An Australian woman accused of killing three lunch guests with deadly mushrooms should not be judged guilty just because she lied after the meal, her defence lawyer said Wednesday.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest — her husband’s uncle — who survived the lunch after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson has steadfastly maintained her innocence during a seven-week-long trial that has made headlines from New York to New Delhi.
As the trial came to its closing stages on Wednesday, defence lawyer Colin Mandy sought to explain Patterson’s behaviour in the days following the deadly feast.
Patterson told police investigating the deaths that she did not own a food dehydrator, which was allegedly used to prepare the death cap mushrooms.
Security footage showed Patterson dumping a dehydrator at a nearby rubbish facility, and forensic tests found trace amounts of death cap mushrooms on the appliance.
“No one knows what they would have done in a similar situation,” Mandy told the trial.
“She is not on trial for being a liar.”
– ‘Perfect sense’ –
Patterson had also visited a website listing locations of death cap mushrooms near where she lived a year before the lunch.
Mandy said there was nothing unusual about Patterson’s knowledge of death cap mushrooms, as she had developed an interest in foraging for mushrooms during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, teaching herself which varieties were safe to eat.
It made “perfect sense” that Patterson would have become “aware of death cap mushrooms” during this period, Mandy said.
Patterson “loved” mushrooms, he added, because they were healthy and full of flavour.
Mandy used his closing address to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, attacking a claim that Patterson served the poisoned meal on matching grey plates set aside for her guests — but herself ate from an orange dish.
Patterson did not own plates that matched this description, he said.
Mandy also pointed to expert evidence that found people can respond differently to death cap mushroom toxins.
Patterson only ate half of her meal, made herself vomit afterwards, and was heavier and younger than her guests.
These factors explained how Patterson could also eat the tainted food, but did not get as sick as the others.
Patterson originally invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the farming village of Leongatha in Victoria state.
But he turned down the invitation on the eve of the meal, saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard earlier.
The pair were long estranged but still legally married.
Simon Patterson’s parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch.
All three were dead within days. Heather Wilkinson’s husband Ian fell gravely ill but eventually recovered.
