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NZ Herald
12-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Erin Patterson murder trial: Mushroom cook grilled in Australian court on sixth beef wellington dish
Patterson disputed a suggestion by Rogers that the sixth was for her husband, Simon, if he changed his mind and attended. 'I didn't make that sixth one for Simon,' she said. 'It's just an extra one. Simon wasn't coming.' Erin Patterson said her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was not expected at the lunch. Photo / NewsWire Mandy took Patterson to her Woolworths rewards data, which the barrister said showed the purchase of five twin packs of beef eye fillet steaks. 'I had five twin packs, I put two in the freezer, and I had six to make,' Patterson said. 'So I did that.' She said she had enough ingredients to prepare a sixth dish, so she did, thinking she could eat it another day. Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died after eating a meal at Erin Patterson's home on July 29, 2023, in the country Victorian town of Leongatha. Wilkinson's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived after spending about a month and a half in hospital. Prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately poisoned the guests with death cap mushrooms, while her defence argues it was a tragic accident. Jury sent home for the day Jurors have been sent home for the day after they were told they'd reached the end of the evidence they would hear. Shortly before 1pm, after Mandy completed his re-examination of Patterson, the jury was told the defence had now closed its case. 'Ladies and gentlemen, that's the completion of the evidence in this case,' Justice Christopher Beale said. Justice Beale told jurors he was now required to have discussions with the two parties in their absence, 'and they could take a while'. He sent the jury home for the day, suggesting they might not be required to attend court on Friday. 'If you can just check your phone this evening, we will let you know if you get a long weekend or to come in tomorrow,' Justice Beale said. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers and Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall are involved in the ongoing mushroom trial. Photo / Getty Images Defence clarifies Patterson's evidence Mandy took Patterson to evidence she'd given last week that she had a pre-surgery appointment booked at the Enrich Clinic in Melbourne for September 2023. She told the jury she had decided to get gastric bypass surgery, and this was the medical issue she'd mentioned in messages to her husband before the fatal lunch. On Tuesday, Rogers produced evidence that the clinic had never offered gastric bypass surgery. Mandy produced a screenshot of a message on the Enrich Clinic's website saying it would 'no longer' be offering liposuction as of June 2024. Patterson told the court that she had not had an appointment and believed they'd 'offered a full range of weight-loss surgery'. 'I was obviously mistaken,' she said. Prosecution asks three final questions Shortly after 11.30am, Rogers remarked that the jury would be pleased that she had three final questions for Patterson after a week of cross-examination. Rogers suggested that Patterson deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms, deliberately included them in the beef wellington and did so intending to kill her four guests. Patterson responded 'disagree' three times to each of the propositions. 'Your Honour, I have no further questions,' Rogers said. Mandy rose to his feet, telling the court that he had about 30 minutes of re-examination for Patterson before asking for a half-hour break. The jury then took a mid-morning break. Erin Patterson's defence team worked to clarify her evidence about booking in at a clinic. Photo / Getty Images Erin disputes children's account of leftovers In her evidence, Patterson said she scraped off the mushrooms and pastry of the lunch leftovers for her son and daughter and served herself a bowl of cereal because she wasn't feeling well. In her children's evidence, both said Patterson had plated herself up some leftovers too. Her daughter said Patterson 'wasn't very hungry' and her son ate his portion and the remainder of his mother's. Asked if her son and daughter were 'wrong about what you prepared yourself for dinner that night', Patterson agreed. Alleged poisoner grilled on bush poo claim Rogers took Patterson to evidence she gave last week about stopping to defacate on the side of the road, because of diarrhoea, while driving her son to a flying lesson in Tyabb. Earlier in the trial, the jury was told Patterson drove her two children an hour and a half to Tyabb for the lesson on the afternoon of July 30, 2023, but it was cancelled shortly before they arrived and she turned around. Patterson claimed she was suffering nausea and regular diarrhoea that day and stopped 30 minutes into the trip. Rogers took Patterson to her son's evidence, where he said that at no stage did his mother stop to use the toilet. 