1 week ago
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Image source, Reuters
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges
An Australian woman who allegedly killed three people with a poisonous mushroom lunch has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Erin Patterson, 49, is facing three murder charges and two counts of attempted murder over the fatal meal in July last year.
Police also allege she tried to kill her ex-husband on three other occasions.
Ms Patterson has always maintained her innocence.
The case has gripped the world and thrown the small regional Victorian town of Leongatha - where the lunch was held - into the spotlight.
Ms Patterson has repeatedly said she did not intentionally poison her guests, and on Tuesday in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court was asked to formally enter pleas to the charges against her.
"Not guilty your honour," she said, appearing via a video link.
Ms Patterson invited her former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and Heather's husband Ian, over for lunch at her home on 29 July. Police have said her estranged husband Simon Patterson could not attend at the last minute.
Hours after eating the beef Wellington meal, all four guests fell ill with what they initially thought was severe food poisoning. Within days, the Patterson couple, both 70, and Ms Wilkinson, 66, had died. Mr Wilkinson, 68, survived, after spending almost three months in hospital.
Police say they believe the four ate death cap mushrooms - which are highly lethal if ingested.
After months of investigation, detectives allegedly uncovered another three murder attempts Ms Patterson made against her ex-husband between 2021 and 2022, and in November she was arrested and formally charged with eight offences in total.
Her case will now be fast tracked to the Supreme Court in Melbourne for trial, with her first hearing scheduled for 23 May.
