the courtroom showed the purchase of a black Sunbeam dehydrator, costing more than $200, and paid for under Erin Patterson's name, address and phone number. Patterson agreed she bought it and used it to dehydrate mushrooms before dumping it at the local tip the day after she was released from hospital because, she claimed, she panicked and feared her children could be taken away from her. In her police interview, the court heard, she denied ever owning such an appliance, or ever having one in her house. Loading 'Those are lies?' her defence lawyer asked. 'Yes,' Patterson replied. 'I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms I foraged or the meal I prepared was responsible for making people sick, and then on the Saturday, Detective Eppingstall told me that Gail and Heather had passed away.' She denied knowingly picking or dehydrating death cap mushrooms to cook and serve to her lunch guests. The prosecution case When asked by Mandy about the prosecution case against her, Patterson denied lying about using Asian grocer mushrooms or pretending to be sick after the lunch. 'I am going to ask you a series of questions now, formal questions, about what the prosecution says is the case against you,' Mandy said. 'Did you lie to people when you said that you'd only cooked one batch of mushrooms for the beef Wellingtons?' Patterson: 'No, I didn't lie.' Mandy: 'Were each of the beef Wellingtons on each of the five plates that you served up the same?' Patterson: 'Yes.' Mandy: 'Did you lie about purchasing dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in the Oakleigh area in April of 2023?' Patterson: 'No.' Mandy: 'Did you lie about using those mushrooms from the Asian grocer in the beef Wellingtons?' Patterson: 'No, I didn't.' Mandy: 'Did you pretend to be sick following the lunch?' Patterson: 'No, I didn't.' Mandy: 'Did you intentionally include death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons you prepared on 29 July?' Patterson: 'No.' 'Eye-roll emojis' Patterson was questioned about some messages to her online friends in which she appeared to mock her in-laws' faith with 'eye-roll emojis'. Patterson denied that the messages were mocking – she was frustrated that the family's only solution to her and Simon's issues were to pray, she said. Rogers read out a message Patterson sent to friends on December 6, 2022, about being told by Don that he could not adjudicate in a matter between Erin and Simon because Simon would not share his side of the story. The message, shown to the jury, concluded with two eye-rolling emojis and the sentence: 'This family, I swear to f---ing God.' Patterson told the court: 'The eye-roll emojis was in regard to that being the only solution.' Rogers showed Patterson another message, in which she wrote that Don had called her the previous night to say there could be a solution to her problem if she and Simon got together and prayed, followed by two emojis. Rogers suggested the emojis were also eye-rolling emojis. 'There's a better eye-rolling emoji than this,' Patterson said. Rogers said Patterson was mocking her in-laws' advice, and part of the mockery related to the religious component. 'I wasn't mocking, I was frustrated,' Patterson said.
9 News
5 days ago
- 9 News
Mushroom cook's 'frantic' state after guests fell ill
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Erin Patterson will continue giving evidence in her high-profile murder trial, having described her state of mind after serving a deadly mushroom meal. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder charge over the July 2023 lunch. Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 died after eating beef Wellingtons which contained death cap mushrooms, while Heather's husband Ian was the sole survivor. Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. (Marta Pascual Juanola) Accused killer Erin Patterson. (Anita Lester) Patterson, who will give evidence for a fourth day before a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria on Thursday, maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The jury has heard Patterson's account of how she felt after being told three of her ex-husband's family members were very ill in hospital. She recalled feeling "frantic" after returning from hospital and said she took a mushroom dehydrator to the rubbish tip fearing it might incriminate her given she had used it to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier. Don and Gail Patterson. (Supplied) Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. The jury was taken through text messages sent between Patterson and her former in-laws, in response to Simon's earlier evidence of "extremely aggressive" messages she had sent to a group chat after he questioned her parenting. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked the accused about her relationship with her in-laws in the months prior to that exchange. She denied any exchanges were rude or had upset or hurt anyone. "Apart from that time in December 2022 (were there) any other times (where there was) any difficulty in your relationship with them?" Mandy asked. "No there wasn't," Patterson said. courts crime murder Victoria Australia national CONTACT US Property News: The last inner Sydney suburbs where houses cost under $2m.
