Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Judge tells jury not to let ‘sympathy’ affect their judgement as the marathon trial enters its final week

Back to the eight topics, Justice Beale said Patterson claimed to have cooked up some foraged mushrooms from her property and ate them.

Justice Beale also said Patterson claimed she would put the mushrooms in meals ‘we all ate’.

Patterson told the jury she’d chop up the mushrooms into such small pieces the kids couldn’t pick them out.

She claimed she foraged at the Korumburra botanical gardens and at her property.

Patterson claimed to have picked wild mushrooms at the gardens including slippery jacks and honey mushrooms.

Prior to the lunch break, Justice Beale drew a laugh from the jury and the court room when he mispronounced a doctor’s name as ‘Dr Mushroom’.

Justice Beale had been taking the jury through Patterson’s claims she had a tendency to forage for wild edible mushrooms and what the accused told witness Dr Laura Muldoon.

‘Dr Muldoon gave evidence she asked Ms Patterson whether she used wild mushrooms in the beef wellington,’ Justice Beale said.

‘Ms Patterson said she thinks she told Dr Mushroom, ah Muldoon, she had not used wild mushrooms.’

Justice Beale joked after the courtroom burst into laughter that his mistake was ‘deliberate just to check if you were still awake’.

He then laughed himself before moving on.

Justice Beale is now taking the jury through the ‘alleged prior inconsistent statements by the accused’.

He told the jury the prosecution (pictured) wanted him to highlight the eight ‘topics’ of alleged inconsistent statements.

The topics Justice Beale listed are:

1. Whether the accused had a tendency to pick and eat wild mushrooms between 2020 and 2023.

2. Whether the children were invited to or free to attend the lunch on July 29.

3. The source of the mushrooms that went into the beef Wellingtons.

4. How much the accused ate of her beef Wellington.

5. How much Gail Patterson ate of her beef Wellington.

6. When the accused claimed she started to experience diarrhoea.

7. Whether the accused knew or suspected the lunch was the cause of Don and Gail’s illness only in the evening of Sunday July 30, 2023.

8. Whether the accused knew that Donald and Gail Patterson were in comas by the morning of Tuesday, August 1, 2023.

Justice Beale is going through the evidence of health department officer Ms Atkinson who spoke with Patterson several times after the lunch.

Ms Atkinson had been leading the public health investigation into what ingredients Patterson used in the lunch and where the mushrooms were sourced from.

The jury heard Ms Atkinson gave evidence that Patterson initially claimed she used Woolworths mushrooms in the Wellingtons.

Ms Atkinson also made a document outlining her notes from conversations with the accused.

Justice Beale then turned to the topic of Patterson’s claims about dried mushrooms being purchased and Ms Atkinson said it was unclear if Patterson had used the mushrooms in a previous dish.

Ms Atkinson said Patterson mentioned the dried mushrooms smelt a ‘bit off’ so she stored them in a jar.

The trial is on a break and will resume at 2.15pm.

The jury has now been taken to the evidence of Patterson’s sister-in-law Tanya Patterson.

Tanya had told the jury Simon and Patterson’s relationship had been good for ‘many years’ after their separation but it had deteriorated in the last few months before the lunch.

Tanya said Simon didn’t attend Christmas holidays with the family and Patterson had taken the kids out of school without telling Simon.

Justice Beale told the jury Leongatha Hospital doctor Dr Chris Webster (pictured) was also a key prosecution witness.

The jury was reminded of Dr Webster’s evidence when he encountered Patterson at the hospital.

Dr Webster also answered questions about conversations he had with other medical staff at Leongatha and Monash Medical Centre.

Justice Beale said Dr Webster was quizzed during the trial about the conversations he had regarding transferring patients to better equipped metropolitan hospitals.

The jury was also reminded about the process that went into having Patterson transferred between hospitals.

Justice Beale is taking the jury back through the evidence of Pastor Ian Wilkinson (pictured) who survived the lunch after spending a period in intensive care.

