Australian woman accused of killing three in ‘mushroom murders’ denies measuring out ‘fatal dose’
5 June 2025, 17:39
An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged in-laws has denied measuring out a ‘fatal dose’ of the poisonous mushrooms found in the deadly beef Wellington.
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She previously said she added the deadly fungi in a bid to improve a 'bland' meal.
Erin Patterson, 50, has denied measuring out a 'fatal dose' after she was asked in court if pictures of mushrooms on weighing scales were proof that she did.
"I suggest that you were weighing these death cap mushrooms so that you could calculate the weight required for the administration of a fatal dose for one person. Agree or disagree?" barrister Nanette Rogers asked.
"Disagree," Patterson replied.
She continues to deny three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, after serving up a beef Wellington meal to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband's aunt and uncle at her home in July 2023.
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Patterson had previously admitted to serving the dish, which contained the death cap mushrooms, at what proved to be the fatal lunch.
She has also admitted to researching recipe ideas and mushroom varieties in a bid to cook up "something special”.
She admitted to splurging on the expensive ingredients - ultimately deviating from the proposed recipe in a bid to improve what she described as a “bland” meal.
Patterson explained to the court that the "vast majority" of the fungi came from local stores.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were taken to hospital and died after the lunch in the rural town of Leongatha in the Australian state of Victoria.
Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, was gravely ill but survived.
The family had been invited over on the premise she wished to discuss her health issues - namely cancer, with Patterson this week admitting she had never actually been diagnosed with the disease.
In reality, Patterson planned to undergo weight loss surgery, admitting she was too embarrassed to tell relatives the truth, so instead planned to tell them she was undergoing cancer treatment.
“I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate,” Patterson said on Wednesday.
“I didn’t want to tell anybody, but I shouldn’t have lied to them.”
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During the court appearance, Patterson admitted to consuming the mushroom meal before vomiting it up shortly after the guests left her home - something she says saved her from the worst effects of the poison.
She told the court that the self-induced vomiting came after eating nearly a whole cake, with the accused stating she had faced a decade-long battle with bulimia.
Patterson's lawyer earlier told the Supreme Court trial that the poisoning was a tragic accident but prosecutors said it was deliberate.
If convicted, she faces a sentence of life imprisonment on the murder charges and 25 years in jail for attempted murder.
Long queues formed outside the Latrobe Valley Courthouse on Tuesday after Patterson took the stand, which was the first time she had spoken publicly since the deaths.
During several hours of evidence on Tuesday, Patterson, 50, told the court she began foraging fungi during the Covid-19 lockdown of March 2020, witnessed only by her children.
"I cut a bit of one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter and ate it," she said. "They tasted good and I didn't get sick."
Patterson said she also fed foraged mushrooms to her children, chopped up "very, very small" so they could not pick them out of curries, pasta and soups.
She developed a taste for exotic varieties, joined a "mushroom lovers" Facebook group, and bought a dehydrator to preserve her finds, Patterson said.
Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she accepted that the beef Wellington pastries she had served to her lunch guests in 2023 contained death caps.
"Yes, I do," said Patterson.
The accused told her lawyer most of the mushrooms she used that day came from local supermarkets. She agreed she might have put them in the same container as dehydrated wild mushrooms she had foraged weeks earlier and others from an Asian food store.
Mr Mandy in April told the court his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never foraged before. But he denied that she had deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms and said she disposed of her dehydrator in a panic about the accidental deaths.
Earlier Tuesday, Patterson became tearful when she was asked about expletive-filled messages she had sent about her in-laws in December 2022 in a Facebook group chat that she described as a "safe venting space" for a group of women.
"I wish I'd never said it. I feel very ashamed for saying it and I wish that the family didn't have to hear that I said it," said Patterson. "They didn't deserve it."
Patterson, who said she had tried to have her parents-in-law mediate a dispute with her estranged husband, Simon, about school fees, said she was feeling hurt, frustrated and "a little bit desperate".
The couple formally separated in 2015 after earlier temporary splits, the court has heard. Simon Patterson was invited to the July 2023 lunch but did not attend.