The Advertiser
5 days ago
- The Advertiser
Mushroom cook's 'frantic' state after guests fell ill
Erin Patterson will continue giving evidence in her high-profile murder trial, having described her state of mind after serving a deadly mushroom meal. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder charge over the July 2023 lunch. Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 died after eating beef Wellingtons which contained death cap mushrooms, while Heather's husband Ian was the sole survivor. Patterson, who will give evidence for a fourth day before a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria on Thursday, maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The jury has heard Patterson's account of how she felt after being told three of her ex-husband's family members were very ill in hospital. She recalled feeling "frantic" after returning from hospital and said she took a mushroom dehydrator to the rubbish tip fearing it might incriminate her given she had used it to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier. Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. The jury was taken through text messages sent between Patterson and her former in-laws, in response to Simon's earlier evidence of "extremely aggressive" messages she had sent to a group chat after he questioned her parenting. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked the accused about her relationship with her in-laws in the months prior to that exchange. She denied any exchanges were rude or had upset or hurt anyone. "Apart from that time in December 2022 (were there) any other times (where there was) any difficulty in your relationship with them?" Mr Mandy asked. "No there wasn't," Patterson said. The trial continues. Erin Patterson will continue giving evidence in her high-profile murder trial, having described her state of mind after serving a deadly mushroom meal. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder charge over the July 2023 lunch. Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 died after eating beef Wellingtons which contained death cap mushrooms, while Heather's husband Ian was the sole survivor. Patterson, who will give evidence for a fourth day before a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria on Thursday, maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The jury has heard Patterson's account of how she felt after being told three of her ex-husband's family members were very ill in hospital. She recalled feeling "frantic" after returning from hospital and said she took a mushroom dehydrator to the rubbish tip fearing it might incriminate her given she had used it to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier. Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. The jury was taken through text messages sent between Patterson and her former in-laws, in response to Simon's earlier evidence of "extremely aggressive" messages she had sent to a group chat after he questioned her parenting. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked the accused about her relationship with her in-laws in the months prior to that exchange. She denied any exchanges were rude or had upset or hurt anyone. "Apart from that time in December 2022 (were there) any other times (where there was) any difficulty in your relationship with them?" Mr Mandy asked. "No there wasn't," Patterson said. The trial continues. Erin Patterson will continue giving evidence in her high-profile murder trial, having described her state of mind after serving a deadly mushroom meal. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder charge over the July 2023 lunch. Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 died after eating beef Wellingtons which contained death cap mushrooms, while Heather's husband Ian was the sole survivor. Patterson, who will give evidence for a fourth day before a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria on Thursday, maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The jury has heard Patterson's account of how she felt after being told three of her ex-husband's family members were very ill in hospital. She recalled feeling "frantic" after returning from hospital and said she took a mushroom dehydrator to the rubbish tip fearing it might incriminate her given she had used it to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier. Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. The jury was taken through text messages sent between Patterson and her former in-laws, in response to Simon's earlier evidence of "extremely aggressive" messages she had sent to a group chat after he questioned her parenting. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked the accused about her relationship with her in-laws in the months prior to that exchange. She denied any exchanges were rude or had upset or hurt anyone. "Apart from that time in December 2022 (were there) any other times (where there was) any difficulty in your relationship with them?" Mr Mandy asked. "No there wasn't," Patterson said. The trial continues. Erin Patterson will continue giving evidence in her high-profile murder trial, having described her state of mind after serving a deadly mushroom meal. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder charge over the July 2023 lunch. Her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 died after eating beef Wellingtons which contained death cap mushrooms, while Heather's husband Ian was the sole survivor. Patterson, who will give evidence for a fourth day before a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria on Thursday, maintains the poisonings were not deliberate. The jury has heard Patterson's account of how she felt after being told three of her ex-husband's family members were very ill in hospital. She recalled feeling "frantic" after returning from hospital and said she took a mushroom dehydrator to the rubbish tip fearing it might incriminate her given she had used it to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier. Patterson had earlier conceded she may have unintentionally added foraged wild mushrooms into the beef Wellingtons she made for the lunch. The jury was taken through text messages sent between Patterson and her former in-laws, in response to Simon's earlier evidence of "extremely aggressive" messages she had sent to a group chat after he questioned her parenting. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked the accused about her relationship with her in-laws in the months prior to that exchange. She denied any exchanges were rude or had upset or hurt anyone. "Apart from that time in December 2022 (were there) any other times (where there was) any difficulty in your relationship with them?" Mr Mandy asked. "No there wasn't," Patterson said. The trial continues.
