The trial of a woman accused of murdering three elderly people by serving them poisoned mushrooms began in Australia on Tuesday. The case has caused widespread outrage in the country.
Fifty-year-old Australian Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with a 2023 beef Wellington dinner she served to her guests.
The trial of Erin Patterson, accused of allegedly killing her husband’s relatives by serving them poisonous mushrooms for dinner, began in a Victoria state court.
Erin Patterson faces three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with a beef Wellington dinner she served at her home in the rural Australian town of Leonhata on July 29, 2023.
On Tuesday, a jury of 15 was selected for the trial in the Supreme Court. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to the murder or attempted murder of her ex-husband Simon Patterson’s relatives.
However, she is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers of South Carolina and Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy of South Carolina, are expected to make opening statements in the case on Wednesday.
Married couple Gail and Don Patterson (both aged 70) and Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital after lunch at the Leonata home in south-east Victoria on July 29.
In a statement provided to Victoria Police and obtained by ABC earlier in 2024, Patterson confirmed that her ex-husband had accused her of murdering his parents.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved,” she said. “I now very much regret not answering some [police] questions following this advice given the nightmare that this process has become.”
According to her, she bought the ingredients for the ill-fated dinner at two different shops. Patterson claimed that a few months before the tragedy, she had bought dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne, and shortly before the incident, she had bought button mushrooms from a supermarket chain.
Patterson confirmed that the dish containing the fatal mushrooms was a beef Wellington pie.
