Australia mushroom murders trial: Erin Patterson’s daughter describes eating ‘leftovers’ of fatal lunch in police video

Erin Patterson’s daughter told police she ate leftovers of the deadly mushroom meal with her mother and brother for dinner the day after the meal, a court has heard.

A video of Patterson’s daughter’s evidence was played on Thursday during her mother’s triple murder trial.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023.

She has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

Patterson is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.

Her daughter’s interview with police, known as video audio recorded evidence, was from 16 August 2023.

The girl cannot be named because of a suppression order.

Illustration: Guardian Design

In her interview, she tells police that Patterson said she was sick on the morning of 30 July 2023, the day after the lunch.

She said she had a sore tummy and diarrhoea, the girl told police, and that she had seen her go to the toilet about 10 times.

Later that night, Patterson served her two children and herself “leftovers” from the meal, her daughter said, including steak, mashed potato, and green beans.

Asked by the officer to tell him everything she could remember about the lunch Patterson hosted, she said “I wasn’t there, so I don’t know” and started to become emotional.

She said her mother told her “she wanted to have a lunch with my grandparents and Heather and Ian” and that they were going to discuss “adult stuff”.

The court has previously heard allegations Patterson invited her guests to lunch to discuss a cancer diagnosis, and how to tell her children, but that records showed she had never been diagnosed with cancer.

Earlier on Thursday, a nurse told the Victorian supreme court that Patterson “didn’t look unwell” compared with two of her seriously ill lunch guests, and was angry, flustered and teary while repeatedly saying “I don’t want any of this” in relation to her hospital treatment.

Cindy Munro, who was working at Leongatha hospital on 31 July 2023, gave evidence on Thursday in Patterson’s trial, which is being held in the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

Patterson’s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, told the court last week that Patterson accidentally poisoned her lunch guests with death cap mushrooms served in beef wellingtons.

The prosecution says Patterson deliberately poisoned them, but told the jury it would not – and did not have to – present a motive for the alleged murders or attempted murder.

Munro, a registered nurse, told the court that it was her observation Patterson did not appear as unwell as the Wilkinsons, who were in the hospital the previous morning but had since been transferred to a larger hospital in Melbourne.

“She didn’t look unwell like Heather and Ian,” Munro said.

“Ian looked so unwell he could barely lift his head.

“She didn’t look unwell to me.”

Munro had been asked to cannulate Patterson, as it was expected she would need to receive fluids to assist with her reported diarrhoea, but also to receive N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a liver treatment commonly used in suspected poisoning cases.

But Patterson said multiple times “I don’t want any of this” in relation to the treatment, Munro said.

Munro agreed that Patterson also became flustered, angry and teary.

About midday, Munro said she learned that Patterson’s children had eaten leftovers of the same meal, but with the mushrooms scraped off.

Munro said she told Patterson there was a risk death cap mushroom toxin had “seeped through the meat” and that her children also required urgent treatment.

“She didn’t want to cause any hassle, she didn’t want to take them out of school,” Munro said Patterson responded.

“And that’s when she became quite teary, and quite worried, and … said ‘I don’t want the children to be involved in this’.”

The court also heard from other medical professionals who spoke with Patterson when she presented to hospital earlier that same morning. The court heard on Wednesday that she left after five minutes, despite being warned about the seriousness of the suspected poisoning.

A “discharge at own risk” form signed by Patterson was shown to the court, which also noted that next to a section reading “capacity” she wrote: “Me.”

Kylie Ashton, the director of nursing and midwifery at Gippsland Southern Health Service, told the court she told Patterson during the short period she first presented to hospital that her heart rate was “dangerously high”, and that this, and her blood pressure, could be signs of poisoning.

She also emphasised the time critical nature of the NAC treatment, she said.

Patterson arrived at hospital about 8.05am and discharged herself at 8.10am, with the court hearing that Ashton and two doctors spoke with her during this time about how critical it was that she remain there.

The first police witness in the case, Sen Const Adrian Martinez-Villalobis from Mirboo North police, also gave evidence about Patterson being cooperative during a conversation he had with her on the phone about trying to recover leftovers of the beef wellingtons from an outside wheelie bin.

Martinez-Villalobis had been called by the hospital to attend Patterson’s house after she discharged herself from hospital.

Tanya Patterson, who is married to Simon’s younger brother Matthew, also gave evidence on Thursday.

She said that while Simon and Patterson had a good relationship despite their separation in 2015, this had deteriorated in the 12 months before the lunch.

This was because of a dispute over child support, and because Patterson moved the children’s schools without telling Simon, she said.

Tanya also spoke about visiting Patterson in Monash hospital on 1 August 2023. She had been transferred there via ambulance on the afternoon of 31 July 2023.

“Erin asked me how everybody was, and I told her that things were going downhill quickly, but I didn’t have the latest information,” Tanya told the court.

Three of the guests were in a coma at that point, Tanya said.

After leaving Patterson, she went to visit Patterson’s children, who were in the same hospital, and then texted Patterson an update, Tanya told the court.

“She said thanks so much, and thanks for visiting,” Tanya said.

Under cross-examination from Sophie Stafford, for Patterson, Tanya agreed it was possible that Patterson did not actually know about the condition of the lunch guests.

“I could be wrong about anything so that’s a possibility,” Tanya said.

She also agreed that her husband told her soon before visiting Patterson not to “pass on information” regarding the health of the guests.

Stafford suggested that Tanya told Patterson she should find out about their condition from Simon, but that Patterson then responded that she had tried to but hadn’t been given any updates.

“It was something along those lines, yes,” Tanya said.

The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.