The jury heard Mr Wilkinson said he remembered being invited to the lunch after a discussion with Gail and Don Patterson.

Justice Beale said Mr Wilkinson told the jury he thought the beef Wellingtons were on an oven tray and he had told police the same.

The jury was reminded about what Mr Wilkinson said about Patterson’s cancer claims.

The pastor had told police Patterson said she had ‘suspected cancer’.

He then gave evidence he thought she said she had cancer.

‘I think she was saying she had cancer,’ he said at trial.

Justice Beale said five prosecution witnesses were of note: the first being Simon Patterson (pictured right).

Justice Beale discussed Patterson’s relationship with her husband over the years

The jury heard Simon said his friendship with Patterson had been ‘strong’ until late-2022.

Simon said the lunch invite came off the back of information related to a ‘medical issue’.

The jury was reminded about this line of questioning, which took place in the opening days of the trial.

Simon told the jury Patterson had wanted to talk about ‘this serious matter’ at the lunch.

Justice Beale said Simon had been challenged on his recollection of the matter being described as ‘important’ or ‘serious’.

The jury heard Simon had not used those words in his police statement.

Justice Beale has warned the jury about the evidence of Patterson’s children because they were not cross-examined in court.

‘This was done to spare the children of added torment,’ he said.

Justice Beale said mistakes could have been made in their evidence and they needed to determine whether they accepted their evidence in whole or in part.

Justice Beale has told the jury about the tendency evidence they should take into account when deciding whether ‘the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt’ Patterson ‘deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons’.

‘If you find that she had a tendency to pick and eat wild mushrooms, including putting them in meals she served to others or if you think it is a reasonable possibility that she had that tendency, you may consider that it increases possibilities that the death cap mushrooms ended up in the beef Wellingtons accidentally, rather than deliberately,’ Justice Beale said.

The jury was reminded lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson (pictured centre) also gave evidence his wife Heather remarked at hospital that Patterson had different coloured plates at the lunch.

Justice Beale said Mr Wilkinson had discussed it with Heather at Leongatha Hospital.

Heather had wondered why Patterson had a different coloured plate, the jury was reminded.

Justice Beale said it was for the jury to determine if they believed that hearsay evidence provided by Simon and Mr Wilkinson.

He warned hearsay evidence could be unreliable because the witness might not have accurately recalled what happened.

The trial is on a short break and will resume shortly.

Justice Beale has now turned to hearsay evidence.

He said Simon claimed to have checked on the Wilkinsons the day after the lunch.

Justice Beale also said Simon said Heather (pictured left with Ian) noted Patterson served herself on a coloured plate that was different to the rest.

Simon also recalled Heather asked if Patterson was ‘short of crockery’, the jury was reminded.

Justice Beale also said Simon said once at hospital with his parents, his dad said Patterson had told them she had some tests, and it was ‘the elbow issue’ and was ‘positive’ for cancer.

The jury heard Don told Simon it was ovarian cancer and during the lunch they discussed chemotherapy and how to break the news to the kids.

Justice Beale said Patterson claimed she added the dried mushrooms to the Wellingtons to add more flavour and the death caps were in that jar by mistake.

The prosecution (prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers pictured) claimed Patterson was a ‘self-confessed liar’ and the accused killer claimed to have an interest in foraging but no one else ever knew her to have such an interest.

Justice Beale said her kids could not remember their mum ever foraging, no messages existed referring to foraging and Patterson did not own any books on the subject.

The prosecution claimed Patterson cooked up the foraging story because her Asian grocer story ‘didn’t add up’.

The defence said Patterson loved mushrooms and the fact kids don’t remember her foraging was simply because they were ‘just kids’, the jury was told.

Justice Beale said Patterson gave evidence of foraging and said her interest in death caps ‘wasn’t sinister’.

Justice Beale also said Patterson claimed she dehydrated Woolworths-bought mushrooms and stored them.

Patterson also said she had a mixed container with Woolworths mushrooms and other dried mushrooms.

