Mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s interview played to jury
Emily Woods |
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson denied owning a dehydrator and claimed she loved her former in-laws “a lot” in an interview with police a week after serving a poisonous lunch.
The 50-year-old accused triple murderer’s police interview, on August 5, 2023, was publicly aired for the first time on Tuesday.
Patterson is nearing the end of a Supreme Court jury trial in regional Victoria, after she pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over a toxic beef Wellington lunch.
Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after eating the meal.
The case’s lead investigator, Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall, was called as a witness and discussed searching Patterson’s home on August 5, before she was taken for interview.
He said police allowed Patterson to use a mobile phone in a room on her own for 20 to 30 minutes during the search.
After the search, Patterson was taken to Wonthaggi police station for questioning, about 4.30pm.
Patterson told police “I’ve never been in a situation like this before” and looked emotional as she was informed two lunch guests had died and another two were in critical conditions.
“I’ve been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I … do want to know what happened, so I’ve given them as much information as they’ve asked for,” she said in the interview.
Det Eppingstall asked if she’d foraged for mushrooms, Patterson shook her head and said “never”.
He asked if she had ever used a food dehydrator, after police found a copy of a dehydrator manual during their search, but she said “no”.
“I’ve got manuals of lots of stuff,” Patterson said in the interview.
Asked about why she had invited her estranged husband’s family over for lunch, Patterson said “they were always good to me” and she had no other family left.
“I’ve always maintained good relationships with them. I love them a lot,” she told police.
“They always said they would support me, even though Simon and I separated, I really appreciated that.
“They’re the only family that I’ve got and the only grandparents my kids have, and I want them to stay in my kids’ life. I think Simon hated that.”
She said nothing her estranged husband Simon had ever done to her would change the fact his family were “good, decent people”.
Patterson was then asked about her visit to Leongatha Hospital, on July 31, and why she had discharged herself minutes after arriving.
She said she had to go home, feed her animals and pack a bag for her daughter, and then returned to hospital.
At the hospital she spoke to doctor Chris Webster, who told her some of her lunch guests were sick.
“He said to me, something along the lines of ‘we’ve got a concern that they’ve eaten death cap mushrooms’,” she said in the interview.
“I said ‘what’ and then he started asking me about what food I had served.”
Det Eppingstall said to Patterson’s credit she had given police a pin code while at hospital, to get into her gate to find leftovers from the beef Wellington in the bin.
“I said there’s the leftovers in the bin, you can have it, feel free to look through it. I said I’ll go and get it if you want, but I’m on a drip.”
“Thank you for helping us locate that,” the detective said.
Det Eppingstall confirmed Patterson was allowed to go home after the interview, and was not arrested until November 2, 2023.
Earlier, the jury was shown the recipe Patterson used to cook the lunch, which was found by police sitting next to her stove.
Det Eppingstall said it was on page 252 of Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats cookbook Dinner.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
AAP
