‘Very rare’ for accused meetings, says spouse

The alienated husband of a woman who has served a poisonous mushroom lunch to her family says it was “very rare” for her to keep social meetings at home.

Simon Patterson was invited for the fatal meal prepared by Patterson – but decided not to attend the day before.

Mr. Patterson is the first witness in the process of Mrs. Patterson – who is accused of the murder of three family members and the attempted murder of another, where the case concentrates on a lunch by Beef Wellington in her house in July 2023.

Mrs Patterson, 50, did not argue and her defense team says that she was “in panic” after she had unintentionally served poison for relatives she loved.

Three people died in the hospital in the days after meals, including the former parents -in -law of Mrs. Patterterson, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66. Local pastor Ian Wilkinson survived after weeks of treatment in the hospital.

The jury has been shown that SMS messages exchanged the day before the deadly mushroom lunch between Simon and Erin Patterson.

Patterson said in court on Thursday that he felt “too uncomfortable” about attending lunch.

Erin Patterterson replied: “That is really disappointing. I spent many hours preparing the lunch for tomorrow this week … It is important for me that you are all there tomorrow and that I can have the conversations I need.”

The Public Prosecution Service claims that Mrs. Patterterson invited the group to have lunch “about the pretext of her was diagnosed with cancer”.

The court in Morwell, Regional Victoria, heard that between the marriage of the couple in 2007 and the divorce in 2015 there were a number of periods of divorce and reconciliation – including Patterson who left her husband and their baby son in the middle of a road trip through Australia in 2009.

Patterterson had to drive from Townsville to Perth – a distance of approximately 5,000 km (3,100 miles) – only with the child, he told the court.

The couple met in 2002, while they both worked in the Monash municipal council, where Mr. Patterson was a civil engineer.

Asked for his wife, Mr. Patterson said: “Erin is very intelligent.

“Some things that put me in the first place to her are absolutely her intelligence. She is pretty witty and can be pretty funny.”

Asked how his wife with his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, hits, Mr. Patterson said: “She mainly passed with Dad. They shared a love of knowledge and learning in the world.”

With his voice staggered, the Lord Patterson added: “I think she loved his soft nature.”

He said that Mrs Patterson was getting a university degree into operation and accounting and was also qualified as an air traffic controller who had worked on Tulleemarine Airport in Melbourne.

Patterson is again due in court to take more questions from public prosecutors.

Patterson painted a picture of a relationship with periods of divorce – the first within the first two years of marriage – at some point emotionally and asked for tissues.

After the last divorce there was a lot of communication by text message that he said, including “chatter” and talk about politics, he said.

But there was a change in the relationship in 2022 when Mrs. Patterterson was “upset” when her husband mentioned herself as divorced on his tax return.

The “talkative nature” of their relationship “stopped almost” afterwards, Mr Patterson said – now with communication only about the “practical management” of their family life.

Bore a naval suit, white shirt and purple tie, he said that Mrs Patterson received a “substantial legacy” from her grandmother who estimated Mr Patterson to a $ 2 million ($ 1.3 million; £ 964,000) – although it was not paid in a flat -rate amount and was “drunk” drunk “

The jury has heard that there is no dispute that lunch of beef Wellington, potato puree and green beans contained the deadlapper and caused the diseases of the guests.

Whether Mrs Patterson intended to kill or cause very serious injury is the most important problem in the case, the judge told the jury.

The court heard that the couple was married in 2007 and had two children together – although permanently separated in 2015.

They had remained “friendly”, including sharing family holidays, although there was a fight in child benefits in 2022, the jury was told.

During the opening declaration of the prosecutor on Wednesday, Hoofdadvocress Nanette Rogers said that the jury would hear the evidence that Mrs. Patterterson had traveled to a location, near her house in Leongatha, where the observations of Death Cap Mushrooms were recorded on a naturalistic website.

And in the days after lunch she took a number of steps to “hide” what she had done, the persecution claimed.

There would be evidence that she lied to researchers about the source of the mushrooms in the court – saying that some had come from an Asian supermarket in Melbourne and that she never wanted to. And she made a trip to a local landfill to throw away a food dehydrator officers from justice, say she was preparing the poisonous meal.

Mrs. Patterson’s lawyer has said that she has not intentionally served poisoned food to her guests.

“The defense case is that she panicked because she was overwhelmed by the fact that these four people had become so sick because of the food she had served them.”

The court heard how Mr Patterson spoke with his father the morning after lunch and discovered that both parents had risen with vomiting and Diahorrea since midnight and that they had called an ambulance.

And after he had tried to call his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, he went to their house when they didn’t answer.

“Ian answered the door. He looked gray and shocked,” Mr Patterson remembered. “Yes, he had a hard time.

“I said” how are you? “He said” not good. ” “

Patterson then saw Heather Wilkinson sitting on the couch, he told the court.

“She looked pretty bow. She had a container like Spuwenmer,” he said.

After Mr. Wilkinson had left the Chamber, Heather spoke to him, he confirmed, under questions from public prosecutors. Rogers.

“We didn’t have much conversation, but she was surprised and she said,” I noticed that her food served on a colored plate that was different from the rest. “

“I acknowledged that I had heard her, but did not continue as a conversation,” he added.

Because he was told that an ambulance would have lasted an hour to arrive, Mr. Patterterson drove the couple to the hospital in Wilkinsons’ car when Heather Wilkinson raised the subject again.

“She mentioned the colored plate again, she asked me:” Is it short of service? Said Mr. Patterson.

“I can’t remember the exact sentence, but it was something like that.

And what did you answer, the public prosecutor asked?

“I said yes, it doesn’t have many plates in it and that may be the reason.”

Patterson again became emotional and described that he went to his parents in the Korumburra hospital, where they were in the same room but separate beds.

“Dad was considerably worse than Mama. He really had a hard time,” he told Tights fighting …

“He lay by his side. He was pretty noticeably bent, with a really discolored face, who had trouble speaking.

“Speaking was an attempt, taking the energy to speak was an attempt and his voice was tense in a way that he was not around. He was in pain.”

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