As lunch guests sickened, mushroom cook fed her children leftovers, she maintains
She shook her head and denied suggestions that she had cooked individual pastry parcels in an attempt to ensure death cap mushrooms were baked only into her lunch guests' portions and not her own.
'I suggest your only plan for the beef Wellington was to ensure the death cap mushrooms were added?' Rogers asked.
'Incorrect,' Erin Patterson responded.
On Wednesday, during her seventh day in the witness box, the accused triple-murderer issued denial after denial – she said she hadn't lied to investigators about what was in the meal as the lunch guests were seriously unwell, and said she hadn't later sent the state's health department on a wild goose chase to find dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer that prosecutors say never existed.
She also explained to the prosecution why she had purchased more than double the amount of mushrooms called for in the beef Wellington recipe – and what she did with the additional.
The Supreme Court heard the beef Wellington recipe called for 700 grams of sliced mushrooms, but shopping records show Patterson purchased about 1.75 kilograms in the lead-up to the lunch.
She says she used 750 grams to make 'special' individual parcels for her lunch guests, adding mushrooms from her pantry that she'd purchased from an Asian grocer.
The remaining kilogram, she told a jury, she ate herself over four days before the July 29, 2023 gathering.
'I suggest that is an untruth?' Rogers asked.
'I disagree,' the accused replied.
Wearing a pink shirt and black pants, the accused woman did agree that the first time she had mentioned using dried mushrooms in the lunch was during a phone call with her brother-in-law, Matthew Patterson, on July 31, 2023, when he was visiting his father at Dandenong Hospital. At this point, Erin Patterson agreed, a toxicologist there asked the family where the mushrooms in the meal might have come from.
'You knew how important it was to be truthful and accurate?' Rogers asked.
'Yeah, I did,' the accused replied.
'I suggest you knew Don's health was at stake in this phone call with Matthew Patterson?' Rogers asked.
'Yeah I knew the treatment of him was important and the information about the food was important,' Erin Patterson said.
Rogers suggested Erin Patterson's employment history working for Monash City Council meant she should have been familiar with the area and could have assisted health authorities to identify the Asian grocer where she said she'd bought dried mushrooms she'd used in the beef Wellington lunch.
'I suggest you were deliberately vague with suburb? That Asian grocer story was a deliberate lie?' Rogers asked.
'Incorrect,' the accused replied to both questions.
'Your story kept changing, I suggest?' Rogers asked.
'I don't think it did,' Patterson replied.
During her testimony on Wednesday, Erin Patterson maintained she had never travelled to the areas of Loch and Outtrim to deliberately seek out death cap mushrooms.
She was also asked about her medical records and a new statement handed to her today relating to Enrich Clinic, where the court earlier heard Patterson said she had scheduled a pre-operative appointment to get gastric band or bypass-related surgery.
But Patterson agreed on Wednesday the clinic, formerly located in Armadale and now South Yarra, does not and has never offered that type of weight-loss surgery or preoperative appointments for it.
She accepted Enrich only conducts examinations and procedures relating to skin, hair and nails. When taken through her medical records, Patterson also agreed there was no reference to being referred for gastric-bypass surgery.
Patterson is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died in the days after the meal from the effects of mushroom poisoning. Heather's husband, Ian, also ate the lunch, but survived after weeks in hospital.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder in the Supreme Court at Morwell.
