Australian mushroom meal victim 'hunched' in pain, court hears

by Laura CHUNG

The estranged husband of an Australian woman accused of triple murder with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington told a court on Thursday his father was "hunched" in pain before he died.

Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with three murders -- the parents and aunt of her estranged husband -- and one attempted murder.

She has pleaded not guilty to all counts, with her defence saying the fatal beef-and-pastry meal, laced with death cap mushrooms, was the result of "a terrible accident".

On the second day of a trial that has drawn global attention, the accused woman's husband, Simon Patterson, described seeing his parents in hospital after they had been poisoned.

"Dad was substantially worse than mum. He was really struggling," he told the court.

"He was lying on his side, he was hunched," Simon Patterson said, adding that his father's face was "really discoloured".

"He wasn't right inside, he was feeling pain."

Simon Patterson had been invited to the lunch in late July 2023 at his wife's home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.

But he told the court he declined, texting her that he was "uncomfortable" with the invitation.

- 'Hope to see you there' -

She urged him to reconsider, saying she had cooked a "special meal" and spent a "small fortune" on beef eye fillet for the meal.

"I hope you will change your mind," said her text, read to the court.

"I hope to see you there."

Erin Patterson had invited the guests under the guise of telling them about a health issue, the court heard.

Simon Patterson did not turn up to the lunch but his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, did, along with his aunt Heather Wilkinson and her husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson.

Within days, Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were dead. Ian Wilkinson, the pastor, survived after nearly two months in hospital.

During the lunch gathering, Erin Patterson said she had cancer and asked for advice about how to tell her two children, crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers has told the court.

Medical tests later found no evidence she had the disease, according to the prosecutor.

The four guests developed diarrhoea and vomiting within 12 hours of the meal and were raced to hospital.

They were diagnosed by treating doctors with poisoning by death cap mushrooms.

- Guests dead within days -

At the hospital, Simon Patterson said his father informed him of his wife's claimed cancer diagnosis, of which he had not previously heard.

His parents were "really strong" in encouraging the couple to resolve their marital issues, he said.

Simon Patterson told the court his wife "got along well" with her father-in-law as they "shared a love of knowledge and learning and an interest in the world".

"I think she loved his gentle nature," he said.

Simon Patterson and his wife separated in 2015 but maintained a good friendship, even going on holiday with their children together.

By 2022, things had become tense and conversations were mostly limited to logistics involving the children, he said.

Erin Patterson was a "devoted mother" to their children and supported their involvement in a variety of activities, her husband said.

The prosecutor says she deliberately poisoned her guests and avoided consuming the death caps herself.

Instead, it is alleged, she pretended to be suffering from similar symptoms to cover up that she had not eaten the mushrooms.

While the jury might wonder about the reason, "motive is not something that has to be proven by the prosecution", Rogers said at the outset of the trial.

Erin Patterson's lawyer Colin Mandy told the court the poisoning was a "tragedy and a terrible accident".

She ate the same meal with death cap mushrooms but did not fall as sick as her guests, Mandy said.

Patterson is being tried in the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, south of Melbourne.

The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

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© Agence France-Presse