Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook set to return to witness box for third day of giving evidence
The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef Wellington dish is poised to continue giving evidence when her trial resumes on Wednesday, after new details on the fatal lunch were revealed.
For the last two days, Erin Patterson, 50, has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023, telling the court on Tuesday she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and that dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months due to their 'pungent' aroma.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder relating to the lunch with her estranged husband's family.
Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived.
Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident.
After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC called his client as a witness and Ms Patterson began giving evidence.
Over two days she answered extensive questions about her relationships with Simon Patterson and his family, health concerns, financial situation and her love of mushrooms.
Shortly before the jury was sent home on Tuesday, Ms Patterson agreed that her lunch 'must' have contained the poisonous mushrooms.
She told the court when preparing the dish, she used fresh mushrooms purchased from the local Leongatha Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased months earlier in April from an Asian grocer in Melbourne.
Ms Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they has a 'very pungent' aroma.
Instead, she told the jury, she brought them home and stored them in a Tupperware container in the pantry.
She also confirmed she'd begun foraging for wild mushrooms in 2020 and had purchased a dehydrator to preserve mushrooms in early 2023.
'I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season and you can't keep them in the fridge,' she said.
Ms Patterson told the jury she would store dried mushrooms in her pantry.
'Generally, I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there,' she said.
The final question Ms Patterson was asked of the day was if she had a memory of putting wild mushrooms in May or June 2023 into a container that already contained mushrooms
'Yes, I did do that,' she said.
The trial continues.
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