Australian woman Erin Patterson convicted of mushroom murders • FRANCE 24 English

Australian woman Erin Patterson convicted of mushroom murders • FRANCE 24 English

After six days of deliberations, a verdict in the Barack murder trial that has gripped Australia. Erin Patterson was found guilty by a Victoria court of murdering three of her estranged relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch in July 2023. Her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, all died of organ failure within a week. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived after a long stay in hospital. Patterson’s aranged husband, Simon, was due to attend the lunch, but declined the previous day. 50-year-old Patterson had served them death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington dish. She claimed it was a terrible accident, but prosecutors say she knowingly destroyed evidence. It’s a verdict that left one of Patterson’s friends devastated as she exited the court. How are you feeling? I’m saddened. Um, and it is what it is. Thank you. You had a chance to talk to Aaron? No. Did you think that Erin was capable of something like this? She’s a triple murderer. Were you expecting your friend to be found not guilty? I didn’t have any expectations. It’s the justice system and it has to be what it is. The lurid nature of the case has made Patterson a cult figure in Australia with her likeness adorning a mural in Melbourne. Passers by say they understand how difficult it must have been to decide on a case that nearly everyone has an opinion on. I’m certainly glad I was never asked to be on it because I reckon I would struggle to um to find a decision and I understand that they picked 16 or they picked more jurors in case people, you know, went wrong. So, I’m glad I’m just watching it on the sidelines. The 12 final jurors had to come to a unanimous decision to secure a conviction. Patterson, who will be sentenced at a later date, faces life in prison.

An Australian woman was on Monday convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, and attempting to murder a fourth, in a case that gripped the country. After a week of deliberation, the jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with individual servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.
#Australia #mushrooms #murder

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