Latest news with #mushrooms
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
After weeks of silence, Erin Patterson begins to tell her side of the story to deadly mushroom lunch trial
Erin Patterson had been in the witness box for 142 minutes, a window to her right showing the rain falling outside in regional Victoria, when her barrister Colin Mandy SC said: 'I'm going to ask you some questions now about mushrooms'. Patterson had already spoken to the court about her children and her family, her hefty inheritances, her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon, and their slow and gradual decoupling, in her evidence on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. But this was the closest the triple-murder accused had come to being asked directly about the fateful lunch of beef wellingtons in July 2023. From the first days of her trial, it had become clear the key issue was whether Patterson meant to put death cap mushrooms in the lunch she served to her husband's relatives (including her parents-in-law), and whether she meant to kill or cause serious harm to them. Now Patterson was being asked about whether she liked to eat mushrooms more generally, and whether she had ever picked, eaten and cooked wild varieties of the popular ingredient. Yes, she told the court, to all of the above. Once, she revealed, she had found some growing outside at the property she lived at in Korumburra before moving to the house, in the nearby town Leongatha, where the fateful lunch took place. She said she had fried up what she was confident were field and horse mushrooms with butter, ate them, and, when she discovered they were safe, used them in other meals. That included in food fed to her two children, Patterson told the court. Erin Patterson hosts lunch for estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Patterson serves beef wellington. All four lunch guests are admitted to hospital with gastro-like symptoms. Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die in hospital. Don Patterson dies in hospital. Victoria police search Erin Patterson's home and interview her. Ian Wilkinson is discharged from hospital after weeks in intensive care. Police again search Erin Patterson's home, and she is arrested and interviewed. She is charged with three counts of murder relating to the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. Jury is sworn in. Murder trial begins. Jury hears that charges of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon are dropped. Mandy's focus narrowed when he asked where the mushrooms in the beef wellington meal had come from. 'The vast majority came from the local Woolworths in Leongatha. There were some from the grocer in Melbourne,' she replied. She accepted, however, that the meal had contained death cap mushrooms. 'Do you accept there must have been death cap mushrooms in there?' Mandy asked Patterson. 'Yes, I do,' she replied. Throughout her answers, Patterson sat in an office chair faced towards Mandy, with Justice Christopher Beale to her left and the jury directly in front of her. The court room was filled with almost a dozen members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, homicide squad detectives including the officer in charge of the investigation, Stephen Eppingstall, and about 20 members of the public. Behind those public seats was the now-empty dock where, until this week, Patterson had sat quietly observing former friends, family and experts testifying in her trial. Earlier, Mandy had taken his client to expletive-laden messages she had sent in a Facebook group chat in December 2022 expressing frustrations about her in-laws – Don and Gail Patterson, who are now deceased – about a dispute with her estranged husband, Simon. In the messages, previously shown to the jury, the Facebook user 'Erin ErinErin' wrote she was 'sick of this shit' and 'fuck em' about Don and Gail. 'Why did you write that?' Mandy asked. Patterson released a slow exhale and sniffed before she answered. 'I needed to vent,' Patterson told the jury. 'The choice was either go into the paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women.' The group chat – which Patterson said had been running for four years by late 2022 – was a space to discuss food the women were cooking, as well as their children's lives and current affairs. Asked if she meant the words, Patterson replied 'no' as she dabbed her eyes repeatedly with a tissue. Of the message she sent which said 'this family I swear to fucking god', a visibly emotional Patterson said she wished she had never said it. 'I feel ashamed for saying it, and I wish the family didn't have to hear that I said that. 'They didn't deserve it.' For five weeks, Patterson's voice in her triple murder trial has been confined to conversations recalled by other witnesses, pages of online messages and texts, and a 21-minute formal police interview played to the jury. Dressed in a navy blue shirt with white polka dots, her reading glasses within easy reach to her right, Patterson started to tell her side of the story. The jury who will decide her fate watched and listened. Her evidence will continue on Wednesday.
SBS Australia
13 hours ago
- General
- SBS Australia
Erin Patterson gives evidence for a second day in mushroom deaths trial
Erin Patterson gives evidence for a second day in mushroom deaths trial Published 3 June 2025, 8:22 am Accused triple-murderer Erin Patterson says she accepts death cap mushrooms were in the deadly lunch she served relatives at her Gippsland home. In her second day of evidence, Patterson told the Supreme Court how she developed a fascination for wild mushrooms in the years leading up to the family gathering.
