Hunched over a laundry sink vomiting, Heather Wilkinson couldn’t have imagined the pain that lay ahead, with details of her final days played out in court this week. The wave of sickness came over her just hours after sharing a lunch and offering prayers for Erin Patterson, the estranged wife of her nephew Simon, after she allegedly claimed to have been diagnosed with cancer, the jury heard. At that July 2023 lunch, the court heard Mrs. Wilkinson, her husband Pastor Ian Wilkinson, her sister Gail Patterson and husband Don had consumed death cap mushrooms served in a beef Wellington at Patterson’s Leongatha home. Three of the four guests died as a result, with only Mr. Wilkinson surviving the symptoms. Patterson is facing three murder charges over their deaths and one count of attempted murder, in front of a jury of 15 people drawn from around the Gippsland region in eastern Victoria, where the trial itself is playing out. Day after day Patterson has closely looked around the packed courtroom, filled with media, members of the public and the family of those she is accused of killing.
On Tuesday, the jury would have been able to see Patterson firm her gaze on the lone survivor of that fateful lunch. Mr. Wilkinson choked back tears as he told the court of his long and happy life with his wife Heather up until her painful death. Erin Patterson is accused of poisoning her in-laws with death cap mushrooms. He told the court he led the guests at the fateful lunch as they said prayers for their host. ‘I suggested that we pray and I prayed a prayer asking God’s blessing on Erin, that she would get the treatment that she needed, that the kids would be okay, that she’d have wisdom in how she told the kids,’ Mr. Wilkinson told the court. He and his wife had been excited by Patterson’s lunch invitation, and thoroughly enjoyed the beef Wellington that would later cause them such pain, the jury heard.
Before falling ill, Heather described the meal as ‘beautiful and delicious’ and told friends she had enjoyed a ‘lovely lunch’, friend Angela Child told the court. Heather had eaten the whole thing, as had her husband, who she playfully teased for devouring the whole plate, the jury heard. Don liked it so much he ate much of his wife Gail’s portion, the court was told. The Wilkinsons had just retired for the night when the effects of the death cap mushrooms began to take hold. Ian Wilkinson was the lone survivor of the deadly lunch. He continued to attend court even after giving his evidence. Erin Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy, SC enters the courthouse on Wednesday.
JURY HEARS PATTERSON CONCERN OVER PANTRY On the day of the lunch, Ian Wilkinson told the court Patterson seemed reluctant to allow anyone into her pantry. ‘Heather was very interested in pantries at that time because we’d just built one at home,’ he said. But when his wife headed over for a look, Mr. Wilkinson said he noticed a change in Patterson. ‘I had noticed that Erin was very reluctant about the visit to the pantry and had not yet started following them and so I thought, “Maybe the pantry is a mess, it’s going to be an embarrassment, so I won’t add to the embarrassment by joining the party”.’
‘I don’t think either of us had fallen asleep, but Heather got up abruptly out of the bed and made her way to the laundry and I could hear her vomiting,’ Mr. Wilkinson told the court. In witness testimony that moved from tears to nervous laughter, Mr. Wilkinson outlined the effects of the toxins in their bodies. ‘I felt alright when Heather initially got up, but it wasn’t very long after that that I also felt the need to go and vomit,’ he said. ‘It continued right through the night. We had vomiting and diarrhea and, yes, that continued right through the night.’ Mr. Wilkinson said he couldn’t count how many times he and his wife had vomited that night as their bodies struggled to expel the toxins.
‘I didn’t go back to bed. We have two toilets in our house. I camped outside the laundry and the toilet connected to the laundry.’ Heather moved through to the bathroom, where there’s also a toilet, and the most convenient location for her was in the lounge room near that bathroom,’ he said. When the long night finally ended, the couple learned Don and Gail Patterson had experienced a similar ordeal to theirs, the court heard. Simon Patterson was the first witness to give evidence at the trial in Morwell. Simon Patterson told the Wilkinsons that his parents, Don and Gail, were in a very bad way and suggested they get to the hospital rather than trying to treat themselves, the jury heard. ‘Heather and I said, “No, it’s a case of gastro, you know. In a few hours we’ll be right”,’ Mr. Wilkinson told the court. When they were finally convinced to go, the jury heard the couple was told an ambulance wasn’t available and they needed to make their way to the hospital. ‘I was pretty keen to get to the hospital because I needed to find a toilet again, so I went to the toilet,’ Mr. Wilkinson said. The court heard Don Patterson’s condition was the worst of the four affected.
Paramedic Cindy Hyde told the court he had vomited twice before even getting into the ambulance. ‘Don did vomit before we loaded into the ambulance. He had another vomit in the kitchen into a bucket so he was more symptomatic in that space,’ she said. He had also been to the toilet at least 16 times, she said. Don’s liver was going into meltdown, the jury heard, and despite ultimately undergoing a transplant, he would die. Paramedic Cindy Hyde gave evidence at the Latrobe Valley law courts in week two of the trial Dr. Beth Morgan went into graphic detail about all of the ways the deadly mushrooms affected the lunch guests. Salesman Darren Fox told the jury Patterson bought the dehydrator she allegedly used to prepare the deadly mushrooms from his shop ‘Don’s wife was so sick that X-rays showed a transplant was not viable,’ Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the jury. ‘Medical professionals determined that Gail was no longer capable of surviving an emergency liver transplant.’ A colonoscopy performed on Heather revealed multiple areas of bowel ischemia or damage and she was too unwell to benefit from surgical intervention. Despite maximal treatment, Donald, Gail, and Heather continued to deteriorate. After extensive discussion, medical professionals concluded that no other treatments would help and that the illnesses were unsurvivable for Donald, Gail, and Heather. The jury heard Heather died first, followed by Gail, on August 4 – six days after the lunch. Despite Don’s condition, he held out for another day, before dying at 11.30 pm from multiple organ failure secondary to altered liver function.
