Five people had lunch in a small Australian town. Three are dead – and one is accused of their murder

Ian Wilkinson sat successful the witnesser box, a crucifix wrong an ichthys pinned implicit his heart, and told the ultimate tribunal astir 4 radical helium shared luncheon with connected 29 July 2023.

Three of those radical are dead, and the different is accused of sidesplitting them.

Wilkinson gave grounds this week successful Erin Patterson’s triple execution trial. She has pleaded not blameworthy to the execution charges, and to the attempted execution of Wilkinson.

A cheerful man, who laughed freely and a small nervously passim his evidence, Wilkinson is simply a pastor astatine the Korumburra Baptist church, astir 70km distant from the Latrobe Valley instrumentality courts successful the south-eastern Australian authorities of Victoria.

Wilkinson had conscionable finished a sermon connected 16 July 2023 erstwhile Patterson approached Heather Wilkinson, his wife, and Gail Patterson, Erin’s mother-in-law, successful church.

“Just the 2 I was looking for,” Patterson said to them, the tribunal heard.

Patterson went connected to invitation the sisters and their husbands to lunch. Wilkinson told the tribunal helium was blessed and excited, if not somewhat puzzled, to beryllium invited.

He said Patterson was an acquaintance but determination was small extent to their relationship. Heather spoke to her more, though neither considered themselves adjacent to Patterson. They had ne'er dined astatine her location before.

‘I suggested that we pray’

A fortnight later, the radical sat down successful Patterson’s open-plan eating country to a repast of beef wellington with mashed murphy and greenish beans. The Wilkinsons brought effect for dessert, and the Pattersons an orangish cake.

After they ate, Wilkinson yet understood wherefore they had been invited: Patterson, helium told the court, informed her guests she had cancer.

Wilkinson said Patterson wanted proposal connected however to archer the 2 children she shared with Simon Patterson, her estranged husband.

Illustration: Guardian Design

The radical were successful statement that she should beryllium honorable with the children, Wilkinson said. The speech occurred astir the eating table, Wilkinson sitting astatine the caput of the table, with Don Patterson adjacent to Gail, to his right, and Erin other Don to his left.

Simon had besides planned to attend, but told Patterson the nighttime earlier helium would not beryllium coming.

One of the radical noticed, during the speech astir cancer, that Patterson’s lad was returning location with a friend, Wilkinson told the court.

Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving impermanent of the lunch, testified successful tribunal this week. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

“I realised we weren’t going to beryllium capable to proceed [the conversation], that we hadn’t prayed astir it, truthful I suggested that we pray,” Wilkinson said.

“I prayed a supplication asking God’s blessing connected Erin, that she would get the attraction that she needed, that the kids would beryllium OK, that she’d person contented successful however she told the kids and past the supplication concluded arsenic the boys arrived successful the room.”

But a written connection work to the tribunal this week from Danielle Romane, of the Victorian Department of Health, said a hunt of the state’s crab registry recovered nary grounds of Patterson having received a crab diagnosis.

Wilkinson near soon aft the crab speech truthful helium could conscionable the religion caput and treasurer astatine his home, up of a congregation gathering scheduled for the pursuing day.

Later that night, Ian heard Heather permission furniture and vomit successful the laundry sink. He felt alright astatine that point, helium told the court, but soon aft had to vomit too.

The Wilkinsons were admitted to Leongatha infirmary wrong hours. Heather ne'er made it home.

Ian told the tribunal this week that helium had nary representation of his attraction aft being fixed a charcoal substance to portion successful a bid to flooded decease headdress mushroom poisoning. He was placed successful a coma soon after.

He was yet discharged from infirmary astir 2 months aft the lunch, successful September 2023.

Self-discharge from hospital

Patterson’s clip successful infirmary was acold shorter, the tribunal heard. She discharged herself aft lone 5 minutes connected her archetypal sojourn to infirmary connected 31 July 2023, 2 days aft the lunch.

Two doctors and a caregiver spoke with her during these 5 minutes to implore her to stay, saying that her bosom complaint and humor unit readings indicated she could besides person been poisoned, and that the effectiveness of her attraction relied connected it starting arsenic soon arsenic possible.

