Mushroom deaths trial First days of the hearing that is gripping Australia

In the afternoon of 29 July 2023, five people sat down to lunch in the dining room of a house in Leongatha, a small town in the South Gippsland region of Australia's south-east.

- Nino Bucci

Erin Patterson owned the house, and the guests were her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson; Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson; and Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband.

One of the six chairs at the dining table remained empty. Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, was expected to join them, but had cancelled the night before.

It was unusual for Patterson to host the group, but she told them she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and wanted their advice on what to tell the two children she shared with Simon.

Before starting lunch, they said grace. Ian was the pastor at the nearby Korumburra Baptist church, and the rest of the group regularly attended his Sunday service.

On the plates in front of them were individual beef wellingtons prepared by Patterson: eye fillet steaks, topped with a mushroom paste, and encased in pastry.

Three months later, Patterson was charged with murdering Don, Gail and Heather, and attempting to murder Ian. She has pleaded not guilty, and her trial started on 29 April. The Victoria supreme court heard this week that it is not in dispute that the beef wellingtons contained Amanita phalloides, or death cap mushrooms. It is not in dispute that Patterson put them there. The court also heard that both the prosecution and defence agree that Patterson had never been diagnosed with cancer.

What is in dispute is whether she meant to poison her four guests. Her lawyer, Colin Mandy, described it as a tragic accident. The prosecutor, Nanette Rogers, said that Patterson "deliberately poisoned" her lunch guests "with murderous intent". After both finished their opening addresses, Justice Christopher Beale said there were two key issues at the heart of the case: whether Patterson deliberately poisoned anyone, and whether she intended to kill or cause serious injury when she did.