‘Mushroom murderer’ given three life sentences for killing lunch guests

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BRISBANE — The Australian woman convicted of killing three lunch guests with the world’s most toxic mushrooms was sentenced to three life sentences with a non-parole period of 33 years on Monday, bookending a real-life crime drama that’s gripped Australia and spawned multiple podcasts and documentaries.

Erin Patterson, 50, was found guilty in July of murdering three people, including the parents, aunt and uncle of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, with a beef wellington meal she had deliberately laced with death cap mushrooms picked near her rural home in the state of Victoria in 2023.

The life sentences will be served concurrently with a 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of the sole survivor, pastor Ian Wilkinson, whose wife of 44 years, Heather, was among the guests who died in hospital in the days after the lunch.

Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, also died after suffering severe gastrointestinal illness that culminated in multiple organ failure.

The hearing was broadcast live from Melbourne’s Supreme Court, reflecting the intense public interest in the case that thrust Patterson, her family and the small town of Leongatha into the global spotlight.

Media crews jostled for position outside the courthouse as Justice Christopher Beale took his seat in front of a camera inside Court 4 to deliver Patterson’s sentence.

Beale said Patterson’s offenses required “substantial premeditation” and that she had engaged in an “elaborate cover-up” when she realized her initial lies would not work.

“I am satisfied by July 16, 2023, when you unusually invited Simon, his parents, and aunt and uncle to a lunch without the children to discuss your non-existent medical issue, you did so with the intention of killing them all,” Beale said.

Crown prosecutors had asked for a life sentence with no parole period, but Beale said he’d taken Patterson’s notoriety into account and the likelihood that she’d spend many years in solitary confinement, for her own protection from other prisoners.

Still, he found that Patterson’s crimes amounted to an “enormous betrayal of trust” that had inflicted “untold suffering” on her own children, who lost their grandparents.

“The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims, your crimes have harmed a great many people,” Beale said.

Patterson had separated from her husband but remained in contact with his parents, Don and Gail Patterson. She’d known his aunt and uncle, Ian and Heather Wilkinson, for years and for a time saw them relatively regularly at local church services.

Patterson invited all five family members to lunch at her house in Leongatha on July 31, 2023. No reason was given for the occasion – Patterson told the court she simply wanted a better relationship with her in-laws.

However, Simon pulled out the night before, saying he didn’t feel comfortable attending, so just his parents, aunt and uncle arrived on Saturday for the meal.

It emerged after the trial that Patterson believed his wife had attempted to poison him multiple times in the two years before the lunch and had been wary of her intentions. Three attempted murder charges related to those accusations were dropped before the main trial.

During her 10-week trial, the jury heard that Patterson had seen the location of the death cap mushrooms posted on a citizen science website. Prosecutors said she purchased a dehydrator to dry the mushrooms and dumped it at a waste recycling center as her guests lay dying in hospital.

Patterson told police she’d bought the mushrooms from a major supermarket and Asian grocer, sending health officials on a futile mission to track their source. She also lied about being ill in the days after the lunch, the court heard, and about feeding her children the leftovers of the tainted meal.

Crown prosecutors presented the mother-of-two as a flawed individual who lied repeatedly to police, and resisted attempts by health workers to provide herself and her children with medical care.

They offered no real evidence for Patterson’s motive, but suggested she showed “two faces” to the world – a public one that suggested she had a good relationship with the Pattersons, and a private one she revealed in messages to Facebook friends that bristled with frustration over the family’s behavior and beliefs.

In Facebook messages sent in December 2022, Patterson had expressed anger over Don and Gail’s reluctance to get involved in their son’s marriage breakdown.

Patterson’s trial focused the world’s attention on the small town of Morwell in the state of Victoria, near the scene of the crime in Patterson’s Leongatha dining room.

Patterson’s defense lawyers claimed she had accidentally added foraged mushrooms to the meal and had only realized after her guests were close to death in hospital.

After six days of deliberation, a 12-member jury found Patterson guilty, despite her protestations of innocence during days of cross-examination on the witness stand.

In Australia, jury members must remain anonymous even after the trial and are bound by law not to divulge discussions held in the jury room. So, it will never be clear what convinced all 12 jury members to reach their unanimous verdict.

Outside the court on Monday, survivor Ian Wilkinson thanked the police officers for their “professional, efficient and effective investigation.”

The longtime pastor of Korumburra Baptist Church also thanked the prosecutors, medical staff, and members of the community who’d reached out to support his grieving family. He also appealed for privacy and encouraged “everybody to be kind to each other.”

Wilkinson didn’t refer directly to the woman who had killed three close family members, but during a pre-sentencing hearing held on August 25, he extended an offer of forgiveness.

“I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness,” he said.

Patterson has until midnight on October 6 to lodge an appeal against her sentence, or conviction. — CNN