Poisoning suspect did not ask about guests, says husband | Breaking News & Latest Ireland Updates

Poisoning suspect did not ask about guests, says husband — An Australian woman accused of murdering three people by serving them a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington never asked after her dying guests' wellb...

An Australian woman accused of murdering three people by serving them a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington never asked after her dying guests' wellbeing, her estranged husband told her trial.

Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with the July 2023 murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, in a case that has gripped Australia.

She has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Her defence says the beef Wellington, laced with death cap mushrooms, was the result of "a terrible accident".

On the third day of the trial, the accused woman's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, said she never asked him about his family's health as they lay in hospital.

"It intrigued me that she never actually asked," he told the jury at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne.

Defence lawyer Colin Mandy asked Mr Patterson if he had explained to her how ill his parents were.

"We didn't have that conversation, I don't think, at any time," he said.

The night before the lunch, he had declined an invitation to eat a "special meal" at Ms Patterson's home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.

But four members of his family went: his parents, his aunt, and her husband.

The four guests developed diarrhoea and vomiting within 12 hours of the meal and were taken to hospital, where they were diagnosed with poisoning by death cap mushrooms.

Within days, Don, Gail, and Heather were dead.

Ian Wilkinson, the pastor, survived after nearly two months in hospital.

Erin Patterson went to the hospital two days after her lunch, telling medical staff she was unwell but initially refusing medical help, the trial heard.

She was also allegedly reluctant to let doctors see her children, saying she had scraped the mushrooms off their meals because they were fussy eaters and she did not want them to panic.

Mr Patterson told the court that Erin Patterson "hates" hospitals and had struggled with issues including postnatal depression and arrhythmia - an irregular heart beat.

The children, too, had bad experiences with hospitals, creating "sensitivity" about getting them medical attention, he said.

The prosecution alleges Erin Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that neither she, nor her children, consumed the deadly mushrooms.

While the jury might wonder about her reasons, "motive is not something that has to be proven by the prosecution", the prosecutor said at the outset of the trial.

The defence lawyer, Mandy, has described the poisoning as a "tragedy and a terrible accident", saying his client ate the same meal as her guests but did not fall as sick.

The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

Accreditation:AFP