Mushroom trial mother accused of poisoning her in laws dumped a kitchen item used to make death cap lunch, court hears

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A woman accused of poisoning her in-laws at a lunch admitted on Wednesday that she dumped a kitchen device used to prepare the meal laced with death cap mushrooms.
Erin Patterson, 50, said she disposed of the food dehydrator at a local tip because she feared she would be blamed for making her relatives ill and her children would be taken from her, a court heard.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to killing her estranged husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, in July 2023.
They died after eating death cap mushrooms served in a beef wellington at Patterson's home in Victoria, Australia.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who survived.
On her third day in the witness box, Patterson told the court she dumped the dehydrator after dropping off her children at school days after the lunch.
Jurors heard how child protection officers had been on their way to interview Patterson after becoming aware death cap mushrooms were suspected of being served at the lunch.
Patterson claimed she became worried she might be blamed for deliberately poisoning her in-laws after a conversation with husband Simon Patterson at hospital on August 2.
She said he had asked her 'Is that how you poisoned my parents?' – to which she responded: 'Of course not.'
The exchange saw her break down in tears as she claimed it got her thinking about all the times she had used the dehydrator, for instance to dry foraged mushrooms weeks earlier.
'What if they got in the container with the Chinese mushrooms? Maybe that had happened,' she said.
Patterson previously told the jury at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Victoria that foraged mushrooms may have been added to a jar she had containing mushrooms bought from the local supermarket.
The court heard Patterson said she felt 'really scared' and responsible for what was happening to her guests.
When she finally returned home, Patterson claimed she started to panic and 'was frantic because I had made the meal and served it, and people had got sick'.
'And then shortly after that I took the dehydrator to the tip,' she said, adding child protection officers were coming.
'I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator,' she said. 'I was just scared that they would blame me for it… for making everyone sick. And I was scared they'd remove the children.'
Patterson also admitted she didn't tell anyone foraged mushrooms might be in the meal.
'I thought there might be evidence of that, evidence of any foraged mushrooms in there,' she said.
The jury heard how Patterson claimed to have vomited up the portion of beef wellington she ate after binge-eating all of the leftover cake that Gail had bought for dessert.
'I felt sick, over-full, so I went to the toilets and brought it back up,' she said. The trial continues.