Lawyers for an Australian woman accused of fatally poisoning three family members with deadly mushrooms have told the jury their deaths were a “terrible accident.”
Erin Patterson is standing trial for the 2023 deaths of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson – who all died in hospital days after Patterson served them a meal that contained death cap mushrooms.
She is also charged with the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who was also at the lunch but survived.
Crown prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately served lethal mushrooms to kill her lunch guests; her defense counsel claims the deaths were a tragic accident.
During opening arguments on Wednesday, Patterson’s lawyers admitted that she initially lied to police when she said she hadn’t foraged for mushrooms and didn’t own a dehydrator. They said when she learned how ill her guests had become after eating her meal, she “panicked” and acted in ways that may seem suspicious.
The saga, which has gripped the nation for two years, began on a summer day in late July 2023 when Patterson hosted the four relatives of her estranged husband at her home, telling them she wanted to discuss a medical issue. Her ex-husband had also been invited but did not attend.
The court heard she told her guests she had cancer and asked them for advice on how she should break it to her two children. The prosecution alleges she did not have cancer, and had used the “medical issues” discussion to ensure the children would not be at the meal; the defense admitted she had lied about the diagnosis.
During the meal, Patterson served her guests individual beef wellingtons – a steak and pastry dish that incorporates mushrooms. Her guests fell ill hours later and were all admitted to hospital where doctors suspected mushroom poisoning, prompting a police investigation. Patterson was arrested and charged several months later.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC alleged that Patterson served the guests death cap mushrooms – a highly poisonous variety of wild fungus – that she had picked herself.
Patterson herself had gone to the hospital, claiming to feel unwell after the meal – but her tests did not show severe illness, and she voluntarily discharged herself against doctors’ advice, prosecutors said.
Patterson had told police she didn’t own a dehydrator, but surveillance footage after the deaths showed her disposing of a unit at a local trash dump, which was later found to contain traces of death cap mushrooms, the court heard.
Patterson insists she is innocent. Her defense lawyers told the jury they don’t dispute that the guests died from her meal – but argued she had not intentionally poisoned them.
“The defense case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests at that lunch on the 29th of July, 2023,” said defense lawyer Colin Mandy SC.
“She didn’t intend to cause anyone any harm on that day. The defense case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident.”
Mandy admitted that Patterson had lied about the dehydrator and about foraging for mushrooms, saying she had simply panicked in the moment.
“The defense case is that she panicked because she was overwhelmed by the fact that these four people had become so ill because of the food that she’d served to (them),” Mandy said. “Three people died because of the food that Erin Patterson served that day. So you’ll need to think about this issue – how Erin Patterson felt about that in the days that followed.”
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case is expected to continue for up to six weeks.