Accused mushroom killer says she lied to police: Australian court

SYDNEY – An Australian woman accused of murdering three people with poisonous mushrooms told a court on June 5 that she lied to police because she feared being held “responsible”.

Erin Patterson is

charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt

in 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest – her husband’s uncle – who survived after a long stay in hospital.

Patterson maintains the lunch was poisoned by accident and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

An Australian court was told on June 5 how Patterson used a food dehydrator to prepare mushrooms she had collected while foraging.

Patterson later told police she did not own a food dehydrator, the prosecution said.

“You lied about dehydrating food and mushrooms because you knew that if you told police the truth, then that would implicate you in the poisoned lunch,” prosecution lawyer Nanette Rogers said on June 5. “Agree or disagree?”

Patterson responded: “I agree that I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible.”

The court previously heard that she used a dehydrator to preserve store-bought and foraged mushrooms, which she then kept in her pantry.

Days after the deadly lunch, security cameras allegedly captured Patterson discarding the dehydrator at a local rubbish dump.

Detectives said they found traces of death cap mushrooms in the dehydrator, the court previously heard.

“I didn’t deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the meal,” Patterson told the court on June 5.

The prosecution alleges that Patterson intentionally poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself.

Her defence says Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.

Beef Wellington

Patterson had asked her estranged husband, Mr Simon Patterson, to the family lunch at her secluded rural Victoria home in July 2023. He turned down the invitation because he felt too uncomfortable, the court heard previously.

The pair were long estranged but still legally married.

Mr Patterson’s parents Don and Gail were happy to attend, dying days after eating the home-cooked meal. His aunt, Ms Heather Wilkinson, also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered.

Patterson told the court on June 5 that if her husband had attended the lunch, she would have “given him a beef Wellington too”.

“But not one with death cap mushrooms in it intentionally,” she said.

Patterson’s defence lawyer Colin Mandy on June 5 asked if she intended to kill or cause serious injury to her lunch guests that day. Patterson replied she did not.

The trial continues. AFP