Mushroom poisoning trial: Erin Patterson’s estranged husband takes the stand

• Erin Patterson is on trial for allegedly poisoning four lunch guests with death cap mushrooms.
• She pleaded not guilty, claiming the mushrooms in her beef wellington were not added intentionally.
• Three guests died, while a fourth recovered; the trial is expected to last six weeks.

Alleged mushroom poisoner Erin Patterson sent a text saying she was really “disappointed” that her now estranged husband wouldn’t be attending her lunch after she had spent a “small fortune” on the “special meal”, a court heard.

Patterson, 50, is facing trial over the alleged death cap mushroom poisonings of Simon Patterson’s parents and aunt and uncle at a lunch she hosted on July 29, 2023, at her Leongatha home.

The mother-of-two has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, arguing at trial the presence of poisonous mushrooms in her beef wellington dish was not intentional.

Giving evidence, Simon Patterson was questioned by Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC on when he was invited to the July 29 lunch at Patterson’s home. He said it was after a service at the Korumburra Baptist Church, when she invited him, his parents and his aunt and uncle.

Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

“I was a bit reluctant but I ultimately agreed,” Simon Patterson said.

He told the court the day before the lunch he messaged Patterson to say he wouldn’t be coming.

“Sorry I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, Mum, Dad, Ian and Heather,” he read from a photo of the exchange.

“That’s really disappointing, I’ve spent many hours this week preparing lunch for tomorrow,” Patterson allegedly responded.

“It’s important for me that you’re all there … I hope you change your mind.”

Patterson allegedly said she’d spent a “small fortune” on steaks and wanted it to be a “special meal”.

Simon Patterson was called to give evidence as the first witness of the trial when the matter returned before the Supreme Court on Morwell today.

Entering the courtroom shortly before 11am, he did not look at Patterson as he walked to the witness box, less than 10m from where she is sitting in the dock at the rear of the court.

Instead the civil engineer glanced around at the faces of the packed courtroom.

He told the jury he was still married to Patterson and said she was “very intelligent”, having studied in a number of courses, including business, vet sciences, legal studies, science and was qualified as an air traffic controller.

“Some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was her intelligence, she’s quite witty and can be quite funny,” he said.

Simon Patterson said after the pair married in June 2007 they set off on a road trip around Australia before settling in Western Australia, where their son was born in Perth in January 2009.

He told the court they’d separated and reconciled a number of times before the relationship ended in 2015.

“It was strained, there was tension in it,” he said.

“I was always keen to have a good relationship, a good marriage and a good strong family to bring the kids up in.”

Simon Patterson agreed his wife had complained the way they communicated was “toxic”.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars lent to Simon Patterson’s family

Under questioning from Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy SC, Simon Patterson confirmed he and his wife had lent hundreds of thousands of dollars each to his three siblings and their partners to buy homes.

“Erin also assisted your siblings with interest-free, I’ll be careful with that term, loans,” Mandy asked.

“Yes we did loan my siblings money,” Simon Patterson responded.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do that without the money Erin received.”

Simon Patterson confirmed each of his siblings, Matthew, Nathan and Anna, had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans.

He told the jury there was no fixed payment schedule or interest, other than inflation on the money loaned.

“The intention was they’d be paid back at about the same amount they’d be paying back a mortgage,” Simon Patterson said.

“Money’s not been the most important motivation for either Erin or me in our decisions.”

Alleged poisoner’s $2m windfall: Husband

Simon Patterson told the court Patterson received an A$2 million ($2.1m) inheritance the year before their marriage.

“Her grandmother died before we were married and left an estate and she got a substantial inheritance of roughly $2m,” he said.

Simon Patterson said the funds were slowly “dribbled out” in multiple payments by the executors over a period of time.

‘She wasn’t happy’: Shift in relationship due to child support

Simon Patterson told the court he first noticed a shift in their relationship in late October or early November 2022.

Before then, he said they were friendly and would often have “banter” and discussions about “politics and interesting things”.

But he said one time he dropped their children off at Patterson’s home and she approached him about him listing them as separated on his tax return.

Simon Patterson said he believed she was upset because it would change their family tax benefit and they agreed she would seek child support payments.

“She wasn’t happy with that,” he said.

Simon Patterson said that after speaking with child support, he was advised to stop paying Patterson directly and that all transfers should go through child support.

“That was the first thing that made me feel there was a change in our relationship,” he said.

“The chatty nature of it pretty much stopped ... it became functional and sometimes nothing.”

Husband chokes up discussing father’s illness

Questioned on visiting his parents the first time in hospital following the lunch, Simon Patterson choked up and blew his nose with a tissue.

His voice breaking, he told the jury “Dad was substantially worse than Mum” in the room they shared.

“He was lying on his side, he was hunched – quite noticeably,” he said.

Don Patterson and Gail Patterson, Erin Patterson's former parents-in-law, died after suspected mushroom poisoning. Photo / Supplied

“He had a discoloured face. Speaking was an effort and taking the energy to speak was an effort.

“His voice was strained in a way that he wasn’t right, inside he was in pain.”

Accused mushroom cook feared she would ‘poo her pants’: Husband

Simon Patterson told the jury he was first contacted by his estranged wife about 7am on the Monday two days after the lunch.

He said she told him she had been experiencing diarrhoea about every 20 minutes since the late afternoon of July 29.

The jury was told she asked him to drive her to hospital but he refused, saying an ambulance would be more appropriate.

“She was worried she might poo her pants driving,” he said.

“She asked me to come and take her to hospital.”

Later that day Simon Patterson said he received a second call when Patterson said she’d visited Leongatha Hospital but had checked herself out against medical advice.

He told the jury she mentioned that staff wanted to assess their two children after she informed them they’d eaten leftovers from the meal on the Sunday night.

“I’d been saying I was happy to pick up the kids ... She didn’t want the kids to be scared about the reason so she should be the one to pick them up,” he said.

“I said ‘I’m glad you feel healthy enough to pick up the kids now’ because at 7am she wasn’t healthy enough to drive herself.”

Earlier, prosecutor Sarah Lenthall took the 15-member jury through their assigned iPads — used to store exhibits, transcripts and notes throughout the trial.

Delivering her opening remarks to the jury over the course of about three hours on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Rogers said there were “a lot” of witnesses and the prosecution would seek to present the case in a “chronological order”.

“We will do our best to play or call the witnesses in a rough chronological order but sometimes this isn’t always possible,” she said.

Prosecutors allege Patterson intended to kill the lunch guests attending at her home after inviting them with the “false claim” of a cancer diagnosis.

Heather Wilkinson and pastor Ian Wilkinson. Photo / Supplied

“It is the prosecution case that the accused deliberately poisoned, with murderous intent, each … after inviting them for lunch on the pretence that she’d been diagnosed with cancer and needed advice about how to break it to the children,” she said.

“It is the prosecution case that the accused used the false claim that she had serious medical issues to ensure and to explain why the children would not be present at the lunch on July 29.”

Her husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital in the weeks after the gathering.

Heather Wilkinson’s husband, Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill but recovered.

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC told the jury Patterson did not dispute that the four lunch guests consumed deadly death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home.

“The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests at that lunch,” he said.

“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident.”

The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, is expected to last up to six weeks.