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Ms Beech accepted jury members may have heard about the issue of youth crime in Victoria and how it has become "political fodder". She said the case was just about what happened between Dr Gordon and the accused at 5.27am on 13 January, 2024. "You can't send a message to the attorney-general or the premier here in this court," she said. The trial continues. A panicked teenager allegedly told friends he only realised the knife he used to stab a doctor to death "was actually going in" after two strikes. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murdering GP Ash Gordon and guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary after breaking into his home. The accused had attended a house house party in Doncaster, in Melbourne's northeast on January 12, 2024, when just after 4am the next day, he and another boy decided to "take" a black Mercedes they had seen at a home down the road, prosecutor Kristie Churchill told a Supreme Court jury on Thursday. The pair walked over to the residence, where inside the three-story townhouse and asleep in their rooms were Dr Gordon and his housemate on the first and third floors, respectively. The pair broke in by sliding under the garage door before stealing shoes, headphones, laptops and silver necklaces belonging to Dr Gordon. Upon returning to their friend's house, the boys "boasted about things they stole" and planned to return again, the prosecutor said. Two more teens joined the pair, with the four captured on CCTV wearing gloves, balaclavas, face masks and hats. The prosector alleged they again slipped under the garage door but this time, they don't go undetected. "Hello boys," Dr Gordon said, after being awoken by the intruders, prompting the teens to run outside. The GP's housemate had told him they should call police but Dr Gordon said, "We'll call them later. We need to get our stuff back". After catching up with three of the teens outside his driveway, two of them jumped the fence, leaving the accused who the GP attempted to restrain, the prosecutor said. During the scuffle, the teen allegedly pulled out a knife and inflicted 11 sharp injuries, leaving the victim laying on the ground. "One of those penetrated Dr Gordon's chest cavity which killed him," Ms Churchill said. Two teens jumped back over the fence after the accused yelled for help before one allegedly kicked the victim in the face so forcefully that his "eyes rolled into the back of his head". After fleeing, the panicked accused allegedly told the others he had "stabbed a guy" four to five times. "Shit, just killed a guy. Like he's dead bro," the accused allegedly said. "The first two times I stabbed him I didn't realise (the knife) was going in. After the next few times I realised it was actually going in." On January 14, the accused and two others met up at an apartment in Melbourne's inner-south, where they discussed fleeing the country and no snitching. Three days later, police attended the apartment and arrested the accused, where they also found a silver chain allegedly belonging to Dr Gordon. Defence barrister Amelia Beech urged the jury to look at the evidence and approach the trial as if it was a "task of the mind, not a task of the heart". Ms Beech accepted jury members may have heard about the issue of youth crime in Victoria and how it has become "political fodder". She said the case was just about what happened between Dr Gordon and the accused at 5.27am on 13 January, 2024. "You can't send a message to the attorney-general or the premier here in this court," she said. The trial continues. A panicked teenager allegedly told friends he only realised the knife he used to stab a doctor to death "was actually going in" after two strikes. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murdering GP Ash Gordon and guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary after breaking into his home. The accused had attended a house house party in Doncaster, in Melbourne's northeast on January 12, 2024, when just after 4am the next day, he and another boy decided to "take" a black Mercedes they had seen at a home down the road, prosecutor Kristie Churchill told a Supreme Court jury on Thursday. The pair walked over to the residence, where inside the three-story townhouse and asleep in their rooms were Dr Gordon and his housemate on the first and third floors, respectively. The pair broke in by sliding under the garage door before stealing shoes, headphones, laptops and silver necklaces belonging to Dr Gordon. Upon returning to their friend's house, the boys "boasted about things they stole" and planned to return again, the prosecutor said. Two more teens joined the pair, with the four captured on CCTV wearing gloves, balaclavas, face masks and hats. The prosector alleged they again slipped under the garage door but this time, they don't go undetected. "Hello boys," Dr Gordon said, after being awoken by the intruders, prompting the teens to run outside. The GP's housemate had told him they should call police but Dr Gordon said, "We'll call them later. We need to get our stuff back". After catching up with three of the teens outside his driveway, two of them jumped the fence, leaving the accused who the GP attempted to restrain, the prosecutor said. During the scuffle, the teen allegedly pulled out a knife and inflicted 11 sharp injuries, leaving the victim laying on the ground. "One of those penetrated Dr Gordon's chest cavity which killed him," Ms Churchill said. Two teens jumped back over the fence after the accused yelled for help before one allegedly kicked the victim in the face so forcefully that his "eyes rolled into the back of his head". After fleeing, the panicked accused allegedly told the others he had "stabbed a guy" four to five times. "Shit, just killed a guy. Like he's dead bro," the accused allegedly said. "The first two times I stabbed him I didn't realise (the knife) was going in. After the next few times I realised it was actually going in." On January 14, the accused and two others met up at an apartment in Melbourne's inner-south, where they discussed fleeing the country and no snitching. Three days later, police attended the apartment and arrested the accused, where they also found a silver chain allegedly belonging to Dr Gordon. Defence barrister Amelia Beech urged the jury to look at the evidence and approach the trial as if it was a "task of the mind, not a task of the heart". Ms Beech accepted jury members may have heard about the issue of youth crime in Victoria and how it has become "political fodder". She said the case was just about what happened between Dr Gordon and the accused at 5.27am on 13 January, 2024. "You can't send a message to the attorney-general or the premier here in this court," she said. The trial continues. A panicked teenager allegedly told friends he only realised the knife he used to stab a doctor to death "was actually going in" after two strikes. