Erin Patterson murder trial day 39 LIVE: Justice Christopher Beale’s charge to jury enters its fourth day

Justice Christopher Beale has moved on to another point of alleged incriminating conduct: accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s alleged reluctance to receive medical treatment herself upon first presenting at Leongatha Hospital.

The court heard she first arrived about 8.05am on July 31, 2023, then left a few minutes later, after telling staff she wasn’t adequately prepared to be admitted to hospital at that time.

Beale reminds the jury that Patterson gave evidence that she returned at 9.48am that day, ready to be admitted, with her phone, toothbrush and toothpaste packed. Patterson said she was reluctant to be treated on her first presentation, but not on her second.

The prosecution says witness Cindy Munro, a nurse, was truthful when she said that Patterson did not want interventions, including IV fluids, when she attempted to cannulate her.

The defence argued this did not make sense and that their client willingly returned for treatment and was both sick and anxious about being in hospital.

Justice Christopher Beale has moved on to another point of alleged incriminating conduct: accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s alleged reluctance to have her children medically assessed.

Beale said the prosecution’s case is that witnesses stressed the importance of getting the children to a medical facility, with Leongatha Hospital doctor Chris Webster telling Patterson the children could be “alive and scared, or dead”.

The judge said Patterson gave evidence that her daughter’s health issues as a baby left her mistrustful of the health system. She agreed that Webster said there was a concern she’d been exposed to death cap mushrooms, but maintains she was confused and felt puzzled by this, especially when she was told she needed to go to a Melbourne hospital.

A court sketch of Erin Patterson during her trial.Credit: Anita Lester

“I was trying to make sense of what was going on … he was yelling at me … I have since learned that was his inside voice,” the accused told the jury earlier in the trial. “Yes, initially, I was reluctant to have the children medically assessed, but before too long, I was willing.”

Beale said the prosecution’s argument was that Patterson was reluctant to have her children medically assessed because she knew they had never been exposed to death cap mushrooms.

“If your children had come within cooee of a poisoned meal, you move mountains to get them to hospital as quickly as possible,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, said during the trial.

Beale said the defence said the jury needed to look at all the evidence, and not just the bits the prosecution had invited them to consider.

Justice Christopher Beale moves on to his charge relating to the third piece of alleged incriminating conduct: the prosecution’s claim that accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson lied when she said she’d served beef Wellington leftovers to her children the evening after the poisonous lunch.

Beale noted that during Patterson’s evidence, she told the jury she didn’t want to cook on the Sunday evening, so she scraped the pastry and mushroom paste off the meat in the beef Wellington leftovers, and gave her two children the reheated steak, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner.

Beale said Patterson agreed, while under cross-examination, that she knew from about 2.30pm on Sunday that Saturday lunch guests Don and Gail Patterson were unwell.

“I suggest that you certainly did not feed that steak to your children, but we’ve been over that, and you no doubt disagree with me,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers said during the trial.

“Correct,” Patterson replied at the time.

Beale said the prosecution argued that people would more readily believe this was all a shocking accident if Patterson had given the same food to her beloved children.

“There is no other reasonable explanation for why she could tell such a lie about something as important as the health of her children. This was a lie to help cover her tracks,” Rogers said during the trial.

The prosecution also argued that scientific evidence indicated the toxins would have penetrated the leftover meat and could not have been entirely separated, but the defence argued there was no evidence to back up this claim.

Beale told the jury to disregard the question of evidence with regards to toxins and leftovers, saying that no expert had been asked if the children would have experienced some symptoms if the mushroom paste and pastry had been scraped off the meat.

“You have no expert evidence as to whether that would be the case. So I instruct you to disregard that argument,” Beale said.

“You would be speculating if you would go down that path.”

Justice Christopher Beale has begun his charge regarding the second piece of alleged incriminating conduct: the dried mushrooms that accused killer Erin Patterson says she bought from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne and used in the beef Wellington.

