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The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
A jury is deciding the fate of an Australian woman accused of 3 murders by mushroom poisoning
A jury in Australia began deliberations Monday in the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson, accused of killing her estranged husband's relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch. Three of Patterson's four lunch guests — her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson — died in the hospital after the 2023 meal at her home in Leongatha, at which she served individual beef Wellington pastries containing death cap mushrooms. She is accused of attempting to murder the fourth, Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who was gravely ill but survived. During the nine-week Supreme Court trial in the state of Victoria, Patterson gave evidence in her own defense. The 50-year-old mother of two faces life in prison if convicted. Jury must decide if mushroom cook meant to kill It isn't disputed that Patterson served her guests the toxic mushrooms or that the meal killed them. But the jury must decide whether she meant for them to die. Prosecutors in the case, which has gripped Australia for two years, said the accused woman researched, foraged and served the mushrooms deliberately and lied to investigators to cover her tracks. Their case against Patterson included that she disposed of a food dehydrator after the fatal meal and reset her phone multiple times. The prosecution said she lied about having a dire medical diagnosis to ensure her guests attended the lunch, cooked individual pastries to avoid poisoning herself, and faked symptoms to make it look as though she fell ill, too. But Patterson's lawyers said the poisoning was a terrible accident caused by a pantry mix-up of store-bought and wild mushrooms, which she didn't know they were death caps. The defense case was that Patterson wasn't as ill as the other diners because she induced vomiting after the meal due to an eating disorder. The accused lied to the police that she had never foraged mushrooms or owned a dehydrator out of panic, her lawyers said. Patterson denied telling her lunch guests she had a confirmed diagnosis of cancer. Prosecutors offered no motive Justice Christopher Beale spent four days summarizing the case to jurors before their deliberations began, urging them not to be swayed by bias or prejudice, or by sympathy for the families of those who died. Patterson's lies, some of which she admitted during her evidence, could be used to assess her credibility but didn't mean she was guilty of murder, Justice Beale said. Prosecutors didn't offer a motive for the alleged killings and weren't required to. But they suggested a deteriorating relationship between the accused and her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, as well as her exasperation with her former in-laws, which she expressed to friends on social media months before the deaths. The defense said Erin Patterson had a positive and loving relationship with her lunch guests, who included her children's only living grandparents, and that she had no reason to kill them. Justice Beale highlighted in his summary of the case the fleeting and minor nature of the past disputes. Simon Patterson was invited to the fatal lunch but didn't go. Jurors will remain sequestered A 14-member jury has been hearing the case, but 12 were selected by ballot Monday to decide the verdict. The jury will remain sequestered, meaning they will stay together in court-appointed accommodation until they reach a unanimous decision. The lengthy trial in the town of Morwell, Victoria, has drawn queues of people eager to watch proceedings each day.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Jury in Australia's mushroom murder trial retires to consider verdict
MORWELL, Australia, June 30 (Reuters) - The jury in the trial of an Australian woman who allegedly murdered three elderly relatives of her estranged husband using poisonous mushrooms retired to consider its verdict on Monday, in a case that has gripped the country. Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, in July 2023. The prosecution alleges she served them death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington alongside mashed potato and green beans, before destroying evidence and lying to the police and medical workers to cover up her crimes. She denies the charges, that carry a life sentence, with her defence calling the deaths "a terrible accident". On Monday, presiding judge Justice Christopher Beale ended a five-day summary of the evidence to the jury capping some of the final court proceedings in the trial, now in its tenth week. Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving lunch guest who has attended almost every day of the trial, sat with relatives a few feet from Erin Patterson, seated in the dock at the rear of the court. The case at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, a former coal mining town whose best-known tourist attractions until the trial were a rose garden and a regional art gallery, has fascinated Australia. Members of the public have queued for hours for the limited seats in Court 4 where the trial is taking place, while television crews and photographers have been camped outside the building. State broadcaster ABC's daily podcast on the trial is the country's most popular, while several documentaries on the case are already in production.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Erin Patterson: Jury starts deliberations in mushroom murder trial
The jury in the high-profile murder trial of an Australian woman accused of cooking a deadly mushroom lunch for relatives has retired to decide her Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to four charges - three of murder and one of attempted murder - over the beef Wellington lunch at her regional Victorian house in July prosecution have claimed Ms Patterson knowingly put toxic death cap mushrooms into the home-cooked meal, before lying to police and disposing of the defence argue Ms Patterson accidentally included the poisonous fungi in the dish and only lied because she panicked after hurting people she loved. Ms Patterson's in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all fell ill and died days after the lunch in husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered after weeks in an induced coma. Simon Patterson, the accused's estranged husband, had been invited to the lunch too, but pulled out the day Monday, Justice Christopher Beale gave his final instructions to the 14-member jury, summing up evidence from the prosecution and the sole defence witness, Ms almost two months and more than 50 witnesses, the final 12 jurors were decided by a ballot before the group retired for deliberations. In her closing arguments, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said Ms Patterson has "told so many lies it's hard to keep track of them".The prosecution alleged Ms Patterson lied to her relatives about a cancer diagnosis to convince them to attend the fatal lunch, poisoned them and then faked an illness to cover her Patterson's further lies to police and medical staff about foraging for wild mushrooms, as well as her decision to dump a food dehydrator used to prepare the meal, were evidence of her guilt, they argued."She has told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her," Nanette Rogers said."When she knew her lies had been uncovered, she came up with a carefully constructed narrative to fit with the evidence – almost."There was no "particular motive" for the alleged crime, Dr Rogers told the court, but the jury should still have "no difficulty" in rejecting the argument "this was all a horrible foraging accident".However, the defence argued the lack of motive was key. Ms Patterson had no reason to kill her guests, they Ms Patterson's evidence, she told the jury she was very close to her in-laws and never intended to harm them. As she was preparing the lunch, Ms Patterson claimed she added mushrooms from a container in her pantry that she now realised may have included both store-bought and foraged mushrooms. She also told the court she had suffered from bulimia for years, and had made herself throw up after the beef Wellington meal - something her defence team says explains why she did not become as sick as the others who ate lie about having cancer was because she was embarrassed about plans to get weight-loss surgery, Ms Patterson said, and she didn't tell authorities the truth about her mushroom foraging hobby because she feared they might blame her for making her relatives sick. "She's not on trial for lying," defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC, "this is not a court of moral judgment".He accused the prosecution of trying to force "puzzle pieces" of evidence together, "stretching interpretations, ignoring alternative explanations because they don't align perfectly with the narrative".In his final instructions, Justice Beale told the jury members they alone are the "judges of the facts in this case".He said they should not convict Ms Patterson simply for lying, as there are "all sorts of reasons why a person might behave in a way that makes the person look guilty".He added that while "any reasonable person would feel great sympathy" for the Patterson and Wilkinson families, jurors also must not allow themselves to be swayed by jury has now been sequestered, which means that while they deliberate, they will stay in supervised accommodation where they will have little to no contact with the outside world until they have reached a decision.