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murdering GP Ash Gordon and guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary after breaking into his home. The accused had attended a house house party in Doncaster, in Melbourne's northeast on January 12, 2024, when just after 4am the next day, he and another boy decided to "take" a black Mercedes they had seen at a home down the road, prosecutor Kristie Churchill told a Supreme Court jury on Thursday. The pair walked over to the residence, where inside the three-story townhouse and asleep in their rooms were Dr Gordon and his housemate on the first and third floors, respectively. The pair broke in by sliding under the garage door before stealing shoes, headphones, laptops and silver necklaces belonging to Dr Gordon. Upon returning to their friend's house, the boys "boasted about things they stole" and planned to return again, the prosecutor said. Two more teens joined the pair, with the four captured on CCTV wearing gloves, balaclavas, face masks and hats. The prosector alleged they again slipped under the garage door but this time, they don't go undetected. "Hello boys," Dr Gordon said, after being awoken by the intruders, prompting the teens to run outside. The GP's housemate had told him they should call police but Dr Gordon said, "We'll call them later. We need to get our stuff back". After catching up with three of the teens outside his driveway, two of them jumped the fence, leaving the accused who the GP attempted to restrain, the prosecutor said. During the scuffle, the teen allegedly pulled out a knife and inflicted 11 sharp injuries, leaving the victim laying on the ground. "One of those penetrated Dr Gordon's chest cavity which killed him," Ms Churchill said. Two teens jumped back over the fence after the accused yelled for help before one allegedly kicked the victim in the face so forcefully that his "eyes rolled into the back of his head". After fleeing, the panicked accused allegedly told the others he had "stabbed a guy" four to five times. "Shit, just killed a guy. Like he's dead bro," the accused allegedly said. "The first two times I stabbed him I didn't realise (the knife) was going in. After the next few times I realised it was actually going in." 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The Age
7 hours ago
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A teenager told his friends 'just killed a guy. Like, he's dead bro', after stabbing a Melbourne doctor in the driveway of a Doncaster street. The then-16-year-old had broken into the Doncaster home of doctor Ashley Gordon twice in one night to steal shoes, jewellery and electronics. The teenager also allegedly showed the bloodied knife to friends before saying he needed to burn his clothes, a court has heard. The now 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary and not guilty to a charge of murder. On the first day of the trial into the 33-year-old's alleged murder, distressing details of the doctor's final moments, and the two home invasions that preceded his death, were aired in the Supreme Court. The court heard the boy and his co-accused, who was also 16 at the time, had been drinking at a friend's party at a house in the same street as Gordon's home on the evening of January 12 last year. The other, now 17-year-old boy, has also been charged over Gordon's death and will face a separate trial. The hearing was told in the early hours of January 13 the two teenage boys began talking about stealing a black Mercedes they had seen parked in Gordon's garage. The court was told that some time after 3am the teenage boy, and his co-accused left the party and walked to Gordon's home, which he shared with his lifelong friend, Tristen Standing.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘He's full dead, bro': Distressing final moments of stabbing death of doctor aired in court
A teenager told his friends 'just killed a guy. Like, he's dead bro', after stabbing a Melbourne doctor in the driveway of a Doncaster street. The then-16-year-old had broken into the Doncaster home of doctor Ashley Gordon twice in one night to steal shoes, jewellery and electronics. The teenager also allegedly showed the bloodied knife to friends before saying he needed to burn his clothes, a court has heard. The now 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary and not guilty to a charge of murder. On the first day of the trial into the 33-year-old's alleged murder, distressing details of the doctor's final moments, and the two home invasions that preceded his death, were aired in the Supreme Court. The court heard the boy and his co-accused, who was also 16 at the time, had been drinking at a friend's party at a house in the same street as Gordon's home on the evening of January 12 last year. The other, now 17-year-old boy, has also been charged over Gordon's death and will face a separate trial. The hearing was told in the early hours of January 13 the two teenage boys began talking about stealing a black Mercedes they had seen parked in Gordon's garage. The court was told that some time after 3am the teenage boy, and his co-accused left the party and walked to Gordon's home, which he shared with his lifelong friend, Tristen Standing.
