Erin Patterson spent days after lunch on Beef Wellington, talking in detail with an employee of the Ministry of Health about supplying mushrooms for nutrition from Asian grocer and Woolworths, heard a Victorian court.
Day 19 of Patterson’s trial in the court courts of the Latrob valley in Morell was also interrupted by a protester, who called charges before justice Christopher Biel before being accompanied by the police room.
The 50 -year -old Patterson faces three accusations of murder and one accusation of an attempt at lunch with Beef Wellington lunch, she served in her house in Lengta in Southern Gipland on July 29, 2023.
Patterson admitted that he was not guilty of murder or attempted murder of relatives of his alienation husband Simon Patterson.
She is accused of killing Simon, Don and Gail Patterson’s parents, his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, and tries to kill Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.
The court was interrupted early on Monday, as a man dressed in a yellow T -shirt involving the message “All we say is to give the truth a chance,” accused that the murder cases were “falsified”. Beal did not comment as the man was quickly traveled by a court by a police officer.
Later, the court heard from Salyan Atkinson, an employee of the Ministry of Health, who was tasked with investigating the circumstances of lunch after Patence and Wilkinson were taken to hospital on July 30, 2023.
A report was made to the department to investigate whether a broader public health response was needed.
Atkinson said she had exchanged numerous telephone calls and text messages with Patterson between August 1 and 4 in an attempt to identify the source of mushrooms used in the diet.
Previously, the court heard Patterson tell many people, including family members and healthcare professionals, that she used fresh mushrooms from the local Woolworths supermarket and dried Asian grocery mushrooms in Melbourne.
Atkinson said that in one of her first conversations with Patterson, she said that beef Wellington was something she had never done before, but she cooked it as “she wanted to do something fantasy.”
Atkinson told the court that he then struggled to obtain Patterson again, with the defendants responding through the text that it was “a little snow trying to manage”, the fact that her children were in hospital after eating lunch remains.
She spoke with Patterson on August 2, Atkinson said when Katrina Cryps’s maintenance worker visited her at home.
Atkinson sent it earlier the same day with seven specific lunch questions, including what was served for drinking, what type of shallot were used in the dish and in what type of packaging the dried mushrooms were sold.
Later that afternoon, Atkinson sent pictures of different sizes of Patterson Zipper Bags, marked with a white sticker and a pen used to indicate their size, in an attempt to help her identify the size of the bag in which the dried mushrooms were sold.
She also asked Patterson if the mushrooms were whole or cut.
(July 29, 2023)
Erin Patterson hosts lunch for the parents of the alienated husband Simon, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and Uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Patterson serves Beef Wellington.
(July 30, 2023)
All four guests at noon were admitted to a hospital with gastric symptoms.
(4 August 2023)
Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die in hospital.
(August 5, 2023)
Don Patterson died in hospital. Victoria’s police searched Erin Patterson’s home and interviewed her.
(September 23, 2023)
Ian Wilkinson was discharged from a hospital after weeks in intensive treatment.
(November 2, 2023)
Police are again searching for Erin Patterson’s home and she was arrested and interviewed. She has been charged with three murder accusations associated with the death of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
(28 April 2025)
The jury sworn.
(29 April 2025)
The lawsuit for murder begins. The jury hears the accusations of attempting to kill her alienated husband Simon have been dropped.
In his opening of the case, the prosecutor’s office stated that Patterson had lied to obtain mushrooms from the death of Asian grocer, evidence that he was said to have intended to use to demonstrate criminal behavior.
Colin Mandy SC for Patterson said the prosecutor’s office relies on evidence of this kind to demonstrate that Patterson behaved in a way after lunch “who could make her look guilty.”
“The prosecutor’s office says she behaved in this way because she knew she was guilty of murder and the defense case was that she was panicked because she was buried by the fact that these four people were sick because of their food,” Mandy said.
“Three people were killed because of the food that Erin Patterson serves this day. So you’ll have to think about this question: how Erin Patterson felt about it in the coming days. This is a problem in this process. You will have to think about how it is behaving and what it has done in this important context.
“How did you feel in those days after lunch, about serving food that had such tragic consequences? And how can it affect the way it behaves?”
Related: Life saved and what Erin Patterson has trusted friends: Fourth week of the lunch test of mushrooms
He continued to refer to Patterson’s intensive control immediately after lunch. Mandy did not turn directly to whether Patterson had lied to the mushrooms because she had been accused by the prosecutor’s office, but said she had lied to police that she had never been seasoned for mushrooms, though she had stated that she had never sought mushrooms from death.
“It is not a problem that there was an intense public health control very early, police check, media control,” Mandy says in his initial address.
“So when you are considering this evidence, the evidence of her behavior after lunch, you will need to think about these questions. Can anyone panic in such a situation? Can people do and say things that are not well thought out and can ultimately do them badly?
“Is it possible for a person to lie when he realizes that people are seriously ill because of the food they have served?”
Atkinson will resume giving evidence on Tuesday.
The test continues.