KORUMBURRA Baptist Minister Ian Wilkinson, the only person besides Erin Patterson to survive a poisonous mushroom lunch in Leongatha in July 2023, was in the witness stand on Day 6 of the triple murder trial in the Supreme Court at Morwell on Tuesday this week.
Mr Wilkinson was taken through his testimony by a member of the prosecution team, Jane Warren, initially speaking about his 41 years in Korumburra, 39 years with his wife Heather after marrying in 1979, the arrival of their four children and 26 years as the Pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church.
Mr Wilkinson said his wife worked as a voluntarily teacher's aide after time taking care of the family but that changed into a teacher's aide career and ultimately into teaching English to migrants, a role that continued until her death, aged 66 years.
Asked by Ms Warren about his relationship with his nephew, Simon Patterson’s estranged wife, Erin, he said it was “friendly and amicable” without having much depth, more like acquaintances.
Asked how he would describe Erin as a person he said she was a normal person that things between them were friendly.
Speaking about being invited to lunch at Erin’s place, Mr Wilkinson said he expressed some surprise to his wife at the time but that they were very happy to have been invited, viewing it as an indication their relationship might be improving.
Erin Patterson 50 of Leongatha, is accused of the murder of Mr Wilkinson’s wife Heather, her sister Gail Patterson and husband Don, also the attempted murder of Mr Wilkinson himself, all of whom were guests at the family lunch where it is alleged Erin Patterson knowingly prepared and plated the meals of poisonous beef Wellington, green beans and mashed potato.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, her defence counsel Colin Mandy SC saying what happened was instead a tragedy and a terrible accident.
While three of his family members died of multiple organ failure as a result of ingesting death cap mushrooms at the lunch, Don Patterson despite receiving an emergency liver transplant, Mr Wilkinson spent three months in hospital, including 22 days in intensive care, before being discharged on September 21, 2023.
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Mr Wilkinson maintained a cheery disposition throughout his testimony, smiling as he recalled aspects of family life and chuckling to himself as he grappled with the court’s iPad technology and when he recalled some well-intentioned banter at Erin’s lunch, about husbands helping their wives out with meal portions after Don agreed to eat half of Gail’s beef Wellington.
Mr Wilkinson told the court that Don and Gail had driven Heather and himself to Leongatha for the lunch but noted his surprise when he didn’t see Simon Patterson’s car in the driveway.
He said Erin Patterson greeted them at the door and they stood around exchanging pleasantries, talking about the new house before taking a tour of the garden.
At one stage, Heather took a keen interest in Erin’s new pantry, after making some alterations at home herself, but Mr Wilkinson noticed some reluctance on the accused’s part when Heather suggested taking a look at the pantry’s layout.
On returning to the kitchen after the garden walk, Ian said he saw Erin mashing the potatoes and starting to plate-up the food, but claimed he hadn’t seen any of the other food being prepared.
On cross-examination later by Mr Mandy, however, Mr Wilkinson acknowledged he told police during an interview at the Austin Hospital in September 2023 that the veggies and meat were served on to the plates from an over tray.
Mr Wilkinson said Heather and Gail were standing beside the kitchen bench, offering to assist with the plating of the food but this offer was rejected by Erin Patterson.
He said the food was served on four large, grey dinner plates and one smaller plate, orange/tan in colour.
He said Gail and Heather both picked up two of the larger plates from the bench and took them to the table, Erin picking up the smaller plate and taking it to her place at the table.
During cross examination later, Mr Mandy pressed Mr Wilkinson about the plates, suggesting to him that there were no grey plates in the house, that the plates weren’t matching and there was no smaller plate.
“Let me suggest to you that there weren't any grey or stone-coloured plates in Erin's kitchen on that day,” said Mr Mandy.
But Mr Wilkinson repeated his evidence.
“I remember four grey plates that were the same,” he said, also denying Mr Mandy’s suggestion there was no smaller plate.
“No, there was a smaller plate," he said.
Mr Wilkinson said they said grace as a family group, noting that while he, Heather and Don finished eating their meals, Gail ate all her vegetables but only half of her beef Wellington, each of which resembled a traditional pasty, encased fully in pastry with steak and mushrooms inside.
He said he couldn’t say for certain how much Erin had eaten, noting no one made any comment about it.
He said that while Gail had brought a cake and Heather a fruit platter, not much dessert was eaten afterwards.
“We were all full from the main course,” said Mr Wilkinson.
Ms Warren asked if there was any discussion after the meal.
“After the lunch, Erin announced that she had cancer. She said that she was very concerned because she believed it was very serious, life threatening. She was anxious about telling the kids."
Mr Wilkinson said Erin asked their advice with Don Patterson speaking for the group when he said the best approach was to be honest with the children and the group prayed for Erin’s treatment and recovery.
During cross-examination, Mr Mandy reminded Mr Wilkinson that he had told police that Erin had announced she had a suspected cancer, but Mr Wilkinson said he had probably been understating things at that point.
Mr Mandy suggested he simply got the impression Erin had cancer but Mr Wilkinson said it wasn’t an impression.
“She plainly said she had some sort of cancer. I couldn't quite catch exactly what kind of cancer, her voice was low, but she named a type of cancer, speaking about a scan and that the situation was serious, making her afraid for the future of her kids.”
The defence has already acknowledged that their client has never been diagnosed with cancer.
The day continued with testimony from some of the medicos who treated the four family members after they fell violently ill overnight on Saturday night, July 29, 2023 into Sunday morning.
The trial continues at Morwell on Wednesday and is expected to run for five or six weeks.
