Erin Patterson trial: Judge set to deliver charge to mushroom murder jury
The judge overseeing Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial is set to deliver his charge to the jury when the trial resumes on Tuesday morning.
Ms Patterson, 50, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to murdering three of her husband’s family members and the attempted murder of a fourth.
The case centres around a beef wellington lunch she hosted at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s southeast, on July 29, 2023.
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Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week following the lunch of multiple organ failure linked to death cap mushroom poisoning.
Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, also fell critically ill but recovered following a month and a half in hospital.
Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal with the poisonous mushrooms intending to kill, or at least seriously injure, her guests, while her defence maintains it was a tragic accident.
Last week, jurors in the trial were sent home early on Thursday by Justice Christopher Beale, who advised he would begin his closing address on Tuesday morning.
“It is more important than ever that you have a good weekend,” he said.
“I really want you to come back refreshed on Tuesday.”
The judge said he had a lot of ground to cover in his remarks, estimating it would take two or three days to deliver.
He said the charge would cover three topics – the relevant legal framework, the issues for jurors to determine and a summary of the evidence and arguments.
In her closing arguments delivered last week, Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC argued the evidence adduced over the previous seven weeks could allow the jury to “safely reject” the theory the lunch was a terrible accident.
“We say there is no reasonable alternative explanation for what happened to the lunch guests other than the accused deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms and deliberately included them in the meal she served them, with an intention to kill them,” Dr Rogers said.
On the other side of the bar table, Ms Patterson’s barrister, Colin Mandy SC, argued the prosecution’s case was built on cherrypicked facts and the jury should accept his client’s account of an accidental poisoning.
“There’s no possible prospect that Erin wanted in those circumstances to destroy her whole world, her whole life. Surely, it’s more likely that her account is true,” he said.
The trial continues.
Originally published as Erin Patterson trial: Judge set to deliver charge to mushroom murder jury
