CROWN Prosecutor in the marathon ‘mushroom murder’ trial in the Supreme Court at Morwell, Dr Nanette Rogers SC, wasted no time getting down to business on Monday, June 16.
“At the heart of this case,” said Dr Rogers, “are four calculated deceptions made by the accused.”
It was Day 32 of the trial. The evidence is in, and it’s now left to the prosecution and the defense to wrap up the case with their closing submissions. Dr Rogers was first up.
She laid out the alleged deceptions and spent the rest of the day backing up her claim.
On trial is 50-year-old Leongatha mother of two, Erin Patterson, charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, arising out of a family lunch of beef Wellington, containing death cap mushrooms, at her home on Saturday, July 29, 2023.
As a result of eating the meal that day, three of her guests, Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband Simon, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, have each died with a clinical diagnosis of amanita mushroom poisoning. The only guest to survive the lunch, Ian Wilkinson, very nearly died with the same diagnosis but made a miraculous recovery after 54 days in hospital.
Mrs Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that death cap mushrooms were inadvertently included in the individual beef Wellington portions and what happened on the day was a tragedy and a terrible mistake.
The alleged deceptions are as follows:
- The first deception was the fabricated cancer claim used by Erin Patterson as a pretence for the lunch invitation.
- The second deception was the lethal doses of poison the accused secreted in the home cooked beef Wellingtons.
- The third deception was her attempts to make it seem that she also suffered death cap mushroom poisoning and,
- The fourth deception was the sustained cover-up she embarked on to conceal the truth about what really happened.
“Members of the jury, the 29th of July 2023 lunch was arranged by the accused. Each of the guests were there by her invitation. She, alone, chose what to cook, obtained the ingredients and prepared the meal,” said Dr Rogers.
“Despite the recipe calling for a single dish, intended to be cut into smaller serves, the accused made individual portions,” she said.
“That choice to make individual portions allowed her complete control over the ingredients in each individual parcel. It is a control, the prosecution says, that she exercised with devastating effect.”
Once Dr Rogers concludes her remarks on Tuesday, Colin Mandy SC, the defence counsel for Erin Patterson, gets his opportunity to answer the claims being made by the prosecution.
It is expected that once the two closing submissions are completed, and the judge, Justice Beale, delivers his charge to the jury, it will not be until early next week that they retire to consider their verdict in a trial that has captured world-wide attention.
