Jury starts deliberations in mushroom murder trial

The jury at the high -profile murder hearing of an Australian woman, accused of cooking a fatal mushroom for relatives, retired to decide on their fate.

50 -year -old Erin Patterson claimed that he was not guilty of one of the three murders and murder attempts – without four accusations for a cattle Wellington lunch at the regional Victorian house in July 2023.

The prosecution claimed that Ms. Patterson had deliberately put the mushrooms of poisoned death in homemade dinner before they lie to the police and the evidence of the evidence.

However, the defense lied because Ms. Patterson accidentally contained poisonous mushrooms in the bowl and panicked only after damaging the people he loves.

Ms. Patterson’s mother -in -law Don and Gail Patterson, both of them 70, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, all ill, and died days after lunch in Leongatha.

Heather’s husband, local priest Ian Wilkinson, healed weeks later in an induced coma. Simon Patterson, the alienated husband of the defendant, was also invited to lunch, but he was taken the day before.

On Monday, Justice Christopher Beale gave the 14 -member jury his latest instructions and collected evidence from his only defense witness Ms. Patterson.

After almost two months and more than 50 witnesses, the last 12 jury members were decided by a ballot before the group retired for negotiations.

In the closing arguments, the prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said Ms. Patterson said, “Many lies.

The prosecution claimed that Patterson had lied to his relatives about the diagnosis of cancer to convince him to participate in a deadly lunch, poisoning them and then imitating a disease to cover his traces.

Ms. Patterson argued that the decision to evacuate a food dryer used to prepare more lies and food for the search for food for wild mushrooms for police and medical staff was the proof of the guilt.

“He lied to lies because he knew that the truth would imply him.” He said.

He continued: “When he knew that his lies were revealed, he found a careful narrative that was built in accordance with the evidence – almost.”

Dr Rogers told the court that there was no “special reason” for the alleged crime, but the jury should still not have difficulty in rejecting the claim that “they were all a terrible feeding accident”.

However, defense argued that the lack of motives was key. Ms. Patterson had no reason to kill her guests.

During the evidence of Ms. Patterson, her mother -in -law was very close to the jury and never intended to harm them.

While preparing lunch, Ms. Patterson claimed that she had added mushrooms from a captain in her cellar and now noticed that she could contain both the store and feed mushrooms.

He also told the court that he suffered from Bulimia for years and made himself flawed after the beef Wellington dinner – Something that the defense team says explains why he wasn’t as sick as the others who eat him.

The lie of having cancer is that he was ashamed of his plans to get weight loss surgery, Pat Patterson and the authorities did not tell the truth about the Hobbing Hobbing Mushrooms because he was afraid that he could blame him because he made his relatives sick.

“He’s not tried to lie,” his defense lawyer Colin Mandy SC said. “This is not a moral judicial court”.

He accused the prosecution of trying to force “puzzle pieces” together, “he ignored the alternative explanations, because he was not perfectly aligned with the narrative”.

In his last instructions, Justice Beale told the jury members that they were “judges of the facts in this case”.

He said, “A person can not condemn Ms. Patterson because he’s just lying because he’s been able to behave in a way that makes him look guilty.”

Authorized, Patterson and Wilkinson families, “any reasonable person would feel great sympathy”, the jury members should not let emotions should not allow, he added.

The jury is now lined up, that is, intentionally, they will stay in controlled accommodation until they reach a decision, where they will make little contact with the outside world or to make contact with no contact.