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Sydney Morning Herald
09-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The butcher, the fashion choice and the old job: The real red flags in Erin Patterson's claims
The judge's summary ran to 330 pages. The Australian constitution is 102 pages. The court transcript ran to 3600 pages. The Bible is about 1200 pages. There were expert witnesses aplenty, but perhaps they missed a trick by not calling a fashion guru. Patterson repeatedly testified that she suffered 'explosive diarrhoea,' yet she was filmed wearing white pants at the time. White pants for a misbehaving bottom are a red flag. Patterson was asked a million questions, but there were a couple I would have liked to have heard her answer. The beef Wellington recipe called for one large eye fillet. Patterson explained that she shopped at the Leongatha Woolworths, which only had pre-cut steaks, so she bought five double packs, making six individual Wellingtons and freezing the remaining two. Right across the road from Woolworths in McNamara Place is Leongatha Fresh Meat and Fish Supplies, where one of the friendly staff could have cut an eye fillet to size. A butcher there said she was not a regular customer, although she did visit once after the fatal lunch. 'She bought some loin chops.' Before marrying and moving to Leongatha, she was an air traffic controller. Applicants are told they need the following attributes: 'Good spatial awareness and strong mathematical skills, excellent communication skills, the ability to work well under pressure and make quick, accurate decisions, the capability to plan ahead, as well as adapt to changing situations, enjoying taking charge and being accountable for your actions and decisions.' Patterson said her decisions to lie and destroy evidence were based on panic and the belief she would wrongly be blamed for the deaths. So she could help land a Jumbo with a dead engine in the fog, but couldn't tell the truth to the cops. The jury was infected with colds – some wore masks – and at times struggled with the daily grind. Little wonder. The generally accepted psychological rule is that the average adult can concentrate for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, not 10 to 15 weeks. Professional speakers, comics, university lecturers and Bourke Street buskers know to deliver their best bits early. In December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war declaration of 'a date which will live in infamy' took four minutes. Winston Churchill's first address to the House of Commons as prime minister, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat', took five minutes. The Gettysburg Address lasted two minutes and was 10 sentences long. Julius Caesar was even more succinct when describing a Roman war victory. 'Veni, vidi, vici' – I came, I saw, I conquered. Clearly, he was not a lawyer, as many (who are paid by the hour) have a different view. Put a witness in the box and ask them the same question as many times as possible, until they falter. Fatigue them until they make a mistake. Prosecutors are pythons that slowly squeeze their prey into submission. Or the legal version of Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope: letting your opponent punch themselves out before attacking. In every court case, there are mysteries; with this one, it begins with location. Why was the case shifted to Morwell, a town 150 kilometres from Melbourne, to a court that had only six media seats and required lawyers, police and witnesses to complete the 300-kilometre round trip multiple times, eating into the sitting times, with the trial regularly ending early on a Friday to allow staff to return to the city? Morwell is the sister city to Japan's Takasago, remains an important part of the power grid and has reared many favourite sons, including world champion boxer Rocky Mattioli and Hawthorn cult figure Changkuoth 'CJ' Jiath. (An interesting, if irrelevant fact: Former Hawthorn star Jarryd Roughhead was at the Leongatha tip the same day Patterson dumped her dehydrator there.) But the citizens of Morwell are not renowned for their knowledge of the production of beef Wellingtons nor the rules of jurisprudence. With such a small population, it would be easier to identify the jurors who have disappeared from their jobs for 10 weeks. Loading If we work on the fact that 12 legal staff, four police, 30 witnesses and 50 media attended the trial from Melbourne (one crew even built a stage), it works out that they have travelled 211,000 kilometres to and from the Gippsland town by road or rail, accruing about $6697.32 in toll fees. It is the equivalent of travelling from the North to South Pole more than 10 times. With about 70 interested parties staying in Morwell five nights a week, it would have been a mini winter boom for hospitality, flushing more than $10 million into the economy. If everyone chose the pub dinner option, it would add up to 3500 roasts of the day, fisherman's baskets, chicken schnitzels and mushroom risottos. If everyone had a local pale ale or two glasses of wine with their meal, that would total 1487 litres of beer and 2133 bottles of wine.
