Erin Patterson: Moment mushroom cook's husband suspected deadly lunch plot
Don Patterson, his father, called him about 8.45am on July 30, 2023, to say they had been experiencing vomiting and diarrhoea since about midnight and were waiting for an ambulance.
Don also told him Heather and Ian Wilkinson were sick too.
'I wasn't really sure what to do,' he told Patterson's trial in May.
'I tried both their mobile phones, but I didn't get an answer.'
Simon jumped in the car and drove around to his aunt and uncle's house to check in, finding them 'sick, grey and stooped'.
Despite the pair's reluctance, he convinced them they too needed to go to a hospital and took them himself after being warned an ambulance could be an hour away.
He had good reason to be worried. Within a week Don, Simon's mother, Gail Patterson and Heather would be dead, and Ian would be fighting for his life.
The quartet had eaten lunch the day prior at Simon's estranged wife Erin Patterson's home in the country Victorian town of Leongatha.
Simon himself had been invited but pulled out the night before, texting Patterson he was too uncomfortable to attend.
She responded by trying to guilt him into coming.
'That's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week preparing lunch … because I wanted it to be a special meal,' she wrote.
'I hope you'll change your mind. Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at 12.30. I hope to see you there.'
Simon's reasons for why he didn't want to attend can now be revealed after Justice Christopher Beale lifted a suppression order barring media from reporting on pre-trial rulings in the case.
During these pre-trial hearings, Simon revealed he had begun to fear his wife was poisoning him in the year before the lunch after a spate of serious but unexplained illnesses.
'I thought there was a risk she would poison me if I attended,' he said of his reason for turning down the lunch invite.
He was hospitalised in November 2021, May 2022, July 2022 and September 2022 — and over time began to believe he could trace these illnesses to meals made by Patterson.
On each occasion, Simon said he had begun experiencing gastro-like symptoms that quickly worsened.
But each time doctors were unable to identify the cause of the mystery illnesses.
On the advice of his GP Chris Ford, Simon began to trace what he had eaten before each of the illnesses in about July 2022.
'I asked him to do that because I couldn't understand why these things kept happening to him in such a way that he'd had essentially three near-death experiences,' Dr Ford told the court.
'It didn't fit into my medical models to account for anything.'
Simon told the court he initially didn't seriously entertain the possibility Patterson was poisoning him until after a conversation with his cousin Tim Patterson in about September 2022.
'When I made the spreadsheet and looked at what I'd come up with my thought was this could appear to someone else looking at this that Erin was a cause because of her cooking the food,' Simon said.
Dr Ford told the court Simon first raised the suspicion at a consult on February 21, 2023.
'I do recall, as a result, Simon elected to change his advanced care directives,' he said.
Asked if he took it seriously, Dr Ford said: 'It was a possible explanation, yes.'
'He told me his perspective of what happened,' he said.
'To me, there was no other medical reason that could fit all of the different admissions. It seemed feasible that it could be a possible explanation.'
Dr Ford and Tim Patterson were among a small group Simon shared his concerns with, including his sister Anna Terrington, brother Matthew and father Don.
Simon described his father's reaction to the news, delivered months ahead of the lunch in late February, as 'very thoughtful'.
'He said 'I suggest you don't tell too many people about that',' Simon told the court.
'I thought I had a reasonable sense why he would say that … probably because that could create issues in the way they relate, especially with Erin and our family.'
From the moment Simon learnt his parents and aunt and uncle were ill, he suspected his wife was the culprit.
He rang Dr Ford that morning to express his concerns and because the GP had promised to expend every effort to make sure toxicological testing was conducted should there be another illness.
Dr Ford said he was packing for a week-long trip, but called a colleague he knew was working on-call at Leongatha Hospital, Dr Chris Webster, to warn him there may be patients coming in.
'It was along the lines of 'Hi Chris, I know this is a bit unusual, there are two people coming to you who I suspect might have deliberate food poisoning based on previous events that have gone on with one of my patients',' he recounted of the call.
Dr Ford said he tried to call the Korumburra Hospital but could not get through, so he drove to the hospital.
He said he had a 'very similar conversation' to the one with Dr Webster, telling a doctor there was a suspicion of deliberate poisoning and to watch out for a decline in their condition.
Dr Webster told the pre-trial hearing he thought Dr Ford's call was 'bizarre' but he acknowledged the concerns and thanked him for the warning.
He said he told a nurse at the hospital they might be getting a patient from Dr Ford's church congregation, remarking: 'It looks like someone's trying to take out the church community.'
Dr Webster told the court the following morning, on July 31, he received a call from Dandenong Hospital's Dr Beth Morgan about the case.
He said Dr Morgan advised him Don and Gail had been moved to her hospital and it was now suspected the quartet had consumed death cap mushrooms.
At 8.05am that morning, Dr Webster said Erin Patterson attended the hospital and he explained there was a concern that all lunch guests, herself included, had consumed death caps.
'It was along the lines of the doctors at Dandenong believe you've been exposed to potentially lethal death cap mushroom toxins,' he said.
The court was told five minutes later Ms Patterson discharged herself against medical advice saying she needed to make preparations before she could be admitted.
She returned at 9.48am but not before Dr Webster called the local police due to his concern for her welfare.
Dr Webster told the court he had stepped away from Ms Patterson but soon learnt she had left.
'Where the f*** did she go?' he said he questioned nurse Kylie Ashton.
'I've just told her she's been exposed to a potentially fatal dose. I would have thought a hospital would be a good place to stay.
'My initial impression of Dr Ford's phone call as bizarre had dramatically changed by that point.'
After her arrest over the July 2023 fatal lunch, Patterson was initially charged with three counts of attempted murder over Simon's illnesses.
These were later dropped by prosecutors after a ruling by Justice Beale would have split the case into two trials — one for the deadly lunch and a second for Simon's illnesses.
Prosecutors had not alleged Simon's illnesses were caused by death cap mushroom poisoning, but that he was allegedly poisoned with unidentified toxic compounds.
But during the pre-trial, intensive care specialist Professor Andrew Bersten gave evidence he had reviewed all of Simon's medical notes and found there were no identifiable causes.
Patterson was found guilty of murdering Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson following an 11-week trial earlier this year.
She will face a pre-sentence hearing on August 25.
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