Erin Patterson: Mushroom victim Gail Patterson’s hospital comments before death revealed

Erin Patterson’s mother-in-law repeatedly questioned “why?” and mentioned her vomit had a strong taste of mushrooms after she was rushed to the hospital.

Details of the comments were not aired during Patterson’s trial and can only be made public after a suppression order barring media from publishing details of the trial judge’s pre-trial rulings was lifted.

Patterson was found guilty of murdering her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, Gail’s husband Don and her sister Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson on July 7 this year.

She had pleaded not guilty and maintained she did not intentionally poison anyone with a beef wellington lunch that contained death cap mushrooms.

Prosecutors had sought to lead hearsay evidence, or testimony about what another person said, from Gail’s daughter Anna Terrington about her conversations with Gail when she was admitted into the hospital after the deadly meal.

Ms Terrington told police that she sat with her mother overnight on July 30 after Gail had been moved to Dandenong Hospital.

She said she was present as doctors told both her parents they suspected mushroom poisoning and would be undertaking toxicological testing.

Ms Terrington also noted that she was approached by a doctor at one point, in the presence of her mother, who asked her if she believed her brother Simon had previously been poisoned.

Footage has been released of the moment Erin Patterson was asked to hand over her mobile phone to investigators as they searched her Leongatha home.

Ms Terrington told the doctor that she did, based on what her brother had previously said.

In her police statement, Ms Terrington said Gail was “awake and conscious” throughout the night, and she helped her to the bathroom several times.

“She was in intense pain with diarrhoea and exhausted. Whilst she was experiencing the pain, she was saying ‘why?’ on repeat,” Ms Terrington said.

“Also, during the night, Mum had told me that when she had been vomiting earlier, there was a strong taste of mushroom in her mouth and it was strange.”

Just a day later, on Monday, July 31, Gail had been moved with her husband Don to the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, where the pair were placed on life support in an induced coma.

She died inthe hospital on August 5.

During pre-trial hearings, prosecutors argued Gail’s comments indicated how much pain she was in and provided a point of comparison to Patterson’s claimed illness.

But Patterson’s defence argued the comments were irrelevant to the trial and could lead to unfair prejudice.

In his ruling, Justice Christopher Beale found the meaning of Gail repeatedly questioning “why” was a matter of speculation.

“As such, it does not rationally make an ultimate fact in issue more probable and is inadmissible,” he wrote.

Similarly, he found Gail’s comment about the strange, strong taste of the mushroom was also irrelevant and inadmissible at Patterson’s trial.

Patterson will return to court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing.