Victoria\u2019s supreme court will hand down the triple-murderer Erin Patterson\u2019s sentence on Monday morning, with the hearing to be broadcast live in a historic first for the state.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s supreme court will allow a television camera inside the courtroom to broadcast the sentencing hearing \u2013 with a 10 second delay \u2013 for the first time.<\/p>\n
Patterson, 50, faces the prospect of spending the rest of her life in prison. Justice Christopher Beale will deliver her sentence from 9.30am in a hearing expected to last about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
In July, after an 11-week trial, a jury found Patterson guilty<\/a> of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband, Simon, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The jury also convicted Patterson of attempting to murder Heather\u2019s husband, Ian Wilkinson.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n Patterson hosted the guests at a lunch in July 2023, deliberately feeding them beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.<\/p>\n Delivering an emotional victim impact statement in a pre-sentencing hearing last month, Wilkinson, a pastor, offered Patterson forgiveness<\/a> for trying to murder him.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I am no longer Erin Patterson\u2019s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But Wilkinson said he was \u201ccompelled to seek justice\u201d for the three murder victims. He said he bore Patterson no ill will and his prayer for her was that she would use her time in custody to reform.<\/p>\n Simon Patterson said his estranged wife\u2019s crimes had robbed their two children, a son born in 2009 and a daughter born in 2014, of \u201cthe kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for\u201d.<\/p>\n The prosecution and defence agreed Patterson should receive a life sentence for her crimes, which Beale said were \u201chorrendous\u201d. Prosecutors called for no prospect of parole for Patterson, while the defence said she should be given a chance to be released.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Patterson\u2019s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, said her notoriety meant she was in onerous conditions \u2013 spending 22 hours locked in her cell \u2013 which should be considered by Beale. He said his client\u2019s isolation made the \u201cburden of imprisonment\u201d much greater for her than other prisoners.<\/p>\n Jane Warren, for the prosecution, agreed that Beale could consider these conditions.<\/p>\n Beale said the fact that Patterson had spent most of her days isolated in her cell for at least 14 months since her arrest in November 2023 \u201cdoesn\u2019t sound very humane\u201d.<\/p>\n While it is typically illegal for media outlets to record inside a courtroom, the court has granted permission for a television camera to film Beale handing down his sentencing remarks. The footage, which media outlets can re-broadcast, will go live with a 10-second delay.<\/p>\n Patterson will have until 6 October to lodge an appeal against her conviction, sentence or both.<\/p>\n She pleaded not guilty to all charges and claimed the deaths were a tragic accident.<\/p>\n In Victoria, the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment without parole.<\/p>\n The standard sentence is 25 years\u2019 imprisonment, according to a guide for judicial officers<\/a> produced by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria. Standard sentences apply to a range of serious offences and must be considered as a guidepost by the court when making a sentencing decision.<\/p>\n