Australian mushroom murderer is said to have also given poisoned pasta to her husband

Australian mushroom murderer is said to have also given poisoned pasta to her husband

An Australian woman who murdered three of her in-laws with a dish from toxic mushrooms is said to have tried to kill her husband with a poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap. This became known on Friday when a judge allowed the disclosure of corresponding evidence.

Murder and attempted murder in Australia

Last month, the jurors realized Erin Patterson's last month of having lured her mother -in -law Gail Patterson, her father -in -law Don Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch into her home, where she poisoned her with beef fillet Wellington, contained the fatal "Amanita Phalloides" mushrooms.

The 50-year-old was also found to have committed the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband. Wilkinson survived the supposedly poisoned food in 2023 in Erin Patrick's apartment in Leongatha, a city with around 6,000 inhabitants, which is about 135 km southeast of Melbourne.

Allegations and court proceedings

Patterson was originally charged in 2023 for triple murder and five times attempted murder. The additional four charges related to her divorced husband, Simon Patterson. Judge Christopher Beale decided that the charges should be divided into two separate processes. The public prosecutor dropped the accusations for attempted murder against Simon Patterson shortly before the first trial.

This meant that the details of the alleged attempts at murder in his life in 2021 and 2022 were not heard by the jury. "After getting sick for the first time, I suspected that I got sick through Erins Essen," said Simon Patterson in a hearing before the trial in October 2024.

The strange cases of illness

He finally began to lead a table of his diseases, all of which appeared after eating the dishes of his separate wife, including Penne Bolognese, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap. A report by the court states that the supposed poisoning brought him close to death during two camping trips and a walk. He got so seriously ill that he was temporarily paralyzed and was surgically removed from part of his intestine.

In any case, the doctors could not clearly determine the cause of his illnesses. Simon Patterson expressed his suspicions to his doctor and family, including his father Don, who died during lunch.

The meaning of the open judiciary

After the guilty verdict against Patterson last month, Richter Beale ordered the preliminary procedural materials temporarily to protect the right to objection from Patterson. On Friday, however, he picked up the restrictions and rejected the argument of the defense that the publication of the material in combination with the intensive media interest would endanger the potential of an objection. "Open judiciary is a fundamental concern in our criminal justice system," said Beale on Friday.

Patterson has 28 days from the still unknown date of her verdict to appeal, although she did not state whether she will do so. However, Patterson's objection seems unlikely, even if it cannot be excluded, Beale said.

Patterson emphasized her innocence throughout the procedure and described the deaths as "terrible accident." She advocated not guilty in the charges of attempted murder against her husband. The next court date is scheduled for August 25, on which the first of two hearings take place in which the victim's statements are read out.