'I suggest he did not recall it because it did not happen?' Rogers asked. 'Disagree,' Patterson replied. 'This is another lie you told to explain how you managed the trip to Tyabb?' the prosecutor continued. 'Disagree,' Patterson said. Mushroom cook denies 'wild goose chase' claim Facing questions from Rogers on Wednesday, Patterson denied she led health authorities on a 'wild goose chase' as they probed the mushroom poisoning of her four lunch guests. Giving evidence last week, Patterson maintained that she used dried mushrooms in the deadly lunch that she had bought from an Asian grocer in Melbourne's east in about April 2023. She told the court she initially planned to use them in a pasta dish but decided they would be too overpowering and stored them in a Tupperware container in her pantry. She said she now believed she may have added foraged wild mushrooms to that container. Facing questions from Rogers on Wednesday, Patterson was asked if she was worried about them being too strong for the beef wellington. 'No, I didn't think that. I thought it was the perfect dish for them,' she responded. Rogers went on to probe the exchange Patterson had with Department of Health officer Sally Ann Atkinson about the Asian grocer. Atkinson gave evidence that she communicated with Patterson over several days in earlier August amid a public health probe into the poisoning. Text messages and calls between the pair showed Atkinson attempting to narrow down the location of the store. Rogers suggested Patterson was 'very familiar' with the area, owning a home in Mt Waverley and having previously worked for the Monash City Council. Patterson disputed this but did say she was familiar with the adjoining areas of Glen Waverley, Oakleigh and Clayton. Rogers suggested Patterson was 'deliberately vague' about the location of the Asian grocer because it was a lie. 'Incorrect,' Patterson responded. 'I was doing my best to remember when it happened, but I think I was clear at all times that I didn't have a memory of the actual purchase.' The trial, now in its seventh week, continues.
The Australian
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Australian
The Bristol Stool Chart came up in the context of Ms Patterson's bowel movements after the beef Wellington.
You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Erin Patterson's umpteenth day in the witness stand peaked in the first few minutes after the King's Birthday long weekend euphoria melted. Nanette Rogers, prosecuting, took the accused back to Friday's evidence, asking about an appointment at the Enrich Clinic in Melbourne that Ms Patterson said she had booked to consider weight loss surgery. This was after her previous evidence about long-term body image issues and what she told the jury was her motivation for holding the beef Wellington lunch, rather than ovarian cancer. Dr Rogers asked Ms Patterson whether the clinic specialised in cosmetic dermatology rather than weight loss surgery. Asked if she agreed or disagreed that the clinic did not offer gastric bypass or gastric sleeve surgery, Ms Patterson responded: 'I don't know, I am a bit puzzled.'' She was then asked if she had lied to the jury. 'That wasn't a lie, that's what my memory was,'' she said. Much of this court case has been about whether – and when – Ms Patterson lied to police and others. After the cosmetic surgery questions, it was back to the grind. Ms Patterson first entered the witness box last Monday and despite a couple of short stints has featured for what has seemed like a really, really long time, facing Dr Rogers, who has been grinding away at her evidence. By the time it's all over, the prosecution and the defence will have trawled through every possible development linked to the meal that killed three people, including a reference to the Bristol Stool Chart. This chart came up in the context of Ms Patterson's bowel movements after the beef Wellington. If you need to know what the chart is, please Google it because this is a family newspaper. The King's Birthday fell on Monday in most states and territories and it gave the Morwell court fraternity an extra day's rest ahead of the beginning of the trial's seventh week. Despite the three-day break, it felt like the court had never stopped, and it felt also as if a lot of the questions and issues had already been run out. The length of the mushrooms legal arm wrestle means that pretty much everyone involved is either tired or blessed with elite stamina. At times, Ms Patterson and Dr Rogers clashed, the accused's eyes reportedly rolling at one point at another Rogers-asked 'Are you making this up as you go along, Ms Patterson?' 