Patterson said she was not prepared to beryllium admitted, but would travel backmost successful 20 minutes.

Dr Christopher Webster told the tribunal helium was amazed erstwhile a caregiver told him that Patterson had left. “I had conscionable informed her that she’d been exposed to a imaginable deadly decease headdress mushroom poisoning and I thought that being successful infirmary would beryllium a amended spot for her to be,” helium said.

He tried to telephone her 3 times, and erstwhile she didn’t reply helium phoned the hospital’s CEO and manager of aesculapian services to get clearance to telephone the police.

“When you person to see treating a diligent against their will, it becomes rather a superior concern and I wanted … them to beryllium informed earlier I did that,” Webster said.

Patterson returned to infirmary astir 90 minutes later, earlier constabulary arrived astatine her house.

Cindy Munro, a caregiver who treated the Wilkinsons earlier that day, noted the quality betwixt them and Patterson aft she was admitted: she was sitting up and “didn’t look unwell”, whereas Ian “could hardly assistance his caput disconnected the pillow”.

Patterson was transferred to the Monash infirmary aboriginal that day, and discharged location connected 1 August.

“The prosecution says that Erin Patterson was pretending to beryllium sick and that’s an contented successful this trial,” Colin Mandy SC, Patterson’s defence barrister, told the tribunal successful his opening statement.

“The defence lawsuit is that she was not feigning illness, she wasn’t pretending to beryllium sick … she was sick too, conscionable not arsenic sick.

“And the defence lawsuit is that she was unwell due to the fact that she’d eaten immoderate of the meal.”

The prosecution says that the time aft Patterson returned home, she drove to a section extremity and dumped a nutrient dehydrator that a forensic introspection revealed contained her fingerprints, and traces of decease headdress mushrooms. They allege she besides conducted a mill reset connected 1 of her mobile phones.

Evidence from Simon and Erin Patterson’s children was besides heard successful tribunal this week. Both children were separately interviewed by constabulary connected 16 August 2023, and footage of these interviews was played to the jury.

Patterson’s lad and girl were fed leftovers of the repast for meal connected 30 July, contempt Patterson telling them she felt unwell earlier.

At the commencement of their evidence, some of the children were asked to specify what was the information and what was a lie.

A lie, the Pattersons’ lad said, was “something that is wrong, thing that you cognize didn’t happen, thing that you cognize is wrong”.

Mandy says that Patterson, successful a panic that she had accidentally poisoned her luncheon guests, lied to constabulary aft the luncheon by telling them she had ne'er earlier foraged for mushrooms, nor owned a nutrient dehydrator.

‘Very negative’ relationship

The narration betwixt Simon and Erin Patterson was again unpicked successful item during the proceedings this week.

Their lad described it arsenic “very negative”, and said his begetter “does a batch of things to effort and wounded mum”. He said Simon contacted his schoolhouse to beryllium included connected billing records, truthful that helium could beryllium informed of his children’s activities and schoolhouse reports, but did this without contacting Patterson.

Three Facebook friends outlined Patterson’s concerns astir Simon and his family’s faith, with 1 saying Patterson described his behaviour arsenic controlling and coercive.

More messages exchanged betwixt the estranged couple, including successful a radical chat involving Don and Gail, were besides shown to the court.

It painted a clearer representation of the animosity that developed successful precocious 2022 amid a quality astir kid enactment payments.

“I foolishly trusted him to bash close by maine and the kids erstwhile it came to the crunch,” Patterson wrote successful 1 agelong connection posted successful a radical chat betwixt her, Simon and Don and Gail.

There person present been 27 witnesses called successful the case, and Justice Christopher Beale told the assemblage this week that the proceedings could decorativeness sooner than expected.

But determination has been nary shifting from the connection helium gave them earlier immoderate witnesser had been heard – the 2 cardinal questions being: did Patterson mean to poison her guests with decease headdress mushrooms, and did she mean to termination oregon origin superior wounded to them erstwhile she did so?

The proceedings continues.