The Age
09-07-2025
- The Age
The butcher, the fashion choice and the old job: The real red flags in Erin Patterson's claims
The judge's summary ran to 330 pages. The Australian constitution is 102 pages. The court transcript ran to 3600 pages. The Bible is about 1200 pages. There were expert witnesses aplenty, but perhaps they missed a trick by not calling a fashion guru. Patterson repeatedly testified that she suffered 'explosive diarrhoea,' yet she was filmed wearing white pants at the time. White pants for a misbehaving bottom are a red flag. Patterson was asked a million questions, but there were a couple I would have liked to have heard her answer. The beef Wellington recipe called for one large eye fillet. Patterson explained that she shopped at the Leongatha Woolworths, which only had pre-cut steaks, so she bought five double packs, making six individual Wellingtons and freezing the remaining two. Right across the road from Woolworths in McNamara Place is Leongatha Fresh Meat and Fish Supplies, where one of the friendly staff could have cut an eye fillet to size. A butcher there said she was not a regular customer, although she did visit once after the fatal lunch. 'She bought some loin chops.' Before marrying and moving to Leongatha, she was an air traffic controller. Applicants are told they need the following attributes: 'Good spatial awareness and strong mathematical skills, excellent communication skills, the ability to work well under pressure and make quick, accurate decisions, the capability to plan ahead, as well as adapt to changing situations, enjoying taking charge and being accountable for your actions and decisions.' Patterson said her decisions to lie and destroy evidence were based on panic and the belief she would wrongly be blamed for the deaths. So she could help land a Jumbo with a dead engine in the fog, but couldn't tell the truth to the cops. The jury was infected with colds – some wore masks – and at times struggled with the daily grind. Little wonder. The generally accepted psychological rule is that the average adult can concentrate for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, not 10 to 15 weeks. Professional speakers, comics, university lecturers and Bourke Street buskers know to deliver their best bits early. In December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war declaration of 'a date which will live in infamy' took four minutes. Winston Churchill's first address to the House of Commons as prime minister, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat', took five minutes. The Gettysburg Address lasted two minutes and was 10 sentences long. Julius Caesar was even more succinct when describing a Roman war victory. 'Veni, vidi, vici' – I came, I saw, I conquered. Clearly, he was not a lawyer, as many (who are paid by the hour) have a different view. Put a witness in the box and ask them the same question as many times as possible, until they falter. Fatigue them until they make a mistake. Prosecutors are pythons that slowly squeeze their prey into submission. Or the legal version of Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope: letting your opponent punch themselves out before attacking. In every court case, there are mysteries; with this one, it begins with location. Why was the case shifted to Morwell, a town 150 kilometres from Melbourne, to a court that had only six media seats and required lawyers, police and witnesses to complete the 300-kilometre round trip multiple times, eating into the sitting times, with the trial regularly ending early on a Friday to allow staff to return to the city? Morwell is the sister city to Japan's Takasago, remains an important part of the power grid and has reared many favourite sons, including world champion boxer Rocky Mattioli and Hawthorn cult figure Changkuoth 'CJ' Jiath. (An interesting, if irrelevant fact: Former Hawthorn star Jarryd Roughhead was at the Leongatha tip the same day Patterson dumped her dehydrator there.) But the citizens of Morwell are not renowned for their knowledge of the production of beef Wellingtons nor the rules of jurisprudence. With such a small population, it would be easier to identify the jurors who have disappeared from their jobs for 10 weeks. Loading If we work on the fact that 12 legal staff, four police, 30 witnesses and 50 media attended the trial from Melbourne (one crew even built a stage), it works out that they have travelled 211,000 kilometres to and from the Gippsland town by road or rail, accruing about $6697.32 in toll fees. It is the equivalent of travelling from the North to South Pole more than 10 times. With about 70 interested parties staying in Morwell five nights a week, it would have been a mini winter boom for hospitality, flushing more than $10 million into the economy. If everyone chose the pub dinner option, it would add up to 3500 roasts of the day, fisherman's baskets, chicken schnitzels and mushroom risottos. If everyone had a local pale ale or two glasses of wine with their meal, that would total 1487 litres of beer and 2133 bottles of wine.
