Jury members retired Monday to decide the fate of an Australian woman accused of murdering three members of her husband’s family with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington lunch.
The 12-person panel has been locked away to decide whether Erin Patterson is guilty or not, beginning their deliberations after a nine-week trial intently followed by a global audience.
“You must decide whether any of her statements were untrue,” judge Christopher Beale said in his final instructions.
“You should consider all of the evidence in the case and draw reasonable conclusions based only on the evidence you accept.
“Do not guess.”
Jurors must reach a unanimous verdict — guilty or not guilty — for each of the four charges Patterson faces, Beale said.
The 50-year-old is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their beef-and-pastry meal with death cap mushrooms — the world’s deadliest fungi.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest — her husband’s uncle — who survived the classic English dish after a long stay in hospital.
The 14-person jury was reduced to 12 by ballot before they started debating a verdict at the court in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne.
They will be sequestered at night during the deliberations.
Patterson has steadfastly denied all charges against her, saying the poisoning of the beef Wellington — cooked in individual portions — was a mistake.
The trial has focused in forensic detail on the events surrounding the meal at her property in the farming village of Leongatha in Victoria state.
Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the elderly parents of her long-estranged husband Simon.
Places were also set for Simon’s maternal aunt Heather and her husband Ian Wilkinson, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church.
– ‘Uncomfortable’ –
Simon was urged to come but he declined on the eve of the fatal lunch because he felt “uncomfortable”.
Within days of the meal, his parents and aunt had died of organ failure.
Of the four guests, only the pastor survived.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately foraged for death cap mushrooms and hid them in the meal, intending to kill her lunch guests.
She took care not to consume the fatal mushrooms and faked being sick after the lunch in a bid to avoid suspicion, the prosecution says.
But Patterson’s defence lawyer said it was a “terrible accident” and she never intended to kill or harm anyone.
“I didn’t deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the meal,” Patterson said in her testimony to the court.
She only lied to authorities in panic after the lunch, including about the source of the mushrooms, for fear of being held responsible, her defence said.
Patterson told police investigating the deaths that she did not own a food dehydrator, allegedly used to prepare the death cap mushrooms.
Security footage showed Patterson dumping a dehydrator at a nearby rubbish facility, and forensic tests found trace amounts of death cap mushrooms on the appliance.
“I agree that I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible,” Patterson said during the trial.
Patterson ate some of the same dish as her guests but did not fall as sick, her defence argued, saying she suffered from an eating disorder and made herself vomit afterwards.
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