Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Marathon trial enters its final week

By PAUL SHAPIRO AND WAYNE FLOWER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 23:16 BST, 23 June 2025 | Updated: 23:23 BST, 23 June 2025

 Follow Daily Mail Australia’s live coverage of accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson‘s murder trial at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell, Victoria.

Defence wraps up its case and asks the jury to find Patterson not guilty

Mr Mandy (pictured right) on Thursday wrapped up his closing address by asking the jury to find his client not guilty.

‘Like we’re competing against each other like a boxing match or a football match, or netball or whatever, the truth is, it’s more like the high jump,’ Mr Mandy said.

‘This is important because only the prosecution has to get over the bar, defence doesn’t have to do anything, defence doesn’t have to jump any bar.

‘Erin Patterson doesn’t have to jump any bar at all, prosecution have to clear the bar, and it’s the highest bar known to the law, and that’s where you are now.

‘You are at innocent with Erin Patterson, that’s your starting point. Starting point is innocence…

‘She doesn’t have to prove her innocence to you because she is innocent and it’s for the prosecution to disprove her account of accidental poisoning…

‘So in conclusion, the way of thinking about this in relation to deliberateness is was the poisoning deliberate?

‘If you think that it’s possible that Erin deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty.

‘If you think that maybe Erin deliberately poisoned the meal, you must find her not guilty.

‘If you think that she probably deliberately poisoned, you must find her not guilty…

‘If you think at the end of your deliberations, taking into account the arguments that we’ve made, that it’s a possibility that this was an accident, a reasonable possibility, you must find her not guilty.

‘And if you think it’s a reasonable possibility that her evidence was true, you must find her not guilty.

‘And our submission to you is the prosecution can’t get over that high bar… When you consider the actual evidence. And consider it properly, methodically analytically. Your verdicts on those charges should be not guilty.’

Mr Mandy thanked the jury for their ‘attention’ then concluded his address.

The trial will resume at 10.30am.

Defence: The ‘stupid thing’ Patterson did

Last Thursday, Mr Mandy said Patterson claimed Phone A had been previously damaged as he revealed the ‘stupid thing’ his client did following the lunch.

‘Phone A was damaged and that’s the reason why she stopped using it,’ Mr Mandy said.

Mr Mandy claimed Patterson could not change a sim card on her phone while police were there.

Mr Mandy asked the jury if the accused had hidden Phone A why did she wait until the next day to change the sim card out of it?

‘She couldn’t use it because it was damaged,’ he said.

‘The stupid thing she did was factory reset Phone B a couple of times.

‘There was nothing to be achieved by factory resetting Phone B.’

Mr Mandy said Patterson reset the phone due to her ‘panic’.

Defence explains why Patterson fled hospital

Mr Mandy has explained why his client was eager to leave Leongatha Hospital during her first visit on July 31, 2023.

‘On July 31, when Patterson attended hospital, there was immediate concern over mushroom poisoning,’ Mr Mandy said.

‘This is not a normal presentation… this is a significant event in Leongatha Hospital history.’

Mr Mandy said when Patterson left the hospital at 8.10am it was because she ‘was not prepared for what she walked into’.

Mr Mandy said his client needed to do things before she was transferred to another hospital.

‘And her mind moved to the practical considerations,’ he said.

Mr Mandy said Patterson had kids at school and had multiple activities to organise.

Patterson previously told the jury she struggled to process what was happening.

Mr Mandy commenced his closing address after Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers (pictured) concluded her closing address.

Patterson tasted mushrooms while preparing Wellingtons, jury heard

Lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC concluded his closing address to the jury last Thursday afternoon.

Before ending his address, Mr Mandy (pictured) rejected allegations Patterson lied about being sick as he again highlighted for the jury the timing of Patterson’s supposed illness after the lunch.

Mr Mandy said Patterson did not say in her evidence that she tasted the duxelles (mix of mushrooms) after she added the dried mushrooms to it, but it was ‘common sense’ that she did so.

‘She wasn’t cross examined about it at all,’ he said.

Patterson judge to commence his address to the jury

Justice Christopher Beale (pictured) will commence his address to the jury – or ‘charge’ – this morning after giving jurors a four-day weekend to prepare for the closing stage of the marathon Erin Patterson murder trial.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury that Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate to those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.

:
Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Marathon trial enters its final week

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk