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West Australian
2 days ago
- Health
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook set to return to witness box for third day of giving evidence
The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef Wellington dish is poised to continue giving evidence when her trial resumes on Wednesday, after new details on the fatal lunch were revealed. For the last two days, Erin Patterson, 50, has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023, telling the court on Tuesday she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and that dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months due to their 'pungent' aroma. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder relating to the lunch with her estranged husband's family. Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived. Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC called his client as a witness and Ms Patterson began giving evidence. Over two days she answered extensive questions about her relationships with Simon Patterson and his family, health concerns, financial situation and her love of mushrooms. Shortly before the jury was sent home on Tuesday, Ms Patterson agreed that her lunch 'must' have contained the poisonous mushrooms. She told the court when preparing the dish, she used fresh mushrooms purchased from the local Leongatha Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased months earlier in April from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. Ms Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they has a 'very pungent' aroma. Instead, she told the jury, she brought them home and stored them in a Tupperware container in the pantry. She also confirmed she'd begun foraging for wild mushrooms in 2020 and had purchased a dehydrator to preserve mushrooms in early 2023. 'I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season and you can't keep them in the fridge,' she said. Ms Patterson told the jury she would store dried mushrooms in her pantry. 'Generally, I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there,' she said. The final question Ms Patterson was asked of the day was if she had a memory of putting wild mushrooms in May or June 2023 into a container that already contained mushrooms 'Yes, I did do that,' she said. The trial continues.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- General
- Perth Now
Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook set to return to witness box for third day of giving evidence
The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef Wellington dish is poised to continue giving evidence when her trial resumes on Wednesday, after new details on the fatal lunch were revealed. For the last two days, Erin Patterson, 50, has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023, telling the court on Tuesday she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and that dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months due to their 'pungent' aroma. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder relating to the lunch with her estranged husband's family. Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived. Camera Icon Ms Patterson will return to the witness box on Wednesday. Brooke Grebert-Craig. Credit: Supplied Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC called his client as a witness and Ms Patterson began giving evidence. Over two days she answered extensive questions about her relationships with Simon Patterson and his family, health concerns, financial situation and her love of mushrooms. Shortly before the jury was sent home on Tuesday, Ms Patterson agreed that her lunch 'must' have contained the poisonous mushrooms. She told the court when preparing the dish, she used fresh mushrooms purchased from the local Leongatha Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased months earlier in April from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. Camera Icon The trial is being held in the country Victorian town of Morwell. NewsWire / Josie Hayden Credit: News Corp Australia Ms Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they has a 'very pungent' aroma. Instead, she told the jury, she brought them home and stored them in a Tupperware container in the pantry. She also confirmed she'd begun foraging for wild mushrooms in 2020 and had purchased a dehydrator to preserve mushrooms in early 2023. 'I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season and you can't keep them in the fridge,' she said. Ms Patterson told the jury she would store dried mushrooms in her pantry. 'Generally, I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there,' she said. The final question Ms Patterson was asked of the day was if she had a memory of putting wild mushrooms in May or June 2023 into a container that already contained mushrooms 'Yes, I did do that,' she said. The trial continues.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Murder accused admits she picked, ate wild mushrooms
The woman accused of three murders by serving a toxic mushroom dish has admitted she foraged for fungi and enjoyed eating them as "they taste good and they're very healthy". "The first time I noticed them, I remember it was the dog eating some," Erin Patterson, 50, told a Supreme Court jury on Tuesday, about finding wild mushrooms growing at her property. "I picked all the mushrooms that I could see. I was trying to figure out what they were to see if they were a problem for him." During her second day in the witness box in Morwell, in regional Victoria, Patterson admitted she developed an interest in picking wild mushrooms in early 2020, during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. She said when Victorians were allowed outside for an hour a day she would "force the children" to get away for their devices. "For an hour or so, we would go to Korumburra Gardens for the rail trail and I first noticed them popping up then," she said. "Have you always liked eating mushrooms?" her defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked. "Yeah, I had. They taste good and they're very healthy," Patterson said. She said she would buy "all the different types