Wellington, New Zealand (AP), an Australian accused of killing three of her husband’s alienated relatives with poisonous mushrooms, told a court on Tuesday that he has found that the fatal lunch he served contained death drops.
But Erin Patterson said that the “huge majority” of the fungi comes from local stores. She denies three accusations of murder and one of the attempted murder over the beef Wellington dish, which she serves her daughter -in -law and alienation of her husband Aunt and Uncle at her home in July 2023.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were hospitalized and died after lunch in the rural city of Lengta in the Australian state of Victoria. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, was seriously ill, but he survived.
Patterson’s lawyer said earlier before the Supreme Court’s trial that poisoning was a tragic incident, but prosecutors said it was intentional. If convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment on murder charges and 25 years in prison for attempted murder.
The long tails were formed outside the courtroom of the Latrob valley on Tuesday after Patterson took the tribune at the end of Monday, which was the first time she spoke publicly after death.
Defendant Mushroom Mushrooms for years
During a few hours of evidence on Tuesday, 50-year-old Patterson told the court that she had begun to invade mushrooms during the Covid-19 lock from March 2020, witnessing only her children.
“I cut a little of one of the mushrooms, fried it with a little butter and ate it,” she said. “They had a good taste and I didn’t get sick.”
Patterson said she also fed feed mushrooms on her children, cut “very, very small” so that they cannot choose them from curry, pasta and soups.
It has developed a taste for exotic varieties, joined the mushroom lovers on Facebook and bought a dehydrator to keep its finds, Patterson said. Her lawyer Colin Mandy SK asked if he accepted that the beef Ulington sweets served on her lunch guests in 2023 contained death hats.
“Yes, I do it,” Patterson said.
The defendant told his lawyer most of the mushrooms he used this day came from local supermarkets. She agreed that she could have placed them in the same container as dehydrated wild mushrooms, which he had picked up weeks earlier and others from an Asian food store.
Mandy in April told the court that his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never expressed before. However, he denied that she deliberately sought mushrooms from a hat of death and said she had thrown her dehydrator into panic about accidental death.
Regrets “ventilation” messages of laws
Earlier Tuesday, Patterson became tearful when she was asked for performance with operating messages she had sent for her laws in December 2022 in a Facebook group chat, which she described as a “safe ventilation space” for a group of women.
“I wish I never said it. I am very ashamed that I said it and I would like the family not to hear that I said it,” Patterson said. “They didn’t deserve it.”
Patterson, who said she had tried to make her parents mediate in a dispute with her alienated husband, Simon about school taxi, said she felt hurt, disappointed and “a little desperate”.
The couple officially split in 2015. After the more temporary temporary splits, the court heard. Simon Patterson was invited to lunch July 2023, but was not present.
The defendant said he was still close to the spouse’s family
The evidence on Tuesday also traveled Patterson’s health after prosecutors’ proposals that her lunch invitation was unusual and that she had organized it with a false claim to be diagnosed with cancer. The mother of two admitted that she had never had cancer, but was worried enough about the symptoms to look for tests.
Despite her separation with Simon, Patterson said she hoped to reunite her alienated husband and said she had remained close to her laws.
“This has never changed. I was just their daughter in the law,” Patterson said in tears. “They just continued to love me.”
Evidence follows a long -term case for prosecutor’s office
The 14-member jury heard five weeks of evidence of the prosecution, including what the guests of the lunch told relatives before they die. Heather Wilkinson said shortly before he died that Patterson had eaten his individual beef Wellington a pastry from a different color plate to other evenings, prosecutor Nanet Rogers said.
Opening her case in April, Rogers said the poisoning was deliberate, but that her case would not propose a motive for the alleged killings. The prosecutor’s office says that Patterson lied when she told investigators that she ate the same meal as her guests and fed her children remains.
Patterson should continue to give evidence on Wednesday. Her evidence on Tuesday does not include her story about lunch or cross -questioning from prosecutors.