Erin Patterson’s tears as she reveals why she dumped her dehydrator after her estranged husband allegedly asked if she’d used it to ‘kill his parents’

Erin Patterson dumped her dehydrator amid fears her children would be taken from her after she served lunch guests deadly beef Wellingtons. 

Patterson entered the witness box for the second day on Wednesday at Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, in Victoria’s east. 

The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.

They died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in beef Wellingtons during lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Patterson told the court she dumped the dehydrator at the local tip after dropping her children off at school days after the deadly lunch.  

‘Shortly after that, I took the dehydrator to the tip,’ she told the jury. 

The court heard child protection workers had been on their way to interview Patterson after becoming aware death cap mushrooms were suspected of being served at the lunch.  

‘Child Protection were coming to my house that afternoon and I was – I was scared of the conversation that might flow about the meal and the dehydrator and I just was – I was scared that – that they would blame me for it,’ she said. 

Erin Patterson told the court on Wednesday that she dumped her dehydrator amid fears her children would be taken from her

Simon Patterson denied ever asking his wife if she’d used her dehydrator to kill his parents 

‘For making everyone sick, and I was scared they’d remove the children.’

Patterson claimed she became worried she might be blamed for deliberately poisoning her in-laws after a conversation with her estranged husband Simon at the hospital on August 2. 

Under questioning by her own barrister Colin Mandy SC, Patterson said she had a conversation with the kids about why they were in hospital and why everyone else was unwell.

Patterson said there was concern her lunch had made people unwell. 

When the children left the room to visit the vending machine, Patterson claimed she spoke to Simon about her dehydrator. 

The conversation centred about Patterson hiding dried mushrooms in her daughter’s muffins, which she seemed to enjoy better than the ordinary muffins. she said. 

It was then that Simon hit her with an unexpected question.  

‘He said to me is that how you poisoned my parents using that dehydrator,’ Patterson claimed. 

Erin Patterson broke down in tears while in the witness box on Wednesday

‘I said of course not.’

The exchange saw Patterson break down in tears as she recalled what happened next. 

Patterson claimed the comment got her thinking about all the times she had used the dehydrator and she recalled using it to dry foraged mushrooms just weeks earlier. 

‘What if they got in the container with the Chinese mushrooms. Maybe that had happened,’ she said.

Patterson had previously told the jury foraged mushrooms may have been added to a jar she had that contained bought dried mushrooms and mushrooms from the local supermarket she had dehydrated herself. 

The jury heard Patterson said she felt responsible for what was happening to her lunch guests. 

‘I just felt really scared,’ she said

When she finally returned home, Patterson claimed she started to panic.  

Erin Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy SC (pictured) guided his client through a series of questions on Wednesday

‘I was frantic,’ she said. 

‘Because I had made the meal and served it, and people had got sick.’

Patterson told the court she told no-one she feared foraged mushrooms might have been put into the beef Wellingtons by accident. 

‘You had been told that the suspicion was that death cap mushrooms had been in the meal?’ Mr Mandy asked Patterson 

‘Yes,’ she replied. 

‘What did that make you think about whether – or what might be in the dehydrator?’ Mr Mandy asked.  

‘Well, I thought there might be evidence of that, evidence of any foraged mushrooms in there,’ Patterson answered. 

Simon Patterson has denied accusing his wife of poisoning his parents in the days after the deadly lunch.

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers and top cop Stephen Eppingstall enter the court on Tuesday. Ms Rogers will get her turn to question Patterson in the coming days 

In the first days of the trial he was asked about the conversation he had with her at Monash Medical Centre after the deadly lunch.

‘Is that what you used to poison them?’ Mr Mandy claimed he remarked.

‘I did not say that to Erin,’ Simon responded.

The jury further heard Patterson claimed to have vomited-up the portion of beef Wellington she ate at the deadly lunch after binge eating the cake Gail Patterson had bought for dessert. 

‘She encouraged me to keep it for us to eat, so that was left over and quite – quite a lot of the cake that Gail had brought was left over as well, she left that,’ Patterson said. 

Patterson, who has told the jury about her life-long struggles with her body image and weight, said she took a slice of cake while cleaning up after the lunch.  

‘I had a piece of cake and then another piece of cake and then another,’ she said. 

‘How many pieces of cake did you have?’ Mr Mandy asked. 

An early bird member of the public rugged-up waiting to enter the law courts in Morwell on Wednesday 

Large lines of people now gather to enter the trial of Erin Patterson 

‘All of it,’ she replied. 

Patterson claimed ‘a good two thirds’ of the cake had been left. 

‘I felt sick. I felt over-full, so I went to the toilets and brought it back up again,’ she said. 

The trial before Justice Christopher Beale, sitting in the Supreme Court of Victoria, continues.  

 

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