Mushroom cook attempted to kill his ex four times – Police

An Australian woman is being accused of killing three people by giving them poisonous mushrooms. Court documents also claim that she attempted to kill her ex-partner four times.

Erin Patterson, who is 49 years old, was accused of committing three murders and trying to commit five others on Thursday.

The murder charges are about a family lunch she held in July at her house in Leongatha, Victoria.

Ms Patterson is still saying she didn’t do it.

She went to court for a short time on Friday. Her case was delayed until 3 May because the prosecutors need time to look at her computer stuff that the police took from her home. She did not ask to be released before the trial.

There were about six TV crews waiting outside the hearing in a small town called Morwell, which is about 60km away from Leongatha.

But except for the cameras and curious people in the area, nobody saw Ms Patterson. She was taken from her cell in the police station to the court building through a tunnel.

According to court papers that were given to the local press on Friday, the police say that Ms. Patterson tried to murder her separated husband, Mr. Simon Patterson, on three different occasions from November 2021 to September 2022.

The supposed fourth attempt happened when she made a special meat dish called beef Wellington for his parents, Gail and Don Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and her husband Ian Wilkinson, during lunch. Simon Patterson did not go to the meal.

Erin Patterson said she used both fresh button mushrooms from a regular store and dried mushrooms she bought from an Asian grocery several months ago to make the dish.

According to the police, all four of the people she invited to her house got very sick and had to go to the hospital.

Within a few days, the Patterson couple, who were 70 years old, as well as Ms. Wilkinson, who was 66 years old, passed away. Wilkinson, who is 68 years old, had a serious illness and had to go to the hospital. Luckily, he got better afterwards.

The police think that the four people ate death cap mushrooms, which can cause death if eaten.

Ms Patterson became a person of interest when she and her two kids were found without any injuries after lunch.

But she says she didn’t mean to make her guests sick and she went to the hospital after eating too and got medicine to protect her liver.

She wrote in August that she feels very upset to think that these mushrooms might have caused the sickness of her loved ones.

The police say that this case is very complicated and sad. They think it will have an impact for many years.

On Thursday, Homicide squad Inspector Dean Thomas said that there hasn’t been any other investigation that has received as much attention from the media and the public as this one, not only in Victoria but also across the country and around the world.