that Woolies would sell" and would also purchase mushrooms from local farmers' markets and grocers. "I'd use them in curries, or pasta dishes, or soup, spaghetti," Patterson said. "They just taste more interesting. There's more flavour." But she said she discovered it was hard to figure out "what a mushroom is" when she began picking them. "One species I was particularly worried about, I believe they were called Inocybe," Patterson said. She would use Facebook groups for mushroom lovers to identify different types, including ones she found on her three acre property in Korumburra. "I identified the ones that were growing in the paddocks where I had the animals, to a degree was confident of them," she said. "There were field mushrooms and horse mushrooms in those paddocks." Asked by her barrister about the process of consuming wild mushrooms, she said over several months she got to a point where she "was confident about what I thought they were". "I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it and then saw what happened," Patterson said. "They tasted good and I didn't get sick." Patterson and her children ate the wild mushrooms she picked and she said she "chopped them up very, very small". Earlier, Patterson grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes as she apologised for sending Facebook messages to her online friends about her estranged husband Simon's family. One of those messages, which Patterson sent in December 2022, said "this family, I swear to f***ing god". "I wish I'd never said it, I feel ashamed for saying that and I wish the family did not have to hear that I said that. They didn't deserve it," she said. Another one read to Patterson said "I'm sick of this shit, I want nothing to do with them" and she said she regretted that language. "I needed to vent, I needed to get my frustration off my chest and the choice was either to go into the paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women," she said. "I knew they would rally around me and I probably played up the emotion of it a bit to get that support." She said she did not mean those words and she was "frustrated" with her estranged husband Simon at the time. "It wasn't Don and Gail's fault. It wasn't the family's fault. It wasn't even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part in the issue too," she said. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder over the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, after serving them a toxic beef Wellington in July 2023. The trial continues.
1News
2 days ago
- 1News
Erin Patterson says she picked and ate wild mushrooms
A woman accused of three murders by serving a toxic mushroom dish has admitted she foraged for the fungi and enjoyed eating them as "they taste good and they're very healthy". "The first time I noticed them, I remember it was the dog eating some," Erin Patterson, 50, told a Supreme Court jury on Tuesday, about finding wild mushrooms growing at her property. "I picked all the mushrooms that I could see. I was trying to figure out what they were to see if they were a problem for him." Woman accused of killing three people with poisonous mushrooms in beef Wellington testifies in her defence. (Source: 1News) During her second day in the witness box in Morwell, in regional Victoria, Patterson admitted she developed an interest in picking wild mushrooms in early 2020, during the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. ADVERTISEMENT She said, when Victorians were allowed outside for an hour a day, she would "force the children" to get away for their devices. "For an hour or so, we would go to Korumburra Gardens for the rail trail and I first noticed them popping up then," she said. "Have you always liked eating mushrooms?" her defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked. "Yeah, I had. They taste good and they're very healthy," Patterson said. She said she would buy "all the different types that Woolies would sell" and would also purchase mushrooms from local farmers' markets and grocers. "I'd use them in curries, or pasta dishes, or soup, spaghetti," Patterson said. "They just taste more interesting. There's more flavour." ADVERTISEMENT But she said she discovered it was hard to figure out "what a mushroom is" when she began picking them. "One species I was particularly worried about, I believe they were called Inocybe," Patterson said. She would use Facebook groups for mushroom lovers to identify different types, including ones she found on her 1.2ha property in Korumburra. "I identified the ones that were growing in the paddocks where I had the animals, to a degree was confident of them," she said. "There were field mushrooms and horse mushrooms in those paddocks." Asked by her barrister about the process of consuming wild mushrooms, she said she got to a point over several months where she "was confident about what I thought they were". "I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it and then saw what happened," Patterson said. ADVERTISEMENT "They tasted good and I didn't get sick." Patterson and her children ate the wild mushrooms she picked and she "chopped them up very, very small". Don and Gail Patterson. (Source: Supplied) Regrets saying she wanted 'nothing to do with' her in-laws Earlier, Patterson grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes as she apologised for sending Facebook messages to her online friends about her estranged husband Simon's family. One of those messages, which Patterson sent in December 2022, said "this family, I swear to f***ing god". "I wish I'd never said it, I feel ashamed for saying that and I wish the family did not have to hear that I said that. They didn't deserve it," she said. ADVERTISEMENT Another one read to Patterson said, "I'm sick of this shit, I want nothing to do with them" and she said she regretted that language. "I needed to vent, I needed to get my frustration off my chest and the choice was either to go into the paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women," she said. "I knew they would rally around me and I probably played up the emotion of it a bit to get that support." She said she did not mean those words, and she was "frustrated" with her estranged husband Simon at the time. "It wasn't Don and Gail's fault. It wasn't the family's fault. It wasn't even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part in the issue too," she said. 