THE 48-year-old Leongatha woman, described by police as the “suspect” in the case of the poisoned mushrooms, which has now garnered worldwide interest, Erin Patterson, was unapologetic today for locking some members of the media inside the remote-control gate of her rural-lifestyle property on the edge of town.
Speaking to the media today, she said they shouldn’t have been on private property in the first place and wasn’t sorry for locking the gate on several previous occasions.
“I’d do it again,” she said, while commenting on the behaviour, last Tuesday, of a particularly insistent journalist from one of the metropolitan news outlets.
Her comments followed a frenzied scene outside her front door on Tuesday when Ms Patterson warned the media that such “harassment” was likely to push someone over the edge.
This morning’s exchange with the media was much more subdued by comparison.
At about 9.40am on Thursday, August 10, Ms Patterson came out of her front door, got into her red hatchback car and drove to the gate where she had a discussion with Channel 7 reporter Cassie Zervos.
There seemed to be some arrangement for the rest of the media pack to join Ms Zervos, and also for there to be no filming of the exchange.
Ms Patterson was asked where she was going: “To Melbourne to see a lawyer”.
And, also, if she had any support from within the community.
“I’ve got tons of friends who have offered to help but I’ve told them to stay away while the vultures are here,” Ms Patterson said.
She said she wasn’t sorry for locking them in and said they had no permission to be on her property.
She then drove through the gate of the 1ha rural living property on the edge of town and left.
Media representatives from The Age, Channel 7 and Channel 9 had been camped outside Ms Patterson’s house from 7am on Thursday morning (today), joined later by a reporter from the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times.
The media has now had a “door stop” with Ms Patterson on three occasions in the past four days, once on Monday, August 7, after it was revealed by police that she was a “suspect” in the poisoning deaths of three Korumburra people 66-year-old Heather Wilkinson, 70-year-old Gail Patterson and 70-yearold former Korumburra High School teacher Don Patterson.
Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, 68-year-old Ian Wilkinson, the pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church, remains in a critical condition in the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, reportedly waiting for a liver transplant.
Asked for an update on Reverend Wilkinson’s condition, a spokesperson for the family said they had declined to comment at this stage.
Meanwhile, Korumburra church groups have scheduled open prayer services to pray for Ian Wilkinson, the families and also the community. The Korumburra Baptist Church held a community prayer service on Tuesday and St Joseph’s Catholic Church has notified of a similar event on Saturday, August 19.
“Our parish community of St. Joseph’s Church Korumburra extends sincere condolences to the Wilkinson and Patterson families and friends. As a mark of our support, we will be opening the church on Saturday, August 19 from 9:30am until 4pm. We would like to invite anyone who would care to join us to drop in during this time for prayer and reflection.”
There have been two other interviews, on Tuesday this week and again today.
The Tuesday interview, as Ms Patterson was trying to cross from her car to her front door, was more frenzied.
“I said all I wanted to say yesterday. What has happened is devastating and I am grieving too and you guys don’t have any respect for that.”
- We do but we just want to understand more…
“Can I get to my front door?” asked Erin as cameras, microphones and reporters blocked her path to the door.
- Obviously, you can.
“Well, then stop standing in my way.”
- We just need to understand what occurred on that day. Erin, we want to know what you told police. Have you had any further contact today?
“You don’t have any permission to be on my private property or to harass me. This kind of behaviour would send someone right off a bridge That’s what you seem to be doing.”
- Have you had any updates today how Ian is going? How are you going?
“I’m going [expletive]. Thanks for asking.”
After this heated exchange, distributed on screens worldwide, police were asked by the Sentinel-Times if they had any concerns about the actions of the media at Ms Patterson’s home.
“If police are required, officers will attend an incident to ensure there is no breach of the peace.”
On Monday, August 7 this week, the man in charge of the investigation, Homicide Detective Inspector Dean Thomas characterised the deaths as simply “unexplained” at this time.
“All I can say at this point in time is that the deaths are unexplained and for that purpose, we are involved and we are working as hard as we can to try and identify why these deaths have happened and the circumstances surrounding it,” said Det Insp Thomas.
He said that it didn’t automatically mean, that because the homicide squad was involved, that the deaths were suspicious.
He said he couldn’t say whether or not the 48-year-old woman consumed the mushrooms or any other part of the meal but he confirmed she didn’t present with any symptoms.
Asked if the 48-year-old who had hosted the lunch at her Leongatha house was a “suspect” he said yes but acknowledged that the serving of the allegedly poisonous food could have been purely innocent.
