A woman who died after eating a Beef Wellington dish laced with death cap mushrooms told a doctor it tasted “delicious,” according to court testimony Wednesday, as her Australian host faces triple murder charges.
Erin Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt by preparing and serving the poisonous beef-and-pastry meal.
She has also been charged with the attempted murder of her husband’s uncle, who survived the dish after a lengthy hospital stay. Patterson has pleaded not guilty on all charges.
A hospital doctor testified about two of the four poisoned lunch guests: Heather Wilkinson and her pastor husband Ian.
He treated the aunt and uncle of Erin Patterson’s husband, who were rushed to the hospital with vomiting and diarrhea.
When the couple first arrived, they were “conscious” and “alert,” Dr. Christopher Webster told the court in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne.
“They were obviously unwell, but they were not distressed. “They were able to communicate freely,” he said.
The court heard that they had lunched on individually prepared beef Wellingtons at Erin Patterson’s home in the quiet Victoria state farm village of Leongatha the day before.
The doctor initially suspected that the couple had food poisoning from the meat in the beef Wellington.
“I did ask Heather what the beef Wellington tasted like and she said it was delicious,” the defendant told the jury.
The next morning, he received a call from another hospital informing him that two other lunch guests, Erin’s parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, had been suspected of poisoning by death cap mushrooms.
Ian and Heather Wilkinson were then transferred to another hospital for acute care.
Within days, three of the four lunch guests had died. Ian Wilkinson, the pastor, survived weeks of hospital treatment.
According to the BBC, Ian Wilkinson stated in court on Tuesday that he and his wife were “very happy to be invited” to the lunch.
Patterson had plated “all of the food,” according to Wilkinson, according to the BBC.
“Each person had an individual serve, it was very much like a pasty,” he told me. “It was a pastry case and when we cut into it, there was steak and mushrooms.”
He stated that Patterson was “definitely” eating but could not say “with certainty” how much she ate.
“They can be scared and alive or dead”
The court also heard that lunch host Erin Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was invited to the meal but declined due to his discomfort with the prospect.
Erin Patterson went to the hospital two days after lunch, but she left five minutes later against medical advice, according to the doctor.
“I was surprised,” he informed the court.
Patterson later returned and informed Webster that her children had also eaten the beef Wellington, but not the mushrooms or pastry.
She was hesitant to tell them about the poisoning in case they became “frightened,” according to the doctor. “I said: ‘They can be scared and alive or dead.'”
Matthew, another of Don and Gail Patterson’s sons, told the court that he called the lunch host to inquire about the origin of the mushrooms.
Erin Patterson told him she bought some mushrooms from a “Chinese shop,” but she couldn’t remember which one.
Matthew stated that he believed the accused was a devoted mother with a positive relationship with his parents.
The prosecution claims Erin Patterson purposefully poisoned her lunch guests and ensured that neither she nor her children ate the lethal mushrooms.
Her defense claims it was “a terrible accident” and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not become as ill.
The trial is expected to last six weeks.
Death cap mushrooms
Police said the symptoms of the sickened family members were consistent with poisoning from wild amanita phalloides, also known as death cap mushrooms.
Death cap mushrooms grow freely in wet, warm areas of Australia and are easily mistaken for edible varieties. They are said to taste sweeter than other types of mushrooms but contain potent toxins that slowly poison the liver and kidneys.
According to the BBC, death caps cause 90% of lethal mushroom poisoning around the world.
In 2022, doctors in Massachusetts were able to save a mother and son who had nearly died from death cap mushroom poisoning. In 2020, a series of poisonings in Victoria, Australia, killed one person and hospitalized seven more.