Erin Patterson denies murder, says she vomited after fatal lunch

Erin Patterson of the mushroom murder trials admits to vomiting after the lunch that killed three people. Photo / Supplied

Alleged triple-murderer Erin Patterson has told the jury that she “brought it back up” after over-eating on cake following the fatal lunch.

The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws has revealed she vomited after hosting the deadly lunch with her husband’s parents.

Erin Patterson, 50, returned to court in Australia on Wednesday morning for her third day in the witness box, becoming tearful and wiping her eyes with a tissue at points.

She told the court that after the lunch, she cleaned up and then ate some leftover orange cake her mother-in-law Gail Patterson had brought.

Her voice faltering, Patterson said there was about two-thirds of the cake left after her guests left.

“And then I ate a piece of cake, then another piece of cake and then another,” she said.

Asked by her barrister Colin Mandy, SC, how much she ate, Patterson said “all of it”.

Erin Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy, SC, departs Latrobe Valley Law courts following her non-guilty plea. Photo / Getty Images

“I felt sick, I felt overfull, so I went to the toilets and brought it back up again,” she said.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Patterson told the jury that she had struggled with her diet all her life and had been binge eating and purging since her 20s.

“In some intense periods it could have been daily, then it could be weekly or monthly. It varied in intensity,” she said.

Patterson claimed no one knew.

She 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.

Her husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail, and aunt Heather Wilkinson died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning, while Wilkinson’s husband Ian survived.

The trial has featured testimony from the sole survivor, Ian Wilkinson, who described how he and the other guests fell violently ill after the meal. Photo / Getty Images

Prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident.

For the last two days, Patterson has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023.

This week, she told the court that she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months because of their “pungent” aroma.

Today, describing the process of making the dish, Patterson said she primarily used mushrooms from Woolworths but the duxelles tasted a bit bland.

“I tasted it a few times and it seemed bland to me, so I decided to put the dried mushrooms in the pantry,” she said.

“At the time I believe it was just the mushrooms I got from the grocer in Melbourne … now I think there was the possibility there were foraged ones in there as well.”

‘Not proud’: Erin lied to in-laws about cancer concern

Asked by Mandy what the lunch guests discussed, Patterson told the court that she’d “let them believe” that she was concerned about ovarian cancer.

“Right at the end of the meal and I mentioned that I’d had, I had an issue a year or two earlier where I thought I had ovary cancer,” she said.

“I’m not proud about this, but I let them to believe I might be needing some treatment in regards to that in the next weeks and months.”

Earlier in the day, she told the court that she’d lied to Don and Gail in late June about receiving various testing for a lump on her elbow.

Don and Gail Patterson died after eating the beef wellington dish.

She claimed that she was planning to get a gastric bypass to deal with her weight concerns and saw the opportunity to receive support from her in-laws by pretending she was receiving medical care for the lump.

“Letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed treatment … I wouldn’t have to tell them the real reason,” she said.

Asked why she lied, Patterson said she was “really embarrassed”.

“I was ashamed of the fact I didn’t have control over my body and what I ate,” she said.

“I was ashamed about that, I was embarrassed, I didn’t want to tell anybody but I shouldn’t have lied to them.”

Why mushroom cook made beef dish: court

Patterson told the court that she chose to make beef wellington because her mother did it for “important occasions”.

Quizzed on why she decided to make a beef wellington, Patterson said she “went through a process” but decided to follow a recipe.

She said it was the first time she made the dish.

“I remember on really important occasions my mum would make a beef wellington, so I thought I’d give it a go too,” she said

Patterson told the court that she followed the recipe roughly but made changes, such as making individual portions rather than a log because she couldn’t find a large enough cut of meat.

Erin describes serving the dish

After taking the jury through the process of how she prepared the beef wellington, Patterson was taken to how the dish was served.

She told the court she used “just the dinner plates I had”, including two white plates, two black plates, a plate that’s red on top and black underneath, and a multi-coloured plate.

Asked if she owned any other plates, such as grey plates, Patterson said “no I didn’t”.

Earlier in the trial, lunch survivor Wilkinson described the four lunch guests eating off large grey plates, while Patterson had her meal off an orange or tan smaller plate.

She told the court that she plated up five beef wellingtons with mashed potato and green beans on her kitchen bench.

She turned around and began heating up packet gravy, she said.

“I think I used one of those pre-made sachets, I didn’t want to risk a gravy problem,” she told the jury.

“I grabbed the last plate off the bench and sat at the table.

“Ian said Gail and Heather grabbed two plates each, I accept that happened.”

Mushroom photos in cook’s murder trial

Patterson was shown dozens of digital photos found in her home.

The images depict a variety of wild mushrooms, some growing, others picked and sitting on newspaper or paper towel in a kitchen.

She was questioned by Mandy if she remembered taking the images.

“Yes, I did, it was early in 2020,” she said.

“I couldn’t be specific about the date, but it was in the first Covid lockdown.”

Patterson identified other photos of her children out walking and her driveway in Korumburra.

A view of the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court as the Erin Patterson trial continues. Photo / Getty Images

Alleged poisoner became interested in foraging during Covid

After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, Mandy called his client as a witness and 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, 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.

Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they had 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.

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 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.