Erin Patterson was ‘very reluctant’ for fatal mushroom lunch guests to look in her pantry, court hears
The only surviving member of the fatal mushroom lunch that Erin Patterson served her guests in July 2023 told the court that the accused was “very reluctant” for her guests to see the pantry.
Ian Wilkinson told the court that when the guests arrived at Ms Patterson’s home, they were led into the open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge area.
“There was general conversation. How are you, and that sort of thing,” he said. “Then we started conversing about the house.”
During the conversation, Ms Patterson mentioned there was a pantry behind the wall in the kitchen area.
“Heather was very interested in pantries at that time, because we’d just built one at home,” Mr Wilkinson told the court on Tuesday.
“Whenever we went to somebody’s house where they said we have a pantry, she wanted to look at it because she wanted to get ideas for setting up her pantry.
“So on hearing about the pantry, she just immediately started walking towards it, calling out: ‘Can I have a look at your pantry?’”
“I’d noticed that Erin was very reluctant about the visit to the pantry, and had not yet started following [Heather and Gail],” Mr Wilkinson said.
“And so I thought, maybe the pantry is a mess. It’s going to be an embarrassment. So I won’t add to the embarrassment by joining the party.”
Mr Wilkinson became seriously ill after the meal in July 2023, which claimed the lives of his wife, Heather, and two other family members, Don and Gail.
Ms Patterson, 50, is on trial for serving a meal laced with deadly mushrooms that killed the relatives of her former husband and left Mr Wilkinson critically ill.
Prosecutors allege that she fabricated a cancer diagnosis to lure her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents and his uncle and aunt to lunch at her home in July 2023 and poisoned their food. They claim Ms Patterson then disposed of a dehydrator containing traces of the toxic mushrooms at a rubbish site.
Ms Patterson, who is from Victoria, denies the charges of murder and attempted murder brought against her.
She insists the poisoning was a tragic accident.
