She gave the in -laws a dish with mushrooms. They are dead. A trial in a high -profile case has started
Erin Patterson has been with her husband Simon in separation for several years. However, this did not bother her in inviting him and his family for an elegant dinner at home in a small Australian city of Leongatha. « The husband was almost » at the last minute, explaining that he would feel uncomfortable, spending the afternoon together, since they parted. This decision probably saved his life.
For dinner she served a gourmet dish with mushrooms. Three people died
On July 29, 2023, on July 29, 2023, her « In -laws were » – Gail (70 years old) and Don (70 years old) Pattersons and sister Gail, Heather Wilkinson (66 years old) with her husband Ian (68 years old) appeared. As the main course of the lady of the house, she served Wellington beef – meat with mushrooms wrapped in puff pastry – with potato purée. The next day, her four guests were hospitalized in the Intensive Care Department.
Heather and Gaila died on August 4, Don died the next day. Ian Wilkinson spent several weeks in the hospital and had to undergo liver transplant surgery. However, he was the only one who managed to get out of it alive.
As investigators soon discovered, the cause of nightmarish ailments and the death of three seniors was the Muchomor of Sromotnikowy. A strongly poisonous mushroom was in a exquisite meal that Erin served for dinner.
An unfortunate accident? Or maybe a deliberate crime? This will have to be resolved by a 15-person jury of the Morwell District Court in Australia, where on Wednesday, April 30, the trial in this shocking case began. Although this is only the beginning of the process, it arouses so much emotion that the sworn during the meeting were isolated from the outside world.
An unfortunate accident or deliberate murder? A trial in a high -profile case started before a court in Australia
According to the prosecutor’s office, which accused Erin Petterson of a triple murder and attempted murder, the woman planned to lure and poison the family of « almost a former » husband. She was to invite them for dinner two weeks earlier, telling them that after mass she would like to discuss the consequences of the medical messages received.
During the meal, the woman was to tell her in -laws that she had cancer and does not know how to tell children (with Simon they were the parents of two kids). This – as the defender Erin admitted during the trial – he was a lie. She was not diagnosed with cancer.
In addition, as investigators established, the hostess gave guests an exquisite dish with mushrooms immediately on plates – large and gray, while she ate light brown herself.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the accused did not fall ill like the other participants of the meeting, because her meal did not contain a Sromotnik toadstool at all – indicates the Australian ABC service. Defense, however, argued that Erin also struggled with the symptoms of poisoning.
According to the court’s findings, the accused went to the hospital two days after the unlucky dinner, from where she was to write, contrary to the doctor’s recommendations, and further examinations did not show the presence of toxins that could testify to poisoning with a mothers of the Sromotnik. Where did the poisonous mushrooms come from in the Wellington beef?
How were the Sromotnik’s toadstools on the plates of the guests? Defense admits that the accused was lying
In court, it turned out that Erin Patterson also lied about mushrooms. Initially, she was to explain to investigators that she bought them in an Asian store a few months earlier and swore that there was no mushroom dryer. At the local landfill, however, they found the device belonging to it and detected traces of somirotal toadstools.
It was also a lie that Erin never collected mushrooms in the forest. « The truth is, she never intended to collect somirotlenesis, » patron Colin Mandy, one of the defenders of the woman, argued to court.
In his words, Erin lied many times during the investigation, because she « panicked » when she learned that four close people got so ill so much because of the food she gave them.
Investigators admitted before the court that they did not establish a specific motive for which Mrs. Patterson was to commit a crime. However, the jury took a closer look at the relationship between the spouses and other family members in the separation.
What theme could Erin have to have to assume « almost former » in -laws?
Erin and Simon Pattersons in recent years have been « temporarily » several times to decide on permanent separation in 2015. There were conflicts about child support conflicts between the spouses, on which they shared their care. Despite this, they were to leave in friendly relations and go on a family vacation together.
As the patron of Mandy, the defender of Erin, emphasized, despite the increasingly turbulent parting with her husband, his client maintained good relations with his in -laws. According to the court’s findings, she was to have particularly good relations with the father -in -law, with whom she had interests – a passion for learning, books and conversations.
(Source: Reuters, The Guardian, Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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APP / AFP
Erin Patterson was accused of triple murder and attempt to murder. She was to give guests a exquisite dish with mushrooms, after which four people were hospitalized.
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Martin Keep / AFP
People leave the Latrobe Valley District Court, where the trial of the triple murder of Erin Patterson, in Morwell (April 30, 2025) takes place
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