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Patterson describes learning of lunch guests’ worsening symptoms
Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is questioning his client.
He asks about her understanding of how unwell her lunch guests were after the beef wellington meal.
Patterson confirms her evidence that the day after the lunch – 30 July 2023 – Simon told her his parents, Don and Gail, were at Korumburra hospital.
She says on Monday morning – two days after the lunch – Simon’s brother told her Don was at Dandenong hospital. She says:
I think that’s the first time I knew that.
Patterson says on Tuesday afternoon she was told her relatives had been transferred to the Austin hospital.
She says it was “clear” to her there had been a “progression of symptoms” due to the hospital transfers.
From that it seemed likely to me they were getting sicker.
Jurors have entered the courtroom in Morwell.
Day 26 recap
While we wait for today’s proceedings to get under way, here’s a reminder of what the jury heard on Wednesday:
1. Patterson said her estranged husband, Simon, accused her of trying to poison his parents using a dehydrator the days after the lethal lunch. Patterson says Simon asked, “Is that how you poisoned my parents … using that dehydrator?”
2. The accused said she believes there is a “possibility” she unintentionally added foraged mushrooms to her beef wellington mix while trying to improve its “bland” flavour.
3. Patterson says she lied to her lunch guests about requiring cancer treatment because she was “embarrassed” to tell them about plans for weight loss surgery. “I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t have control over my body or what I ate,” she said.
4. Patterson said she ate the remainder of a cake brought by her mother-in-law, Gail, to the fateful lunch. She says after consuming the cake in the evening, she felt “over-full” and “brought it back up again”.
5. Patterson also admitted she lied to Gail about requiring a needle biopsy the month before the lunch. She said when she mentioned a lump in her arm, her in-laws showed a lot of care, which “felt really nice”. “I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
Good morning
Welcome to day 27 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial.
Patterson, who began testifying on Monday afternoon, is expected to continue giving evidence this morning.
The trial will resume from 10.30am once the jurors enter the courtroom in Morwell.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
She is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The attempted murder charge relates to Heather’s husband, Ian.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