The jury heard Patterson agreed she told health department officer Sally Ann Atkinson (pictured) she bought dried mushrooms and used them.

Patterson also said autumn was the season to pick mushrooms and the reason she never mentioned foraging in messages to her online friends was because it was not mushroom season when those conversations took place.

The jury was told Patterson agreed she had discussed her personal life to online friends but she couldn’t remember if she’d ever discussed cooking or foraging wild mushrooms

Justice Beale said Patterson agreed, after being transferred to Monash Hospital on July 31, 2023, she spoke to a doctor who asked her about foraged mushrooms in the beef Wellington.

Patterson also disagreed with her daughter’s claims she had never foraged.

The jury was also reminded that in more than 4,000 text messages between Patterson and Simon (pictured), none involved discussions about foraging.

Justice Beale told the jury Patterson admitted telling lies to police during her interview.

These included lies she had never foraged for mushrooms.

‘And she found out about death cap mushrooms too, and she looked up whether they grew in South Gippsland,’ Justice Beale said

Justice Beale said Patterson’s Cooler Master PC, seized on August 5, contained evidence of searches made to the iNaturalist website.

Patterson suggested to the jury it was likely her who made those searches.

Justice Beale said Patterson remembered ordering food shortly after a search on the iNaturalist site but she claimed she mostly used her phone to look up ‘such things’.

The jury has been reminded that Patterson (legal team pictured) conceded there were death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons.

Justice Beale said Patterson claimed to have bought some mushrooms from an Asian grocer and she bought the dehydrator ‘for a few reasons’.

Patterson said she preserved mushrooms in the dehydrator, but she also used the appliance to preserve ‘a whole range of things’.

‘She dehydrated mushrooms within days of buying the machine,’ Justice Beale said.

The judge pointed the jury to text messages Patterson had sent about the dehydrator at the time.

The jury was also reminded of images obtained from her devices which showed mushrooms Patterson claimed she had picked from the local gardens.

Justice Beale said Patterson claimed she tried to dry whole mushrooms, but they turned out ‘a bit mushy’.

He said Patterson mentioned oak trees in the gardens and recalled picking some mushrooms ‘near’ those trees.

The jury previously heard evidence death caps were symbiotic to oak trees.

Justice Beale said Patterson claimed to have put dehydrated mushrooms in the same container as some pre-bought dried mushrooms.

The jury was reminded images on an SD card, found by police during their second search, showed her kids on the ‘rail trail’ and of wild mushrooms.

Patterson claimed to have taken the photos herself.

Justice Beale told the jury about ‘tendency evidence’ in which Patterson claimed she had an interest in foraging for wild mushrooms.

He said Patterson said she picked and ate wild mushrooms during the Covid pandemic which she foraged while going on walks in the Korumburra Botanical Gardens and at her three-acre Korumburra property.

Justice Beale said Patterson claimed she picked all the mushrooms at her property because she didn’t know if they would be harmful to her dog.

Patterson also claimed she picked mushrooms at a rail trail to Leongatha and at her Leongatha property.

Justice Beale said if the jury accepted Patterson was a ‘person of good character’ they could use it to judge her credibility and weigh up the likelihood she would commit the crimes she’s accused of.

But he said ‘good character alone could not erase the evidence’.

The trial is on a short break.

Justice Beale said Patterson’s evidence should not be given ‘less weight’ while referring to ‘good character’ evidence.

He reminded the jury Simon suggested his estranged partner had got on well with his parents even after they separated.

Justice Beale also said Patterson had been generous with her money to assist Simon’s family with loans.

‘There was no interest on those loans,’ he reminded the jury.

He said Patterson appeared ‘close’ to her in-laws, according to Simon and she took her role as a parent seriously.

Justice Beale also recalled evidence that suggested Patterson was a devoted mother.

He looked at the Facebook messenger group, with Christine Hunt suggesting Patterson was ‘an attentive and devoted mother’.

Others said they believed her to be a lovely mother.

‘Her life revolved around her children,’ one Facebook friend had said.

