Australian accused in mushroom murders recounts fatal lunch

By Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) -An Australian woman accused of using poisonous mushrooms to murder three elderly relatives of her estranged husband gave on Wednesday her account of the fatal lunch, in a case that has gripped the public.

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.

The prosecution accuses her of knowingly serving the guests lethal death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington pastry dish at her home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 some 135 km (84 miles) from Melbourne.

She denies the charges, with her defence calling the deaths a "terrible accident", but faces a life sentence if found guilty.

She wept repeatedly on Wednesday as she told the court she might have accidentally included foraged mushrooms in the meal she served.

"Now I think there was a possibility there were foraged ones in there," she said in questioning by her lawyer, Colin Mandy.

The court also heard that Patterson, who began giving evidence on Monday as the first witness for her own defence, had invented medical issues partly to elicit sympathy from her estranged husband's relatives, as she felt they were growing apart. 

"I didn't want their care of me to stop, so I kept it going. I shouldn't have done it," she told the court. 

"Did you lie to them?" Mandy asked.

"I did lie to them," she replied, through tears.

The prosecution accuses Patterson of having invented the medical issues to lure the victims to her home for the meal, a claim she denies. 

INVESTIGATION PANIC

Previously the court heard that shortly after the lunch, Patterson disposed of a food dehydrator found to contain traces of death cap mushrooms, while mobile phones she owned were reset to factory status three times.

On Wednesday, Patterson said she had disposed of the dehydrator before a visit from child protection workers investigating her living arrangements.

"I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator," she said. "I was scared they would blame me for it, for making everyone sick. I was scared that they would remove the children."

The phones were reset either due to damage or because she panicked during the police investigation, she told the court.

The prosecution rested its case on Monday, after a month of evidence from witnesses, including relatives and medical, forensic and mushroom experts.

The trial, which began on April 29, has drawn intense media interest, with podcasters, journalists and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, about two hours east of Melbourne, where it is being held.

State broadcaster ABC's daily podcast about the proceedings is currently Australia's most popular, while many domestic newspapers have run live blogs.

The trial, set to conclude this month, continues.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Clarence Fernandez)