Videos from mushroom murder trial released

Perth Now

3 days ago

Footage of Erin Patterson speaking with detectives at the table where she served her deadly lunch has been released, almost a month after she was convicted of three murders.
The Victorian Supreme Court has also released a second clip of Patterson disposing of a food dehydrator, which was used as critical evidence to prosecute the convicted mushroom cook killer.
Patterson, 50, was found guilty on July 7 of murdering her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson.
The jury found she deliberately served the four people beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home in regional Victoria on July 29, 2023.
Both videos were played during the 11-week trial in Morwell.
The first clip is dated August 2, 2023, and shows CCTV of Patterson dumping a food dehydrator at Koonwarra Transfer Station.
She is seen getting out of her red SUV and pulling a black dehydrator from the boot before she placed it in an e-waste bin inside a green shed.
The dehydrator, which police seized from a tip days after the meal, contained traces of death cap mushrooms.
The other video released, dated August 5, 2023, shows Patterson sitting at her dining table with Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell.
Leaning on her hand, Patterson appears to engage in conversation in the moments following a police raid on her home, during which electronic items, including a phone and computer were seized.
Det Sgt Farrell is heard thanking Patterson for her patience before requesting her phone and asking for the passcode.
She then hands over the phone.
The Supreme Court had released dozens of pieces of evidence that helped prosecutors secure the convictions within hours of the guilty verdicts in July.
They included photos showing remnants of beef Wellington leftovers as they were tested by toxicologists, after police found them inside a bin at Patterson's home
A video of Patterson discharging herself from Leongatha Hospital minutes after she had arrived was also previously released, while images of her at the hospital revealed a pink phone police say they never recovered.
Patterson, who is facing the possibility of life behind bars, will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing later in 2025.
After her sentence is handed down, she will have 28 days to file an appeal.