Erin Patterson is accused of poisoning her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents. Photo / NewsWire
Erin Patterson is accused of poisoning her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents. Photo / NewsWire
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson will face members of her husband’s family for the first time after a jury found she murdered three people with a poisoned beef Wellington.
Patterson, 50, was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder last month relating to a fatallunch she hosted in the Victorian country town of Leongatha more than two years ago.
She was seen arriving at the Victorian Supreme Court shortly after 9am on Monday for the first day of a two-day plea hearing, before her sentencing later this year.
Patterson was led by custody officers from a prison van into the courthouse after the half-hour drive from the maximum-security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Ravenhall.
More than a dozen members of her victims’ families have also arrived to the CBD courthouse, before being whisked away to a private meeting space with police.
At the hearing, lawyers from the prosecution and defence will make submissions they want the judge to consider when deciding Patterson’s sentence.
Footage of Erin Patterson's police interview was released after a court ruling by Justice Christopher Beale. Photo / Supreme Court of Victoria
It will also give members of her victims’ families the opportunity to deliver statements outlining the impact of her crimes.
This month, prosecutor Jane Warren flagged that it was expected two days would be needed for the hearing because much of the first day would be spent hearing “a lot” of victim impact statements.
These would likely include Patterson’s husband, Simon Patterson, and lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson.
Following a trial that spanned 11 weeks, a jury found Patterson guilty on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder on July 7.
The charges related to a lunch she hosted with Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband, Ian, on July 29, 2023.
Patterson also invited Simon, however he pulled out of the lunch the night before because he feared she had poisoned him previously.
Allegations of attempted murder relating to Simon’s unexplained illnesses in the year before the lunch were withdrawn by prosecutors before the trial.
The trial was told the lunch was out of the ordinary for Patterson, with the killer cook lying to her guests that the reason for the meal was to ask for advice about a non-existent cancer diagnosis.
Hours after the lunch, each of the guests fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea and were rushed to hospital the following morning.
Heather and Gail died on August 4, Don died on August 5 while Ian survived after spending about a month and a half in hospital.
At trial, prosecutors argued Patterson deliberately sought out and picked death cap mushrooms for the lunch and feigned her own symptoms.
Her defence, on the other hand, maintained she did not deliberately poison anyone, labelling the case a horrible foraging accident.
