Erin Patterson live trial updates: Alleged mushroom killer denies picking death cap mushrooms for fatal lunch

Ms Patterson has told the court she never told doctors, medical staff or health authorities that foraged mushrooms may have made their way into a container which had “pungent” mushrooms from an Asian grocer in it.

“That’s correct. I did not tell anybody,” Ms Patterson said.

She accepted while knowing her lunch guests were being treated for possible exposure to death cap mushrooms, that she continued to keep her foraging secret, then went to dispose of the food dehydrator that she had used to dry mushrooms she had picked.

Ms Patterson says she was “disappointed” that her ex said he wouldn’t come to lunch.

“You wanted him to come to lunch so you could feed him part of a poisoned beef Wellington lunch,” the Crown prosecution said.

“No,” Ms Patterson replied.

Ms Patterson then agreed she scraped the mushrooms and pastry off the sixth beef Wellington later into her rubbish bin.

Erin Patterson has now agreed that she told her ex-partner on June 16 that she had “medical issues” she wanted to discuss, but is still disputing that she said she wanted “advice”, including how to break it to the kids.

When Mr Patterson told Ms Patterson he was “too uncomfortable” to attend lunch, he said he was “happy to talk about health” issues at another time.

“That’s really disappointing. I have spent many hours preparing lunch,” Ms Patterson replied to Mr Patterson.

“I wanted it to be a special meal because I might not be able to host a lunch like this again.

“I hope to see you there.”

Ms Patterson said the “medical issues” were not “why” she invited people.

“My memory is that I said to him something like, ‘there’s some medical stuff that I’ll talk to you about then’.”

She says, “that wasn’t a lie” as she had an appointment booked for a “pre-surgery appointment” for a gastric bypass.

Simon Patterson previously gave evidence claiming that the accused invited Don and Gail Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson to lunch to discuss “important medical news” and that she wanted advice on how to break it to the children.

He has also given evidence claiming the accused wanted the children not to attend the lunch.

Ms Patterson disputed that evidence, claiming she just invited everyone to lunch and has not asked guests to come to discuss “medical news”.

She accepted that she had invited Don, Gail, Heather and Ian before Simon.

Ms Patterson “disagreed” that she told the wider family before her ex-partner so that he would feel more inclined to come.

Erin Patterson took to Facebook to “vent” to her friends about her “frustration” over Don and Gail Patterson.

Her messages were read to the court, where she said she wanted “nothing to do with” the Patterson family due to their lack of involvement in mediation.

“Nobody listens to me. At least I know they’re a lost cause,” Ms Patterson wrote.

“So, f..k em’,” the message continued.

“I wrote that. I was venting. I was frustrated,” Ms Patterson said, explaining her comments.

Ms Patterson denied that she was telling her friends about her true feelings, claiming she was not angry, just “frustrated”.

Ms Patterson accepted that she also wrote a message ahead of lunch, where she called Simon Patterson a “deadbeat”.

“Her (Gail) son is such a deadbeat.”

Ms Patterson admitted to sending a message to her Facebook friends, where she vented about a “dispute” over child support and school fees.

“Simon wants to walk away from his responsibilities,” she said.

She went on to say that it might be a good thing as Ms Patterson could now put her children in whatever school she wanted. She added that if her ex-partner wanted the kids to attend a Christian school, he could pay half.

“A blessing in disguise,” she told her friends.

Ms Patterson says she told her partner about changing which school her child attended, something the Crown disputes.

Erin Patterson was asked to read a message she sent in a group chat that Don and Gail Patterson were in.

In her message, she said: “Simon needs accountability for the difficulty he is causing me.”

The message continued, with Ms Patterson mentioning school fees and how much her ex-partner was paying.

Ms Patterson denied she was trying to get Don and Gail to influence Simon’s contribution to school fees but accepted that Don made clear he wasn’t going to get involved.

“I wasn’t angry,” Ms Patterson said.

Erin Patterson, 50, stands accused of murdering her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, as well as the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson by serving them beef Wellington containing poisonous mushrooms at a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson is under intense cross examination at her triple murder trial, spilling confessions on the lies she told police and health authorities about mushrooms.

She is returning to the witness box now.