Australian woman pleads not guilty ahead of murder trial over mushroom deaths
An Australian woman on Tuesday denied killing her ex-husband’s relatives by serving them poisonous mushrooms in a case that has riveted the country.
An Australian woman on Tuesday denied killing her ex-husband’s relatives by serving them poisonous mushrooms in a case that has riveted the country.
Erin Patterson, 49, pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and five charges of attempted murder, The Associated Press reported. Patterson, who was arrested in November, appeared in Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court by video link from a Melbourne prison.
In July last year, Patterson hosted a lunch for her ex-husband’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister and brother-in-law, Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Ian Wilkinson, 68.
All four were hospitalized afterward, and all died within a few days except for Ian Wilkinson, who spent seven weeks in the hospital recovering.
Patterson is also accused of the attempted murder of her ex-husband, Simon, at the lunch and in three previous incidents in 2021 and 2022. He was invited to the lunch in the small rural town of Leongatha, about 85 miles southeast of Melbourne, but did not attend.
Rating: 5