Justice Beale also highlighted the evidence of informant detective Stephen Eppingstall (pictured right) who said Patterson had no criminal record.

Justice Beale reminded the jury Patterson (pictured) did not need to give evidence.

He said she ‘undertook to tell the truth’ but her evidence should be assessed the same way as anyone else who gave evidence in the trial.

Justice Beale said if the jury believed Patterson, they should find her not guilty.

‘It’s not enough that you prefer the prosecution case to Ms Patterson’s evidence,’ he said.

‘The prosecution must establish her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.’

Justice Beale said the jury needed to judge if witnesses were ‘honest, accurate and reliable’.

‘Honest witnesses can be mistaken,’ he said.

Justice Beale also urged the jury to use ‘common sense’ and be careful to consider the agreed facts of the case.

Justice Beale said Patterson’s children were both young at the time as he discussed the child witnesses in the case.

He said kids can ‘remember important events’ and explained how children go about understanding the world around them.

Justice Beale said some kids struggled to answer certain questions and the child’s development made a difference in their responses.

The jury was told not to base its decision on information obtained anywhere other than within the court itself.

Justice Beale said the case had attracted ‘unprecedented coverage’ and urged the jury not to be influenced by anything it may have heard

‘So disregard any outside information,’ he said.

Justice Beale said the case must be decided on the evidence alone and the jury should not be prejudiced about Patterson’s various lies.

He urged them not to let sympathy for anyone involved hamper their judgement.

‘This is court of law, not a court of morals,’ Justice Beale said.

‘I’ll give you directions later about the legitimate use you can make of any proven lies or proven attempts by her to dispose of or conceal evidence, but you must resist mere bias or prejudice, nor must you let sympathy for the extended Patterson or Wilkinson families [affect] your judgment.

‘Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not asking you to be inhuman, none of us are robots.

‘Any decent person would feel great sympathy for the Patterson and Wilkinson (Ian Wilkinson is pictured) families, given what has befallen them, but you must scrupulously guard against that sympathy interfering with the performance of your duty.

‘So emotions such as prejudice and sympathy must have no part to play in your decision…

‘Remember you are judges of facts… you must act like judges, good judges.’

Justice Beale has explained the basics of the case, Patterson’s not guilty pleas and the jury’s role in applying the law to the facts to decide the outcome as he explains to the jury the points of law which need to be applied in the case.

He said the jury must accept his directions on law.

‘The verdict you return has absolutely nothing to do with me,’ he said.

Justice Beale told the jury he will ‘endeavour not to make any comments about the case’.

And if he did, the jury should ‘ignore’ him.

‘You alone are the judges of the facts,’ he said.

Justice Beale is explaining important dates of the trial including when the lunch took place and when Patterson and her guests presented at hospital.

He told the jury he used the first names of the Patterson and Wilkinson families but said ‘he meant no disrespect by doing so’.

Justice Beale also recalled evidence Patterson gave in which she alleged Simon (pictured) accused her of using the dehydrator to poison his parents.

He told the jury Simon denied the allegation.

Justice Beale said it was a point the defence relied upon to explain Patterson’s behaviour that followed.

He also referred to Patterson hiding mushrooms in muffins.

Justice Beale told the jury they are the judges and their opinion counts while explaining how the chronology document is laid out.

He said the document is broken up into sections of time and includes references to alleged events and statements from the Patterson (pictured) trial.

‘But even though I said to you, I’ve tried to steer clear of controversy in the things I’ve included in the chronology, you’ll notice the headings at the top of the page are alleged date, alleged time, alleged event…,’ Justice Beale said.

‘So if you think there’s something in here that’s wrong, it’s your opinion that counts, not mine.’

Justice Christopher Beale has told the jury in the Erin Patterson murder trial that their verdict must be ‘unanimous’.

Patterson, who is today wearing a brown jacket and a paisley top, listened as Justice Beale explained to the jury how his charge will proceed.

Justice Beale also explained how two of the remaining 14 jurors will be balloted out.