Canberra Times
07-07-2025
- Health
- Canberra Times
Mushroom murderer: key points in Patterson's conviction
* August 1, 2023: Health Department speaks to Erin for four-and-a-half hours before she is discharged from Monash; she says she bought some of the mushrooms for the beef Wellington from Leongatha Woolworths and used dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne's southeast
West Australian
03-06-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook set to return to witness box for third day of giving evidence
The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef Wellington dish is poised to continue giving evidence when her trial resumes on Wednesday, after new details on the fatal lunch were revealed. For the last two days, Erin Patterson, 50, has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023, telling the court on Tuesday she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and that dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months due to their 'pungent' aroma. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder relating to the lunch with her estranged husband's family. Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived. Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC called his client as a witness and Ms Patterson began giving evidence. Over two days she answered extensive questions about her relationships with Simon Patterson and his family, health concerns, financial situation and her love of mushrooms. Shortly before the jury was sent home on Tuesday, Ms Patterson agreed that her lunch 'must' have contained the poisonous mushrooms. She told the court when preparing the dish, she used fresh mushrooms purchased from the local Leongatha Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased months earlier in April from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. Ms Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they has a 'very pungent' aroma. Instead, she told the jury, she brought them home and stored them in a Tupperware container in the pantry. She also confirmed she'd begun foraging for wild mushrooms in 2020 and had purchased a dehydrator to preserve mushrooms in early 2023. 'I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season and you can't keep them in the fridge,' she said. Ms Patterson told the jury she would store dried mushrooms in her pantry. 'Generally, I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there,' she said. The final question Ms Patterson was asked of the day was if she had a memory of putting wild mushrooms in May or June 2023 into a container that already contained mushrooms 'Yes, I did do that,' she said. The trial continues.
Perth Now
03-06-2025
- General
- Perth Now
Erin Patterson trial: Mushroom cook set to return to witness box for third day of giving evidence
The Victorian mother accused of murdering three of her in-laws with a poisoned beef Wellington dish is poised to continue giving evidence when her trial resumes on Wednesday, after new details on the fatal lunch were revealed. For the last two days, Erin Patterson, 50, has been giving her own version of events as to what happened on July 29, 2023, telling the court on Tuesday she accepted there had to have been poisonous mushrooms in the beef wellington she served, and that dried mushrooms used in its creation had sat in her pantry for months due to their 'pungent' aroma. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder relating to the lunch with her estranged husband's family. Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch due to death cap mushroom poisoning while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived. Camera Icon Ms Patterson will return to the witness box on Wednesday. Brooke Grebert-Craig. Credit: Supplied Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately spiked the meal while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. After prosecutors concluded their case earlier this week, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC called his client as a witness and Ms Patterson began giving evidence. Over two days she answered extensive questions about her relationships with Simon Patterson and his family, health concerns, financial situation and her love of mushrooms. Shortly before the jury was sent home on Tuesday, Ms Patterson agreed that her lunch 'must' have contained the poisonous mushrooms. She told the court when preparing the dish, she used fresh mushrooms purchased from the local Leongatha Woolworths and dried mushrooms purchased months earlier in April from an Asian grocer in Melbourne. Camera Icon The trial is being held in the country Victorian town of Morwell. NewsWire / Josie Hayden Credit: News Corp Australia Ms Patterson said the dried mushrooms had been initially bought for a pasta dish but she did not use them at the time because they has a 'very pungent' aroma. Instead, she told the jury, she brought them home and stored them in a Tupperware container in the pantry. She also confirmed she'd begun foraging for wild mushrooms in 2020 and had purchased a dehydrator to preserve mushrooms in early 2023. 'I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season and you can't keep them in the fridge,' she said. Ms Patterson told the jury she would store dried mushrooms in her pantry. 'Generally, I would put them into a container that I already sort of had going with Woolies mushrooms and whatnot in there,' she said. The final question Ms Patterson was asked of the day was if she had a memory of putting wild mushrooms in May or June 2023 into a container that already contained mushrooms 'Yes, I did do that,' she said. The trial continues.