Beale summarised the prosecution’s arguments on this topic:

• The prosecution said medical staff were desperate to know the source of the mushrooms so they could properly treat the sick lunch guests, but Patterson was not forthcoming with that information – including to the Department of Health.
• The prosecution alleges that on July 31, 2023, Leongatha Hospital doctor Chris Webster asked Patterson where the mushrooms came from, but the accused maintains he asked her where the meal ingredients came from – not the mushrooms specifically – and that’s why she told him Woolworths only.
• The prosecution alleges Patterson also gave differing accounts of the suburb where the store may have been located to various people between July 31 and August 3, 2023. She allegedly told Matthew Patterson, the brother of her estranged husband, that they were from a shop in Oakleigh; Dr Connor McDermott that they were from Glen Waverley; and Health Department official Sally Ann Atkinson that they were from Mount Waverley.
• The prosecution pointed out that Patterson once worked for Monash City Council (which includes those suburbs) and lived in Oakleigh East, before later buying a home in Mount Waverley, so it was “difficult to see how she could not recall the store”.
• The prosecution alleges Patterson sat on her hands and was slow to respond to questions. She appeared to have a remarkable memory about certain days in 2023, but not the shop, which “beggars belief”.
• Beale said the prosecution argued that “the story about the Asian grocer just couldn’t be true”.

The judge then summarised the defence’s arguments on this topic:

• The defence alleged the prosecution cherry-picked its evidence and ignored nuances of human behaviour.
• The defence maintained Patterson was consistent about the source of the mushrooms, and that she had many conversations with many people – and when people tell stories multiple times, there will be variations. “People have imperfect, mistaken memories,” defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, said during the trial.
• The defence said there was evidence that their client bought a dehydrator for a long-term project, not to kill her lunch guests, and that the prosecution failed to investigate Asian groceries in Glen Waverley.

Justice Christopher Beale begins to take the jury through a list of the alleged incriminating conduct relating to accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson, which the prosecution is relying on.

“The prosecution argues the only reasonable explanation for her unwillingness to receive emergency treatment … is that she knew she hadn’t consumed death cap mushrooms because she had deliberately poisoned her guests … making sure she also did not consume toxins,” Beale said.

“Defence says … she found it difficult to accept she may have suffered death cap mushroom poisoning. She had not come prepared to be admitted overnight. She needed to make arrangements for the children and the animals … and was intending to return [to hospital].”

Justice Christopher Beale began his charge on Tuesday, after the prosecution and defence teams made closing addresses to the jury last week.

The jury has been told the judge’s charge will continue for a few more days.

“I’ll be completing my charge prior to lunchtime on Monday,” Beale said.

Beale said the jury will not be sequestered until then.

From Monday, they will stay in accommodation after hours until they reach a verdict.

Welcome to our coverage of day 38 of the triple murder trial of accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson in Morwell, in which Justice Christopher Beale is continuing his judge’s charge for a third day.

In a criminal jury trial, a judge’s charge is their final instructions to the jury about what they need to consider when they begin their verdict deliberations. They also summarise the main arguments of the defence and prosecution, highlighting key evidence from the trial.

Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington lunch at her Leongatha home on Saturday, July 29, 2023. Her in-laws and Wilkinson died in the days after the meal from the effects of mushroom poisoning. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived after weeks in hospital.

Clockwise from left: accused killer Erin Patterson and her guests who died after the 2023 lunch, Heather Wilkinson and Gail and Don Patterson.Credit: Matthew Absalom-Wong

The judge’s instructions cover a range of topics, including relevant law, the jury’s responsibilities, and the elements of an offence that must be met to reach a guilty verdict.

In the case of murder, the legal bar the prosecution must reach is beyond reasonable doubt.

Beale said there would be three parts to his charge.

“First, I will give you directions regarding the principles of law which apply to this case. Some you have heard already, others will be new to you. You must apply all these principles of law carefully,” he said.

“Secondly, I will tell you the issues that you need to decide and will summarise: (a) the evidence that relates to those issues, and (b) the arguments made by the prosecution and defence in relation to those issues.

“Now, as you more than anyone will appreciate, there has been a great deal of evidence in this case and a lot of arguments made to you by the prosecution and defence.”

Beale said his summary would not cover all the evidence and arguments, reiterating to the jury that the fact he does not mention some evidence does not mean that that evidence is unimportant.

“Similarly, the fact that I include certain evidence does not make that evidence more important than other evidence. You must consider all of the evidence, not just the parts of it that I mention.

“In part three of my charge, I will give you further directions regarding the requirement that your verdicts must be unanimous and the procedure that will follow when receiving your verdicts.”

At the end of part three of the charge, Beale will reduce the number of jurors from 14 to 12 using a ballot system.