Prosecutors have accused Erin Patterson, 50, of telling an ‘obvious and ridiculous lie’ in court after traces of a poisonous mushroom were found in an appliance she had dumped
A woman accused of fatally poisoning her family with a beef wellington told an ‘obvious and ridiculous’ lie while in the witness box, a court has heard.
Erin Patterson, 50, is on trial charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and an aunt and attempting to kill an uncle with toxic mushrooms after serving the dish at her home last July. Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68, all fell seriously ill the day after consuming the meal, with only Mr Wilkinson surviving the suspected poisoning. Erin’s husband, 50-year-old Simon Patterson, was also invited to the lunch, but declined to attend.
During her trial at a court in Morwell, Victoria, Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all three counts of murder, and claims she had bought what she thought were normal mushrooms in a shop. But on Monday, prosecutors at the court accused her of deliberately lying to the jury when she gave evidence in court last week, reports News.com.au.
Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC told the jury that remnants of toxic death cap mushrooms were found in Ms Patterson’s dehydrator. The appliance was found dumped in an e-waste bin by police a short drive from her home in Leongatha, Victoria, six days after the poisoning, she said.
Dr Rogers told the court that toxicological analysis of samples from the dehydrator showed positive for the deadly mushrooms and urged the jury to reject Patterson’s testimony last week, when she claimed to have put store-bought mushrooms in the device because she thought they were “rubbery.”
She added: “We suggest you can readily reject this as a ridiculous and obvious lie came up with under cross-examination.” On Tuesday, Patterson’s defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC claimed the prosecution had “discarded inconvenient truths” and asked the jury to consider the “reasonable possibility” that death cap mushrooms had been served accidentally.
He said Patterson had a number of “very good reasons” not to harm her family, as by doing so she would “lose the only people in the world who are any support to you and your children.”
But in her closing address today, Crown prosecutor Dr Rogers urged the jury to “look at the evidence” presented in the trial, which she said showed that Patterson deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms and deliberately included them in the beef wellingtons.
She said: “You may not want to believe that anyone is capable of what the accused has done, you might not understand it. But look at the evidence. Don’t let your emotional reaction dictate your verdict.”
The trial, which has now entered its eighth week, continues.