Erin Patterson triple-murder trial concludes its second week

Australia Broadcast Center

09-05-2025

In a grey-walled interview room, a bearded police officer leans across a table to meet the eyes of a nine-year-old girl.
He introduces himself as Jason. She sits in a green armchair, swinging her legs playfully — they don't reach the floor, her peach-coloured sneakers dangling mid-air. On the table between them sit a box of tissues, a tub of coloured pencils, and Jason's thick folder of notes.
"We're going to talk about what it means to tell the truth," the officer begins gently.
The girl pauses, before explaining that the truth is "what has happened".
Jason is satisfied. He continues, "It's important to tell me only what really happened.
"Why do you think you're here?" he asks.
"The lunch," the girl answers softly.
It's August 16, 2023.
The lunch the girl referred to took place nearly three weeks earlier.
She tells the officer she wasn't there when the food was served, but knows her grandmother, grandfather, great-aunt, and great-uncle had been invited by her mother, Erin Patterson.
Now, three of them were dead. One had survived. Police were investigating how the quiet family gathering in Leongatha, a small country town, had turned fatal.
The girl's police interview was played in court during the second week of Erin Patterson's trial in the Supreme Court in Morwell.
Erin Patterson, 50, stands accused of intentionally poisoning her four lunch guests — Don and Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband, Ian — by serving them beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty, with her legal team insisting the incident was a "terrible accident".
So far, each witness in the trial has taken an oath or affirmation to tell the truth — just like the girl in the green chair.
Ian Wilkinson, a church pastor and the only guest who survived, told the court that Erin Patterson had invited the group to lunch at her home. He said she ate from a different-coloured plate to everyone else. Prosecutors allege the contents of her plate were different, too.
According to the prosecution, the four guests were served meals containing deadly mushrooms. Patterson's serving, they allege, contained none.
There is no dispute that all five adults who attended the lunch — including Erin Patterson — were later hospitalised. But Erin Patterson's medical journey was vastly different to the others, the court heard.
A day after the lunch on July 29, 2023, Don and Gail Patterson and the Wilkinsons were violently ill with vomiting and diarrhoea. Doctors initially suspected food poisoning, but quickly escalated their concerns. Lab tests pointed to amanita phalloides — the death cap.
Beth Morgan, who treated Don Patterson, told the jury about his AST levels. AST is a liver enzyme that typically measures between 5 and 35. Don's reading was 583.
"I was quite concerned that there was evidence of liver damage," she said.
Meanwhile, medical staff testified that Erin Patterson arrived at hospital a full day later.
Even though she reported an upset stomach, she did not appear to be suffering the intense symptoms that had hit the others.
"She didn't look unwell to me," Leongatha Hospital nurse Cindy Munro said.
However Veronica Foote, another doctor involved in treating Erin Patterson, said nurses had reported the Erin Patterson suffering from ongoing diarrhoea.
Dr Foote said Erin Patterson had recorded a high heart rate, a possible symptom of dehydration.
Several of Ms Munro's colleagues testified they had to persuade Erin Patterson to accept treatment and urged her to bring her children in for examination — after she told them they'd eaten beef Wellington leftovers.
According to prosecutors, that claim contained both a lie and a truth.
When police later interviewed Erin Patterson's children, they said their mother served them food she described as leftovers from the family lunch a day earlier. The kids said they felt fine afterwards. Medical tests confirmed they were unharmed.
Prosecutors argue that what the children — and Erin Patterson — ate was not the same as what was served to the four older guests. Crucially, they allege, it did not contain death cap mushrooms.
The trial, which began on April 29, is expected to run for several more weeks.
In his jury instructions, Justice Christopher Beale reminded the panel that Erin Patterson was presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
"It is for you to judge whether the witnesses are honest and accurate," he said.
"This is something you do all the time in your daily lives. There is no special skill involved. You just need to use your common sense."
As jurors weigh the testimony of forensic experts, family members, medical professionals — and a softly-spoken nine-year-old girl — they will need to determine if a murder plot was the true intent of Erin Patterson's family lunch.