Poisoned guests rarely invited before deadly mushroom lunch Australia trial hears

SYDNEY - An Australian woman accused of triple murder with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington had rarely invited her four guests to eat at her home before the incident, a court heard on May 9.

Ms Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in July 2023 by serving them the pastry-and-beef dish with death cap mushrooms.

She is also accused of the attempted murder of her husband’s uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.

Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In a trial that has seized international attention, prosecutors played a recording of a police interview with Ms Patterson’s son, then 14, following the lunch.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his mother had hosted his paternal grandparents at her house “once before”.

And she had “never” previously invited over Heather and Ian Wilkinson, his father’s aunt and uncle, the boy said.

His mother’s relationship with the couple was “not a negative one, but it is not strong”, the youngster told police.

The accused’s estranged husband, Mr Simon Patterson, had declined the invitation to lunch at her home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.

Four members of his family attended: his parents Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle.

While the guests had lunch, Ms Patterson’s children went to a McDonald’s and the cinema.

Within hours after eating, the four guests developed diarrhoea and vomiting and were taken to hospital, where doctors diagnosed death cap mushroom poisoning.

Days later, three of the guests were dead. Mr Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, lived after weeks of hospital treatment.

The teenager told the court that his parents had a “very negative” relationship in the months leading up