A suburban Victorian mum is standing trial over allegations she poisoned several of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms during a home-cooked lunch — an incident that resulted in three deaths and has drawn international attention.
The case against 50-year-old Erin Patterson commenced this week in the Supreme Court of Victoria and is expected to run for approximately six weeks.
Patterson is accused of serving a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms — among the most toxic in the world — at a lunch held in July 2023 at her home in Leongatha, a small town of fewer than 6,000 residents located roughly 135 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
Prosecutors allege that Patterson, who was separated from her husband Simon Patterson but reportedly on civil terms with him, invited his parents, as well as his aunt and uncle, to an adults-only lunch under the pretence of discussing her medical issues. Simon declined the invitation.
All four guests reportedly began showing signs of gastrointestinal distress the day after the meal. Three of them died within a week, with autopsies revealing liver failure and multiple organ failure caused by Amanita phalloides — commonly known as the death cap mushroom.
Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the jury that Patterson fabricated a cancer diagnosis to justify the gathering, intentionally poisoned her guests, refrained from eating the same meal, and later faked similar symptoms in an effort to mislead authorities.
“You do not have to be satisfied as to the motive or even that there was one,” Rogers told jurors on Wednesday. “The prosecution is not alleging a specific motive behind her actions.”
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She has consistently denied any deliberate wrongdoing, with her legal team stating she also consumed the meal and fell ill, though not as severely as the others.
“The defence case is that she didn’t intend to cause harm to anyone that day,” her barrister, Colin Mandy SC, said during opening remarks. “This was a tragedy — a terrible accident.”
Mandy told the court that Patterson had lied to police in the aftermath of the lunch — once about owning a food dehydrator and again about foraging for mushrooms. He said she admits to foraging, but denies knowingly collecting death caps.
He argued that Patterson panicked not out of guilt, as the prosecution claims, but due to the horror of seeing her guests fall gravely ill from food she had prepared.
“Is it possible someone might act irrationally and say things that make them look bad, not because they’re guilty, but because they’re overwhelmed?” Mandy asked. “Is it possible someone might lie out of fear when they realise the food they served has made people seriously ill? Those are the questions at the heart of this case.”
Due to the high-profile nature of the trial, Justice Christopher Beale ordered the 15-member jury — which includes three alternates — to be sequestered during deliberations to protect them from outside influence and preserve the integrity of their verdicts.
Justice Beale also reminded jurors that the case would continue to attract significant media coverage and urged them to assess only the evidence presented in court, “using your head, not your heart.”
