A Victorian woman who cooked the meal that resulted in the suspected mushroom poisoning death of three people has tearfully broken her silence.
Video / News.com.au
A friend of Simon Patterson, whose ex-wife Erin Patterson was charged with murder and attempted murder, has broken his silence and lifted the lid on how Simon is feeling.
On Thursday, Erin Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder.
She has been remanded incustody and will appear at the Morwell Magistrates’ Court in Victoria this morning.
Police said the three murder charges, and two attempted murder charges, related to an incident on July 29 when Patterson hosted a lunch at her Leongatha home.
However, it was revealed three of Erin Patterson’s attempted murder charges are related to Simon following “three separate incidents” where he fell ill between 2021 and 2022.
Speaking to the Herald Sun, Simon’s friends said he was “doing okay” after learning his ex-wife had been arrested.
“I think he is just focusing on his kids’ wellbeing,” they added.
Erin Patterson’s ex-husband Simon Patterson posted on Facebook in 2022 that he nearly died from stomach issues and was in a coma for weeks. Photo / 7 News
On July 29, Patterson invited her former parents-in-law, Gail and Don Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian Wilkinson around for lunch.
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who cooked the mushroom meal that killed three people, says she is being painted as an 'evil witch' by the media.
Simon has refused to speak about the fatal lunch served up by his ex-wife in July, but last year revealed on social media that he had nearly died from a mysterious gut illness that left him in a coma.
“I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation,” he wrote in May 2022.
“My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live.”
He was in intensive care for 21 days before starting to recover.
“I’ve been feeling great for many days. I feel no pain, and it all seems to have no impact on my personality, character or anything else much,” the post read.
A source close to the family addressed the 2022 illness, telling the Herald Sun Simon thought he ingested poison “through nightshade plants”.
