WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives with poisonous mushrooms told a court on Tuesday she accepted that the fatal lunch she served contained death caps.
But Erin Patterson said the “vast majority” of the fungi came from local stores. She denies three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the beef Wellington meal she served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home in July 2023.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were hospitalized and died after the lunch in the rural town of Leongatha in the Australian state of Victoria. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, was gravely ill but survived.
Patterson’s lawyer earlier told the Supreme Court trial that