'Overanxious mother' Earlier Patterson detailed how doctors felt she was an "overanxious mother" as she described losing trust in the medical system. ADVERTISEMENT Patterson explained how she thought she had ovarian and brain cancer and was investigating autoimmune diseases. "I think I wasted a lot of time," she told the jury, shaking her head. "Not only my time but medical people's time, through all my Dr Googling. "It's hard to justify it but, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that I just lost so much faith in the medical system." She explained issues with her children's health, including when her daughter developed an ovarian cyst before eight months old that was not picked up earlier, and how her son had an X-ray taken of the wrong knee. "Right from when she was born, I thought there was something wrong — she cried a lot but not a normal cry," Patterson said of her daughter. "I took her to a lot of doctors and even the hospital, and what they commented to me was I was an overanxious mother, to relax and she's just a normal baby." ADVERTISEMENT Patterson said in August 2014 she was giving her baby a belly massage one day when she felt "a mass" and took her to the doctor, but she was dismissed. "They still dismissed me even then. They said she just had a very full bladder and we should wait," she told the jury sitting in Morwell, in southeast Victoria. There was not a spare seat in the regional court room, with the public filling most rows and two rows of the victims' families, including sole lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson. Patterson said her experiences with medical professionals "considerably damaged" her faith in the health system and she was left in a "hyper state of anxiety after". She also detailed her own battle with getting tests done after experiencing weight gain, fatigue, headaches, and swelling in her hands and feet. Patterson said her wedding ring "suddenly wouldn't fit" and she took it to a jeweller for resizing, but her hands had grown again when she picked it up. "I consulted Dr Google," she said. ADVERTISEMENT She said she eventually realised "doctors have medical training" and she could not solve it herself. "Not every headache is a brain tumour," she said. Patterson said she had a family history of ovarian cancer on both sides, but admitted she had never had a needle biopsy, nor been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Earlier, she spoke about her estranged husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson and twice referred to them as "nana and papa". She said after she separated from Simon in 2015 her relationship with them "never changed". "I was just their daughter-in-law, they just continued to love me," she said and then cried. Patterson also became emotional as she described how Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson would "always go out of her way to sit with me and make sure that I had company". ADVERTISEMENT Patterson wore a navy and white spotted top, black pants and sandals when she entered the witness box for a second day. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one attempted murder charge over a poisonous beef Wellington lunch she made for her former husband's family in July 2023. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital days after eating the dish, while Ian Wilkinson was the only surviving guest. The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Woolworths shopper's checkout meltdown over 'free' fruit: 'Don't have food at home'
Footage of a Woolworths shopper's six-minute 'meltdown' after she was accused of stealing free fruit offered to children has made waves online. The woman was leaving the store in Melbourne's southeast when she was stopped by a staff member and quizzed about a banana and apple that she failed to pay for. In the now viral TikTok posted on Monday, the customer can be heard screaming at the female worker, admitting she took the produce from the 'Free Fruit for Kids' display because she is struggling financially. 'All I wanted is this free f*****g banana that you give out to kids,' she shrieks. 'Why would you take the free food away from me when you know it's hard? It's a f***ing, free banana, what are you on about? I don't have food at home.' Following her emotional outburst, the staff member said the fruit was only free for children, but everyone else needs to pay. However, the interaction only continued to escalate, with the Russian shopper accusing the Woolies worker of telling her to 'go back to her home country and work harder'. 'You can't treat people like that,' the customer yells, while demanding an apology several times. The employee, who said she is also a refugee, repeatedly denies ever making such a statement and declares she's going to call the police. 'I have been trying to help you but when you're crying like this and yelling, and you have been abusing my team for a long time, it's been an hour,' the worker said. 🍎 Woolworths customers spark debate over brazen fruit act 💰 Woolworths responds to glaring pricing issue 👩 Aussie mum's sad supermarket confession: 'Do anything for my children' When a security guard intervenes, the shopper tells him Woolies produce staff told her she could take the apple and banana as long as she informs employees at the check-out that she is doing so because she is 'struggling'. Despite the customer's claims that she paid for the rest of her items, the worker said the woman appeared to have a lot more than the two pieces of fruit in her bag. The clip ends with the shopper once again asking the employee to apologise for her alleged comment, to which she says 'ok, I'm sorry lovely about that'. 'I'm so glad to have gotten an apology from her because saying that to someone just because they wanted a free fruit from kids section is not OK,' the shopper captioned the video, which has now been viewed almost 300,000 times. Woolworths declined to comment when approached by Yahoo News. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
