The nine-year-old daughter of a woman accused of murdering three people with a 'poisonous mushroom lunch' has spoken about the day of the meal.
Australian mum Erin Patterson is accused of killing three relatives and injuring another by allegedly serving them poisonous mushrooms as part of a meal in 2023.
It is said that the 50-year-old invited former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, and her husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson, 68, to her home for lunch on 30 July 2023.
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She served beef wellington at her house in Leongatha, Victoria, with both of her ex-husband's parents dying days later along with Heather.
While Reverend Wilkinson fell ill, he survived.
Patterson is now facing three murder charges and one count of attempted murder, all of which she denies.
Her daughter's comments from a police interview have now been heard in court, which was carried out when she was just nine.
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She said that her mother actually sent her away as the adults ate their food.
"My mum told me she wanted to have a lunch with my grandparents," she recalled.
The child went on: "She said she wanted to talk to them about adult stuff, and we were going to go to the movies.
"I can't remember when she started to feel sick. But I think she started to feel sick the next day," the daughter told police. We had some of the leftovers,
"Some of the steak they had. Some of the mashed potatoes and some of the beans," she recalled.
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Dr Chris Webster, who worked at the Hospital in Leongatha where two of Patterson's guests were admitted, revealed the explanation given for their illness.
He recalled the mother walking into the waiting room before her former in-laws were due to be transferred to a different practice, and that he told her medics believed they had suffered from death cap mushroom poisoning.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, he claimed that she left a short time afterward.
"I was surprised," Dr Webster recalled.
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"I had just informed her she’d been potentially exposed to a deadly death cap mushroom poisoning and I would have thought being in hospital was the best place to be,” he pointed out.
The doctor then tried to call her a number of times before calling the police.
It was previously said in court that Patterson ate from a different coloured dinner plate, as Prosecutor Nanette Rogers revealed to the jury that Ian and Heather ate all their portions, while Gail and her husband shared.
Topics: Erin Patterson, Australia, Crime, True Crime
Joshua Nair