EVERYWHERE from The Times of London to the Dakar Tribune, the news that a 49-year-old Leongatha woman has been charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder has attracted front page, worldwide coverage, even as a terrible war rages in the Middle East.
It’s a level of fascination that experienced homicide police have found hard to explain.
“Over the last three months this investigation has been subjected to incredibly intense levels of public scrutiny, and curiosity,” said Homicide Detective Inspector Dean Thomas this week.
“I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this level of media and public interest, not only here in Victoria, but also nationally and internationally,” he said.
But the circumstances of the mushroom lunch notwithstanding, if Erin Patterson, 49, is found guilty of three murders and five counts of attempted murder it would make her one of the worse female killers in Victoria’s history.
From the outset Ms Patterson has proclaimed her innocence and the case against her has not even been presented but it’s a chilling prospect all the same.
The formal part of the justice process started in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court today, Friday, November 3 where Ms Patterson was facing the following charges:
"To the accused Erin Trudy Patterson of Leongatha
- The accused at Heidelberg on 04/08/2023 did murder Heather Wilkinson
- The accused at Heidelberg on 04/08/2023 did murder Gail Patterson
- The accused at Heidelberg on 05/08/2023 did murder Donald Patterson
- The accused at Leongatha on 29/07/2023 did attempt to commit an indictable offence namely the murder of Ian Wilkinson
- The accused at Leongatha on 29/07/2023 did attempt to commit an indictable offence namely the murder of Simon Patterson
- The accused in the State of Victoria between 16/11/2021 and 17/11/2021 did attempt to commit an indictable offence namely the murder of Simon Patterson.
- The accused in the State of Victoria between 25/05/2022 and 27/05/2022 did attempt to commit an indictable offence namely the murder of Simon Patterson.
- The accused in the State of Victoria on 26/09/2022 did attempt to commit an indictable offence namely the murder of Simon Patterson.
From early in the morning, outside the court, the media coverage was wall-to-wall.
All the morning shows carried crosses to the Morwell courthouse as part of their news coverage and the seats in Court Room 1 were filled to capacity at the appointed hour for Ms Patterson’s arraignment.
The accused was ushered into the court room by two custody officers shortly after 10am, appearing calm, in her familiar grey woollen jumper and maroon-coloured glasses, with her hair out and apparently unaffected by the ordeal of the day before and a night in the cells.
She gazed around the room once, past the ranks of journalists and then focussed on the bench.
Her legal counsel Bill Doogue approached her in the dock, a small enclosed space surrounded by glass, at the side of the court room, and said hello.
“Hi,” Ms Patterson replied.
Mr Doogue explained the process briefly and Ms Patterson said “alright thanks”.
Some moment later Magistrate Tim Walsh arrived.
Various dates were discussed for the brief of evidence to be handed up and for a committal hearing to be held.
Police Prosecutor Sergeant Greg Ellis said a 20-week adjournment was being sought by police while they analysed the electronic equipment recovered from Ms Patterson’s Leongatha home on Thursday, November 2.
“What, a 20-week adjournment for a triple murder to analyse electronic equipment? You had enough evidence to charge this woman yesterday,” replied Magistrate Walsh.
There was also some discussion about the committal not being held at Morwell if it involved lengthy cross examination of witnesses.
“It could go for a long time,” Mr Doogue said, noting the case was based on a lot of analysis that hadn’t even been completed.
“That’s why they are asking for a long time,” he said.
Magistrate Walsh provided an explanation at this point to Ms Patterson, noting that these were simply procedural discussions but saying that the case should progress through the system “as quickly as possible”.
He indicated his preference to have the committal hearing at Latrobe but acknowledged that if it was going to take some time, it might be moved to Melbourne for expediency.
He then asked Ms Patterson to stand up and explained that the date of May 3 had been set down for the committal hearing, and March 25 set down as the date when the Office of Public Prosecution must have completed its handup brief.
Ms Patterson was not offered the opportunity to enter a plea.
Magistrate Walsh also said that there would be no application for bail, noting he was not in a position to grant bail in any case.
He asked Ms Patterson's legal representative if there were "any custody issues", that is medication or other arrangements that need to be put in place when a person is incarcarated - there were none.
Mr Walsh also agreed to release the list of charges being faced by Ms Patterson.
Ms Patterson was remanded in custody awaiting the committal hearing, at which time police evidence is reviewed to see if the case is worthy of going to trail.
The story so far...
- Erin Patterson hosts a family lunch on Saturday, July 29, 2023 at which a meal of beef Wellington is served, a dish calling for a beef fillet to be encased in a mushroom paste and pastry.
- Attending the lunch are the parents of Ms Patterson's estranged husband Simon, Don and Gail Patterson together with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian, the pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church.
- Simon was reportedly invited to the lunch but declines to attend.
- After the lunch, the four guests become violently ill and after presenting at the Korumburra and Leongatha hospitals are transferred to Melbourne.
- Erin Patterson, who has claimed in a statement, that she also ate the lunch, also attended Leongatha hospital complaining of stomach pains, is not admitted, but is later transferred to Monash Medical Centre.
- Three of the victims of food poisoning, described by police as consistent with consuming Death Cap Mushroom, Gail Patterson 70 and her sister Heather Wilkinson 66 die from the condition on August 4, with Gail's husband Don, also aged 70, dying the following day.
- Ian Wilkinson remains in the Alfred in a critical condition for weeks, but ultimately recovers enough to be discharged in late September, in time to attend the memorial service for his late wife, Heather in the Korumburra Recreation Centre on Wednesday, October 4. It was one of two memorial services in Korumburra, each one month apart, attended by 400 people. Mr Wilkinson attends walking with the aid of a walking frame.
- On Thursday, November 2, 2023, the person who has acknowledged making and serving the ill-fated lunch, Erin Trudy Patterson, is arrested and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, four of those attempted murder charges involving her ex-husband Simon, in relation to his invitation to attend the July 29 lunch, but also relating to similar incidents of alleged food poisoning in November 2021, May 2022 and September 2022.
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