Only survivor of poisoned mushroom lunch testifies

The only survivor of the fatal mushroom lunch that Erin Patterson served told the court in Victoria yesterday that the accused was very reluctant” for her guests to see the pantry.

- MAROOSHA MUZAFFAR

Ian Wilkinson, 68, who is pastor of the Korumburra Baptist Church in Korumburra, southeastern Australia, told the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell that when the guests arrived at Ms Patterson’s home in Leongatha, 85 miles southeast of Melbourne, 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, 50, mentioned there was a pantry behind the wall in the kitchen area. “Heather [Mr Wilkinson’s wife] was very interested in pantries at that time, because we’d just built one at home,” Mr Wilkinson told the court. “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 her sister Gail]. 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.”