That’s it for our coverage of today’s court hearing. Read Erin Pearson’s wrap of what happened today below. We’ll continue our live coverage of the trial on Wednesday.
Accused killer cook Erin Patterson has conceded death cap mushrooms were in a beef Wellington she fed her lunch guests after telling a jury she often foraged for fungi and enjoyed buying exotic varieties because they tasted better.
Patterson, 50, spoke for the first time about the meal that killed three people and made another critically ill during a second day of evidence in her murder trial in Supreme Court at Morwell.
Erin Patterson, her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson (bottom right), and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson (top right). Credit: Matthew Absalom-Wong
“Do you accept there must have been death cap mushrooms in it?” defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, asked his client.
“Yes I do,” Erin Patterson replied while nodding.
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When asked where the mushrooms for the meal came from, she said the “vast majority” came from her local Woolworths supermarket in Leongatha and others from an unknown Asian grocery store in Melbourne.
Erin Patterson said the mushrooms she bought from the Asian grocer in April 2023 smelled really pungent, so she put them in a container back at her home in Leongatha.
She added that she remembered also putting wild mushrooms she had dehydrated around May or June 2023 in a container that already contained other dried mushrooms.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty
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