Mushroom meal victim 'hunched' in pain: hearing

The husband of an Australian woman accused of triple murder with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington told a court yesterday his father was “hunched” in pain before he died.

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Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with three murders — of the parents and aunt of her estranged husband — and one attempted murder. She has pleaded not guilty to all counts, with her defence saying the fatal beef-and-pastry meal, laced with death cap mushrooms, was the result of “a terrible accident”.

On the second day of a trial that has drawn global attention, the accused woman's husband, Simon Patterson, described seeing his parents in hospital after they had been poisoned.