Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson to appeal convictions
Tara Cosoleto |
Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson will appeal her convictions, but her new lawyer has confirmed he needs more time to file the paperwork.
Patterson’s appeal period was due to expire at 11.59pm on Monday but barrister Richard Edney on Thursday indicated in the Victorian Supreme Court they were not ready to lodge the appeal.
Justice Christopher Beale noted the Court of Appeal’s new practice note, which grants appeal extensions as a matter of course if they’re lodged within 56 days of the sentence.
While the paperwork is yet to be filed, Mr Edney said Patterson would lodge an appeal against a jury convicting her of three murders and one attempted murder.
“I can indicate there will be an appeal against conviction,” he told the court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has yet to decide whether to appeal Patterson’s sentence, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Patterson was jailed for life in September with a non-parole period of 33 years after she was found guilty of killing her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
The jury found she deliberately served beef Wellingtons that were laced with death cap mushrooms to her lunch guests in July 2023 at her Leongatha home in regional Victoria.
Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 69, also ate the meal and fell seriously ill but survived.
Patterson, who this week turned 51 while in custody, has always maintained her innocence and claimed it was a terrible accident.
But Justice Beale described the offending as the worst category of murder, noting the enormous betrayal of trust towards people she considered family.
“They had all been good to you and your children over many years,” he said in his sentencing remarks.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health … you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.”
The judge accepted there was no proven motive, but he found Patterson concocted an elaborate story to cover up her offending, including lying about a food dehydrator and having cancer.
Patterson would have anticipated the victims experiencing protracted suffering when she chose to use the mushrooms to poison them, the judge added.
Justice Beale said the severity of her crimes and her lack of pity warranted the maximum jail sentence but he would show her some mercy given her conditions in custody.
He sentenced her to a 33-year non-parole period, noting she was essentially in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day.
Mr Edney did not indicate on Thursday that Patterson would also appeal her sentence, alongside her convictions.
He will be the one to lead the fight in the Victorian Court of Appeal, after barrister Colin Mandy SC represented Patterson in her triple-murder trial.
Mr Edney previously represented Rebecca Payne, who was convicted of murdering her abusive husband by feeding him drug-laced biscuits and locking him in a freezer.
Payne was originally jailed for 16 years but successfully reduced her sentence on appeal down to 12 years.
AAP
