Erin Patterson pleads not guilty to all charges over alleged mushroom murders

Erin Patterson, the woman accused of murdering and attempting to murder her relatives by serving them a meal laced with deadly mushrooms, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Patterson, 49, was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in November after hosting an allegedly fatal lunch at her house in regional Victoria.

She is accused of murdering three guests who attended lunch at her Leongatha property on 29 July 2023: Don and Gail Patterson – the parents of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – along with his aunt Heather Wilkinson.

She is also alleged to have attempted to murder Simon Patterson on three occasions in 2021 and 2022.

The two final counts of attempted murder also relate to the lunch and Simon Patterson – who was invited but did not attend – and Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, who was left critically ill after the lunch but was discharged from hospital in September.

Wearing a royal blue jumper and with her hands clasped in front of her, Patterson appeared in the courtroom via camera from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, where she is being held on remand, for the brief hearing in the Latrobe Valley magistrates court in Morwell on Tuesday.

The court heard Patterson had elected to “fast track” her case, meaning she would skip a committal hearing in the magistrates court and proceed to what is known as a section 198 hearing in the supreme court, where the evidence against her would be tested for the first time.

It meant she had to enter a plea to the charges against her for the first time. She answered “not guilty, your honour” eight times as the magistrate, Tim Walsh, outlined the charges against her.

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The prosecutor, Sarah Lenthall, told the court that three of the attempted murder charges against Patterson relating to Simon Patterson had also been amended to include the locations where they allegedly occurred.

Police allege Patterson attempted to murder him between 16 and 17 November 2021 in Korumburra; between 25 and 27 May 2022 in Howqua; and on 6 September 2022 in Wilsons Promontory.