Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who cooked the mushroom meal that killed three people.
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who cooked the mushroom meal that killed three people.
In Australia, jurors in the triple-murder trial of Erin Patterson are poised to be sent out to deliberate their verdict after the judge finishes delivering his final remarks.
Patterson, a mother of two, has been charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, as well as Gail’ssister, Heather Wilkinson, and with the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian.
She made a beef wellington that contained death cap mushrooms for a fateful lunch on a July Saturday in 2023.
But the key question in the trial is how those deadly mushrooms got there.
On Friday, Justice Christopher Beale told jurors he expected to complete his summing up of the evidence, arguments and legal principles by midday on Monday.
Then, he said, the 14-person panel of Victorians would be reduced to 12 with a random ballot before jurors are asked to retire and begin deliberations.
“I’ll be completing the charge prior to lunchtime on Monday, at which point we’ll have the ballot and away you go so to speak,” he said.
Erin Patterson is accused of poisoning her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents and family. Photo / NewsWire
At the start of the trial 10 weeks ago, jurors were told they would be sequestered for the duration of their deliberations.
Patterson, 50, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to murdering three of her husband Simon Patterson’s family members and the attempted murder of a fourth.
Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died in early August, 2023, from multiple organ failure linked to death cap mushroom poisoning.
Don Patterson and Gail Patterson, Erin Patterson's former parents-in-law, died after a suspected mushroom poisoning. Photo / Supplied
The case centres around a lunch Patterson hosted on July 29, 2023, at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s southeast, where the accused woman served beef wellington containing death cap mushrooms.
Prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately sought out and included the deadly fungi intending to kill or at least seriously injure her four guests.
Her defence argues the case is a tragic accident, Patterson also fell ill and she did not want to harm anyone.
The case is expected to resume in the town of Morwell at 10.30am on Monday.