The jury were given an 84-page hard copy of the trial chronology which Justice Beale said wasn’t ‘homework’ but rather something the jury could ‘dip into’.

Justice Beale also said references to ‘disputed events’ will not be included in the chronology.

‘Those are matters for you to decide,’ he said.

‘I’ve tried to steer clear of controversy in the preparation of this chronology.’

Mr Mandy (pictured right) on Thursday wrapped up his closing address by asking the jury to find his client not guilty.

‘Like we’re competing against each other like a boxing match or a football match, or netball or whatever, the truth is, it’s more like the high jump,’ Mr Mandy said.

‘This is important because only the prosecution has to get over the bar, defence doesn’t have to do anything, defence doesn’t have to jump any bar.

‘Erin Patterson doesn’t have to jump any bar at all, prosecution have to clear the bar, and it’s the highest bar known to the law, and that’s where you are now.

‘You are at innocent with Erin Patterson, that’s your starting point. Starting point is innocence…

‘She doesn’t have to prove her innocence to you because she is innocent and it’s for the prosecution to disprove her account of accidental poisoning…

‘So in conclusion, the way of thinking about this in relation to deliberateness is was the poisoning deliberate?

‘If you think that it’s possible that Erin deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty.

‘If you think that maybe Erin deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty.

‘If you think that she probably deliberately poisoned, you must find her not guilty…

‘If you think at the end of your deliberations, taking into account the arguments that we’ve made, that it’s a possibility that this was an accident, a reasonable possibility, you must find her not guilty.

‘And if you think it’s a reasonable possibility that her evidence was true, you must find her not guilty.

‘And our submission to you is the prosecution can’t get over that high bar… When you consider the actual evidence. And consider it properly, methodically analytically. Your verdicts on those charges should be not guilty.’

Mr Mandy thanked the jury for their ‘attention’ then concluded his address.

The trial will resume at 10.30am.

Last Thursday, Mr Mandy said Patterson claimed Phone A had been previously damaged as he revealed the ‘stupid thing’ his client did following the lunch.

‘Phone A was damaged and that’s the reason why she stopped using it,’ Mr Mandy said.

Mr Mandy claimed Patterson could not change a sim card on her phone while police were there.

Mr Mandy asked the jury if the accused had hidden Phone A why did she wait until the next day to change the sim card out of it?

‘She couldn’t use it because it was damaged,’ he said.

‘The stupid thing she did was factory reset Phone B a couple of times.

‘There was nothing to be achieved by factory resetting Phone B.’

Mr Mandy said Patterson reset the phone due to her ‘panic’.

Mr Mandy has explained why his client was eager to leave Leongatha Hospital during her first visit on July 31, 2023.

‘On July 31, when Patterson attended hospital, there was immediate concern over mushroom poisoning,’ Mr Mandy said.

‘This is not a normal presentation… this is a significant event in Leongatha Hospital history.’

Mr Mandy said when Patterson left the hospital at 8.10am it was because she ‘was not prepared for what she walked into’.

Mr Mandy said his client needed to do things before she was transferred to another hospital.

‘And her mind moved to the practical considerations,’ he said.

Mr Mandy said Patterson had kids at school and had multiple activities to organise.

Patterson previously told the jury she struggled to process what was happening.

Mr Mandy commenced his closing address after Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers (pictured) concluded her closing address.

Lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC concluded his closing address to the jury last Thursday afternoon.

Before ending his address, Mr Mandy (pictured) rejected allegations Patterson lied about being sick as he again highlighted for the jury the timing of Patterson’s supposed illness after the lunch.

Mr Mandy said Patterson did not say in her evidence that she tasted the duxelles (mix of mushrooms) after she added the dried mushrooms to it, but it was ‘common sense’ that she did so.

‘She wasn’t cross examined about it at all,’ he said.

Justice Christopher Beale will commence his address to the jury – or ‘charge’ – this morning after giving jurors a four-day weekend to prepare for the closing stage of the marathon Erin Patterson murder trial.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury that Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate to those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.