A mother accused of murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt by feeding them poisonous mushrooms lured them to the meal by faking a cancer diagnosis, prosecutors claim.
Erin Patterson is on trial over the deaths of her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, in July 2023.
The 50-year-old, from the state of Victoria in southern Australia, has also been charged with the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinson’s husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson.
All four fell ill after eating a lunch of beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans at Patterson’s home in the town of Leongatha, the court has been told.
Prosecutors said Patterson knowingly laced the beef pastry dish with deadly death cap mushrooms, also known as Amanita phalloides, at her home.
Patterson denies the charges.
Her husband Simon Patterson, with whom she has two children, was also invited to the lunch and initially accepted but later declined.
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The jury was told on Tuesday that prosecutors had dropped three charges that Patterson had attempted to murder her husband, who she has been separated from since 2015.
In the trial’s opening arguments that began on Wednesday, prosecutor Nanette Rogers said Patterson fabricated a cancer diagnosis and hosted the lunch on the pretence of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness.
“The accused said that it was important that the children were not present for the lunch,” Ms Rogers said.
She also told the court: “It is the prosecution case that the accused deliberately poisoned (the victims) with murderous intent.
“The prosecution will not be suggesting that there was a particular motive to do what she did.”
Defending Patterson, barrister Colin Mandy told the court the deaths were a “terrible accident”, and the accused had no intention of killing her lunch guests.
“The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests,” he said.
Separate plates
The guests ate individual portions of beef Wellington off four large grey dinner plates, while Patterson ate from a smaller, tan-coloured plate, the court heard.
The guests fell ill later that day and were taken to hospital the day after.
Mr and Mrs Patterson and Mrs Wilkinson later died, while Reverend Wilkinson spent weeks in hospital and survived.
Patterson went to hospital two days later, where she initially discharged herself against medical advice, the court was told.
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She had mild symptoms of illness, but further tests revealed no evidence of toxins consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning, the prosecution said.
Patterson resisted attempts by doctors to have her two children tested, who she claimed had eaten leftovers of the lunch, saying she did not want to frighten them, Ms Rogers said.
“She was reluctant to have the children medically assessed, because she knew that, like her, they had not eaten any poisoned food,” the prosecution lawyer said.
The defendant denied ever owning a food dehydrator, but police traced one owned by her to a nearby garbage dump, that was later found to contain death cap mushrooms, Ms Rogers said.
Mr Mandy said his client had lied repeatedly during the investigation because she “panicked” due to the intense scrutiny surrounding the case which has gripped Australia.
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Who are Scattered Spider?
The death cap is one of the most toxic mushrooms on the planet and is involved in the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide.
The species contains three main groups of toxins: amatoxins, phallotoxins, and virotoxins.
From these, amatoxins are primarily responsible for the toxic effects in humans.
The alpha-amanitin amatoxin has been found to cause protein deficit and ultimately cell death, although other mechanisms are thought to be involved.
The liver is the main organ that fails due to the poison, but other organs are also affected, most notably the kidneys.
The effects usually begin after a short latent period and can include gastrointestinal disorders followed by jaundice, seizures, coma, and eventually, death.
How couple’s relationship fell apart
Patterson married Simon in 2007 and had two children together, the court heard.
They separated temporarily several times, before splitting permanently in 2015.
They remained amicable, sharing custody of the children and going on family holidays together.
That changed in 2022 when Simon listed himself as separated on a tax return, Ms Rogers said, with communication deteriorating and the pair disagreeing over child support.
The trial has seen intense interest from local and international media, with podcasters, journalists and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, around two hours east of Melbourne, where the trial is being heard.
The court is expected to hear the first of dozens of witnesses and scientific experts on Thursday.
The trial, scheduled to run until early June, continues.