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Woman accused of killing in-laws admits using ‘death cap' mushrooms in dish
An Australian mother accused of killing her in-laws with a poisoned beef wellington has admitted for the first time that she mixed lethal death-cap mushrooms into the meal. Erin Patterson told a court on Tuesday she cooked the dish with a mixture of mushrooms, including a 'pungent' variety she claimed to have bought on holiday, before serving it to her estranged husband's parents in July 2023. She denies murdering Gail Patterson and Don Patterson, both 70, who fell ill hours after dining at her home. Ms Patterson also denies the murder of another guest, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinson's husband, Ian, who survived after receiving an organ transplant. Her estranged husband Simon was also invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute. On Tuesday, Colin Mandy, Ms Patterson's defence barrister, asked her: 'Do you accept that there must have been death cap mushrooms in it?' 'Yes, I do,' the 50-year-old replied. Ms Patterson's defence team have been seeking to portray her as a loving daughter-in-law and home cook who liked to 'experiment' with dehydrating mushrooms after picking up foraging for fungi as a Covid lockdown hobby. 'When I got to a point where I was confident about what I thought that they were, I cut a bit off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter, ate it, then saw what happened,' Ms Patterson said. She said that she learnt to identify mushrooms with the help of a Facebook group for foragers. 'They tasted good and I didn't get sick,' Ms Patterson added. Accused 'told victims she had cancer' Ian Wilkinson was able to assist police with their investigation after he woke up in intensive care. He told police that Ms Patterson had served her meal on a different colour plate to the ones she served her guests and that she had told them during the lunch that she had been diagnosed with cancer. But on Tuesday Ms Patterson admitted in court she had never been diagnosed with the disease. She also said she had a mistrust of doctors following previous incidents of feeling dismissed when she took her children to hospital. Ms Patterson said that when her daughter, now 11, was a baby she had discovered a lump on her abdomen but doctors initially brushed off her concerns. The growth was later found to be on the girl's ovary and required surgery, she said. 'I took her to a lot of doctors and even the hospital, and what they communicated to me was I was an over-anxious mother, that should relax, and she's just a normal baby,' she said. 'I didn't like hospitals before it, like who does, but I didn't trust that these people knew what they were doing and I was just in a heightened state of anxiety ever after.' Relationship with in-laws 'never changed' Ms Patterson also detailed her relationship with her husband for the first time in court, saying the couple had remained 'good friends' after their separation. She said they had travelled across Australia and to New Zealand together with their children, but conflict had arisen over child support payments. Ms Patterson was asked why she had purchased property in both her and her husband's names in 2019 despite them being separated for four years by that point. 'I always thought that we would bring the family back together,' Ms Patterson said. 'It was something, you know, tangible to say... I see a future for us.' The court also heard how she had given her husband's siblings £200,000 loans each to purchase their homes after receiving an inheritance. Becoming visibly upset, Ms Patterson said her relationship with in-laws 'never changed' despite the marriage breakdown. 'I was just their daughter-in-law and they just continued to love me,' she said.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Woman who denies mushroom murders of her in-laws accepts that she served them death caps for lunch
An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives with poisonous mushrooms told a court on Tuesday she accepted that the fatal lunch she served contained death caps. But Erin Patterson said the 'vast majority' of the fungi came from local stores. She denies three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the beef Wellington meal she served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband's aunt and uncle at her home in July 2023. Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were hospitalized and died after the lunch in the rural town of Leongatha in the Australian state of Victoria. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, was gravely ill but survived. Patterson's lawyer earlier told the Supreme Court trial that the poisoning was a tragic accident but prosecutors said it was deliberate. If convicted, she faces a sentence of life imprisonment on the murder charges and 25 years in jail for attempted murder. Long queues formed outside the Latrobe Valley Courthouse on Tuesday after Patterson took the stand late Monday, which was the first time she had spoken publicly since the deaths. Accused foraged mushrooms for years During several hours of evidence on Tuesday, Patterson, 50, told the court she began foraging fungi during the COVID-19 lockdown of March 2020, witnessed only by her children. 'I cut a bit of one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter and ate it,' she said. 'They tasted good and I didn't get sick.' Patterson said she also fed foraged mushrooms to her children, chopped up 'very, very small" so they couldn't pick them out of curries, pasta and soups. She developed a taste for exotic varieties, joined a 'mushroom lovers' Facebook group, and bought a dehydrator to preserve her finds, Patterson said. Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she accepted that the beef Wellington pastries she had served to her lunch guests in 2023 contained death caps. 'Yes, I do,' said Patterson. The accused told her lawyer most of the mushrooms she used that day came from local supermarkets. She agreed she might have put them in the same container as dehydrated wild mushrooms she had foraged weeks earlier and others from an Asian food store. Mandy in April told the court his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never foraged before. But he denied that she had deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms and said she disposed of her dehydrator in a panic about the accidental deaths. Regrets over 'venting' messages about in-laws Earlier Tuesday, Patterson became tearful when she was asked about expletive-filled messages she had sent about her in-laws in December 2022 in a Facebook group chat that she described as a 'safe venting space' for a group of women. 'I wish I'd never said it. I feel very ashamed for saying it and I wish that the family didn't have to hear that I said it,' said Patterson. 'They didn't deserve it.' Patterson, who said she had tried to have her parents-in-law mediate a dispute with her estranged husband, Simon, about school fees, said she was feeling hurt, frustrated and 'a little bit desperate.' The couple formally separated in 2015 after earlier temporary splits, the court has heard. Simon Patterson was invited to the July 2023 lunch but did not attend. Accused said she was still close with husband's family Tuesday's evidence also traversed Patterson's health after prosecutors' suggestions that her lunch invitation was unusual and that she'd organized it on a false pretense of receiving a cancer diagnosis. The mother of two admitted she never had cancer, but had been worried enough by symptoms to seek tests. Despite her separation from Simon, Patterson said she had hoped to reunite with her estranged husband and said she had remained close to her in-laws. 'It never changed. I was just their daughter in law,' said Patterson, through tears. 'They just continued to love me.' Evidence follows lengthy prosecution case The 14-member jury has heard five weeks of prosecution evidence, including what the lunch guests told relatives before they died. Heather Wilkinson said shortly before she died that Patterson ate her individual beef wellington pastry from a different colored plate to the other diners, said prosecutor Nanette Rogers. Opening her case in April, Rogers said the poisoning was deliberate but that her case would not suggest a motive for the alleged killings. The prosecution says Patterson lied when she told investigators she had eaten the same meal as her guests and fed her children the leftovers. Patterson is due to continue giving evidence on Wednesday. Her evidence Tuesday did not include her account of the day of the lunch, or cross-examination from prosecutors.
Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Woman who denies mushroom murders of her in-laws accepts that she served them death caps for lunch
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives with poisonous mushrooms told a court on Tuesday she accepted that the fatal lunch she served contained death caps. But Erin Patterson said the 'vast majority' of the fungi came from local stores. She denies three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the beef Wellington meal she served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband's aunt and uncle at her home in July 2023. Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were hospitalized and died after the lunch in the rural town of Leongatha in the Australian state of Victoria. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, was gravely ill but survived. Patterson's lawyer earlier told the Supreme Court trial that the poisoning was a tragic accident but prosecutors said it was deliberate. If convicted, she faces a sentence of life imprisonment on the murder charges and 25 years in jail for attempted murder. Long queues formed outside the Latrobe Valley Courthouse on Tuesday after Patterson took the stand late Monday, which was the first time she had spoken publicly since the deaths. Accused foraged mushrooms for years During several hours of evidence on Tuesday, Patterson, 50, told the court she began foraging fungi during the COVID-19 lockdown of March 2020, witnessed only by her children. 'I cut a bit of one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter and ate it,' she said. 'They tasted good and I didn't get sick.' Patterson said she also fed foraged mushrooms to her children, chopped up 'very, very small' so they couldn't pick them out of curries, pasta and soups. She developed a taste for exotic varieties, joined a 'mushroom lovers' Facebook group, and bought a dehydrator to preserve her finds, Patterson said. Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she accepted that the beef Wellington pastries she had served to her lunch guests in 2023 contained death caps. 'Yes, I do,' said Patterson. The accused told her lawyer most of the mushrooms she used that day came from local supermarkets. She agreed she might have put them in the same container as dehydrated wild mushrooms she had foraged weeks earlier and others from an Asian food store. Mandy in April told the court his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never foraged before. But he denied that she had deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms and said she disposed of her dehydrator in a panic about the accidental deaths. Regrets over 'venting' messages about in-laws Earlier Tuesday, Patterson became tearful when she was asked about expletive-filled messages she had sent about her in-laws in December 2022 in a Facebook group chat that she described as a 'safe venting space' for a group of women. 'I wish I'd never said it. I feel very ashamed for saying it and I wish that the family didn't have to hear that I said it,' said Patterson. 'They didn't deserve it.' Patterson, who said she had tried to have her parents-in-law mediate a dispute with her estranged husband, Simon, about school fees, said she was feeling hurt, frustrated and 'a little bit desperate.' The couple formally separated in 2015 after earlier temporary splits, the court has heard. Simon Patterson was invited to the July 2023 lunch but did not attend. Accused said she was still close with husband's family Tuesday's evidence also traversed Patterson's health after prosecutors' suggestions that her lunch invitation was unusual and that she'd organized it on a false pretense of receiving a cancer diagnosis. The mother of two admitted she never had cancer, but had been worried enough by symptoms to seek tests. Despite her separation from Simon, Patterson said she had hoped to reunite with her estranged husband and said she had remained close to her in-laws. 'It never changed. I was just their daughter in law,' said Patterson, through tears. 'They just continued to love me.' Evidence follows lengthy prosecution case The 14-member jury has heard five weeks of prosecution evidence, including what the lunch guests told relatives before they died. Heather Wilkinson said shortly before she died that Patterson ate her individual beef wellington pastry from a different colored plate to the other diners, said prosecutor Nanette Rogers. Opening her case in April, Rogers said the poisoning was deliberate but that her case would not suggest a motive for the alleged killings. The prosecution says Patterson lied when she told investigators she had eaten the same meal as her guests and fed her children the leftovers. Patterson is due to continue giving evidence on Wednesday. Her evidence Tuesday did not include her account of the day of the lunch, or cross-examination from prosecutors.
