By PAUL SHAPIRO AND WAYNE FLOWER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
Published: | Updated:
Follow Daily Mail Australia’s live coverage of accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson‘s murder trial at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell, Victoria.
Patterson to enter day 8 in the witness box
Erin Patterson will this morning enter the witness box for what is expected to be her eighth and final day on the stand in her own marathon murder trial.
Patterson has been a big drawcard with dozens of members of the public braving the cold to queue up outside (pictured) the courthouse very early each morning to get a front row seat in the courtroom.
Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.
Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.
The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.
Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.
Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.
Last week, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury it was possible the trial may go on for another couple of weeks.
Justice Beale said once evidence is completed, he will have legal discussions with the parties while the jury is out, before closing addresses can commence.
Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC said yesterday she will complete cross-examining Patterson today.
Patterson ‘can’t remember’ visiting death cap hotspot
Patterson agreed it ‘looks likely’ she drove to Loch South on May 22 or 23, 2023.
But she denied visiting Loch South to forage for death caps.
Dr Matthew Sorell (pictured) gave evidence a phone ping also possibly put Patterson in Outtrim on May 22.
The jury heard fungi expert Dr Tom May – under the handle Funkey Tom – posted a death cap sighting onto iNaturalist in May 2023.
Dr Rogers on Wednesday suggested Patterson read Dr May’s iNaturalist post and went to Outtrim looking for death caps.
Patterson disagreed and said she can’t remember ever going to Outtrim in May 2023.
Dr Rogers also suggested phone records show Patterson ‘didn’t traditionally travel to Loch and Outtrim’.
‘I don’t know,’ Patterson replied.
Prosecution: ‘I suggest this is a story you made up’
Patterson was reminded about evidence she gave where she went foraging for mushrooms with her children.
‘I think they even found a couple [of mushrooms] for me at one point,’ Patterson previously told the jury.
Dr Rogers reminded Patterson of her son’s evidence where he said he’d never been foraging or searching for mushrooms with his mum or dad.
The son said he remembered seeing mushrooms growing while on walks with his mum and sister in 2020 and 2021 but didn’t remember picking any.
The son said his mum took a photo of a wild mushroom but he said ‘he never knew’ his mum to go foraging or picking wild mushrooms.
Patterson’s daughter also said she’d never gone picking mushrooms and had never seen one while with her mum.
Dr Rogers suggested Patterson’s children never knew her mum to forage for wild mushrooms.
‘I suggest this is a story you have made up for this jury, agree or disagree?’ Dr Rogers said.
‘Disagree,’ Patterson replied.
Prosecution accuses Patterson of lying about leftovers
The prosecution has alleged Patterson lied about the leftovers to give her ‘distance from a deliberate poisoning’.
Dr Rogers asked Patterson why she served the meal to her kids knowing Don and Gail were ill.
Patterson claimed she didn’t know that.
Patterson said the kids were ‘confused’ about why Don and Gail (pictured) were sick.
In his evidence, Patterson’s son said she told him on Sunday night his grandparents were unwell.
Patterson agreed she ‘may have told him’ that.
Dr Rogers suggested Patterson lied about the leftovers.
Dr Rogers also suggested Patterson told several people she scraped mushrooms off and that’s why they weren’t sick.
Patterson accused of being ‘vague’ about Asian grocer because it was a ‘deliberate lie’
Dr Rogers (pictured) showed Patterson a map of the Monash Council LGA.
Patterson’s son said he and his sister stayed in their mum’s Mount Waverley apartment in March or April of 2023.
Dr Rogers suggested Patterson was ‘very familiar’ with Mount Waverley and its surrounding areas.
Dr Rogers suggested the accused was ‘vague’ about the suburb of where the Asian shop was and kept changing her story.
‘That’s because the Asian grocery store was a deliberate lie, correct or incorrect?’ Dr Rogers asked.
‘Incorrect,’ Patterson replied.
Patterson claimed she ate a kilo of mushrooms prior to lunch
On Wednesday, Patterson claimed she ate a kilo of mushrooms between July 23 and July 27.
Dr Rogers suggested Patterson purchased 1.75kg of mushrooms between July 23 and July 27.
‘Incorrect,’ Patterson replied.
Patterson said the amount was a kilo-and-a-half and she ate one kilo and used the rest of the mushrooms for the Wellingtons.
Dr Rogers suggested that is an ‘untruth’.
‘Disagree,’ Patterson said.
Dr Rogers suggested Patterson had twice the amount of mushrooms the RecipeTin Eats recipe called for and there was no need to add extra mushrooms.
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Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Accused killer enters day eight in the witness box