'No,'' she responded sharply. This was after discussing a conversation with Simon Patterson, her estranged husband, and whether she was well enough to pick up her two children soon after the meal was served and four of the guests fell sick. At times on Monday, Ms Patterson appeared to contradict the evidence of other witnesses, including her son, her former husband and medical staff. She disagreed with evidence from her eldest child, denying she was drinking coffee on the Sunday morning and rejecting his version of events over who was sick. Ms Patterson said it was her son who had claimed to have a stomach upset. 'I suggest that's a lie,'' Dr Rogers said. Ms Patterson responded: 'It's not.'' In relation to Simon's claims she was worried she would defecate if she drove after the meal, Ms Patterson also rejected this evidence. 'I did not tell him I was afraid I'd poo my pants, no,'' Ms Patterson said. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- The Guardian
Erin Patterson denies lying about making herself vomit after fatal mushroom lunch
Erin Patterson says she is 'puzzled' that a clinic in which she said she had an appointment for a gastric bypass offers no such surgery, and denies lying about making herself vomit in the hours immediately after the beef wellington lunch, a court has heard. In her sixth day in the witness box, Patterson was repeatedly asked under cross-examination by prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC whether she was lying about the deadly lunch and other parts of her evidence before her triple-murder trial. Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning four in-laws with beef wellington served for lunch at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering her estranged husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon's uncle and Heather's husband. Lawyers for Patterson say the death cap mushroom poisoning was a tragic and terrible accident. Patterson told the court last week that she had a pre-assessment booking for gastric bypass surgery scheduled at Enrich Clinic in September 2023. But Rogers said to Patterson on Tuesday that Enrich was a cosmetic dermatology clinic, and did not offer gastric bypass surgery. Patterson said she was 'puzzled' that was the case. 'In what way?' Rogers asked. 'Well I had an appointment with them, and that's my memory of what the appointment was for, so that's why I'm puzzled.' Rogers confirmed the appointment was made, and had been cancelled by Patterson two days before it was scheduled. Patterson believed the appointment related to weight loss surgery, but said it may have been a different procedure. 'It wasn't a lie, that's what my memory was,' Patterson said. Rogers also asked Patterson about her evidence last week that she made herself vomit in the hours after the lunch, after she felt overfull from eating the beef wellington and a large portion of orange cake. Patterson said she had a history of binge eating and purging dating back to her 20s. Rogers accused Patterson of lying about vomiting on the afternoon of the lunch after her guests left. 'You did not tell a single medical person that you had vomited up after the lunch on the 29th of July?' Rogers asked. 'That is true, I didn't do that,' Patterson said. Rogers suggested to Patterson that she lied about vomiting after the lunch, and about how much she ate at lunch, 'because you're trying to account for why the others were seriously ill and you were not'. 'I wish that was true, but it's not,' Patterson responded. Patterson also denied suggestions from Rogers regarding the plating at the lunch. Patterson said evidence Ian gave about the guests being served on matching large grey plates, and Patterson serving herself on a smaller lighter coloured plate, was incorrect. She said she did not know whether evidence Simon gave about Heather making two comments to him about mismatched plates was also wrong. Rogers suggested to Patterson she used different plates as she made poisoned beef wellingtons for her guests, but that hers did not contain death cap mushrooms. 'To avoid any error, you took the extra precaution of using a different and smaller plate, to plate your non-poisoned serve, correct or incorrect,' Rogers asked. 'Incorrect,' Patterson responded. Patterson said she did not one a set of four matching plates. 'I suggest your whole story is untrue that you plated the food without discrimination,' Rogers asked her. 'You're wrong,' Patterson replied. Earlier on Tuesday morning, after answering a question from Rogers regarding the internet search history of devices seized from her home, Patterson attempted to further clarify the evidence before Rogers asked another question. 'Ms Patterson, I am the person who asks the questions,' Rogers said. 'If there something that needs to be clarified in re-examination, your barrister will do so.' 'No problem,' Patterson replied. The trial continues. In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is at 1800 33 4673. In the UK, Beat can be contacted on 0808-801-0677. In the US, help is available at or by calling ANAD's eating disorders hotline at 800-375-7767. Other international helplines can be found at Eating Disorder Hope
