Erin Patterson trial: Estranged husband tells court he was ‘too uncomfortable’ to attend fatal mushroom lunch

The estranged husband of an Australian woman accused of murdering three of his elderly relatives with a meal laced with deadly mushrooms told a court on Thursday he declined the lunch invitation because he felt “too uncomfortable” attending.

While giving evidence in court, Simon Patterson told chief prosecutor Nanette Rogers that he was invited along with his parents and his aunt and uncle to the 29 July 2023 lunch at Erin Patterson’s home, when the murders are alleged to have taken place, following a service at the Korumburra Baptist Church.

“I was a bit reluctant but I ultimately agreed,” Mr Patterson said.

However, a day before the lunch, he messaged Ms Patterson to tell her that won’t be coming after all.

The court heard on Wednesday the accused had lied about having cancer and hosted the lunch on the pretence of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness, in what the prosecution said was an effort to ensure the children did not attend and eat the poisoned meal. The defence does not dispute the accused lied about having cancer.

Text messages between Simon and Erin Patterson read out in court said the accused found his decision not to attend "really disappointing" as she had spent significant amounts of time and money preparing a "special meal" for the group.

“Sorry I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mum, dad, Ian and Heather,” he read from a photo of the exchange.

“That’s really disappointing, I’ve spent many hours this week preparing lunch for tomorrow,” Ms Patterson allegedly responded.

“It’s important for me that you’re all there… I hope you change your mind,” she wrote back.

Ms Patterson told Mr Patterson that she had spent a “small fortune” on the steaks.

Ms Patterson, 50, is charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, in a case that has gripped Australia.

All four fell ill after a lunch of Beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans, the court has heard. Gail and Heather died on 4 August, Don died the following day, while Ian survived after being critically ill. Prosecutors allege the accused laced the meal with highly poisonous death cap mushrooms at her home in Leongatha, a town of around 6,000 people some 135km (84 miles) from Melbourne. Ms Patterson denies the charges, with her defence saying the deaths were a "terrible accident".

Prosecutors also claim that Ms Patterson served her guests on four identical grey plates while using a smaller, tan-coloured one for herself.

Mr Patterson also told the court that the nature of his relationship with Ms Patterson changed noticeably in late October or early November 2022. Until then, he said, they had been on friendly terms, often sharing “banter” and conversations about “politics and interesting things”.

He recalled that during one visit to drop off their children, Ms Patterson brought up his tax return and the fact he had listed them as separated.

“She wasn’t happy with that,” he said, explaining that the change would affect their family tax benefit, and they mutually agreed she would pursue child support payments.

Mr Patterson said he later received advice from the child support agency to stop making direct payments to Erin and instead go through official channels.

“That was the first thing that made me feel there was a change in our relationship,” he said. “The chatty nature of it pretty much stopped ... it became functional and sometimes nothing.”

Mr Patterson also told the jury that Ms Patterson called him at around 7.00am on the Monday following the fatal lunch, saying she had been experiencing diarrhoea every 20 minutes since that afternoon and asked him to take her to the hospital.

“She was worried she might poo her pants driving,” he said. “She asked me to come and take her to hospital.”

He declined, suggesting she call an ambulance. Later that day, she called again, saying she had gone to Leongatha Hospital but left against medical advice.

She also told him the hospital staff wanted to assess their children after learning they’d eaten leftovers from the lunch. “I’d been saying I was happy to pick up the kids ... She didn’t want the kids to be scared about the reason so she should be the one to pick them up,” he said.

“I said I’m glad you feel healthy enough to pick up the kids now because at 7am she wasn’t healthy enough to drive herself,” Mr Patterson said.

On Wednesday, Ms Rogers told jurors that despite Ms Patterson and Mr Patterson separating in 2015, they remained “friendly, amicable and affable” while continuing to co-parent. “Simon remained hopeful that he and the accused would reconcile,” she said.

Defence barrister Colin Mandy told the jury that Ms Patterson does not deny the four lunch guests ate deadly death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home. “The defence case is that Erin Patterson did not deliberately serve poisoned food to her guests at that lunch,” he said.

“The defence case is that what happened was a tragedy, a terrible accident.” The trial is expected to last for up to six weeks.