By Kristian Silva, ABC court reporter
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Photo: ABC News
- Pastor Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving guest of a lunch containing death cap mushrooms, has given evidence in Erin Patterson's triple-murder trial.
- He told the court Patterson would not let the others help serve out the beef Wellingtons and was reluctant to let them into her pantry.
- Ian Wilkinson will continue giving evidence in the trial, which is expected to run for several weeks.
Erin Patterson refused to let her lunch guests help plate up food and was "reluctant" to allow them to view her pantry, her trial has been told.
The claim was made by pastor Ian Wilkinson, the sole survivor out of four guests who attended a lunch at Patterson's home on 29 July, 2023.
Prosecutors allege Patterson deliberately laced the beef Wellingtons she served her guests with poisonous death cap mushrooms.
She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Wilkinson was called to the stand on Tuesday to describe his recollections of the lunch.
"My name is Ian William Wilkinson," the church pastor said, his voice shaking.
Soon, Wilkinson's mood lightened, and he chuckled as he described his late wife Heather, "the baby of the family", who worked as a teacher's aide.
His tone became more serious as questions turned to the lunch at the centre of the triple-murder trial.
Wilkinson said he and his wife, along with Patterson's in-laws Don and Gail, were invited to Patterson's Leongatha home.
"[We] were very happy to be invited, yes. It seemed maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve," he said.
The four guests invited to Erin Patterson's deadly lunch were her relatives by law, through her estranged husband Simon Patterson. Photo: ABC News
When the group arrived at the home, Wilkinson said, his wife was keen to check out Patterson's pantry because she was organising a similar space at their home.
"Heather was calling out to me, 'come and look at the pantry'," Wilkinson said.
"I'd noticed Erin was very reluctant about the visit to the pantry and had not yet started following [Heather and Gail] so I thought maybe the pantry's a mess, an embarrassment, and I won't add to the embarrassment by joining the party," he said.
After some small talk, Wilkinson said food was being prepared in the kitchen by Patterson.
"Both Heather and Gail were offering to help plate up the food. The offer was rejected and Erin plated," he said.
The church pastor said the guests ate off grey plates, but Patterson's plate was an orange, tan colour.
Wilkinson said each plate had a serving of mashed potatoes, green beans and an individually-cased beef Wellington, which resembled a pasty.
"When you cut into it there was steak and mushrooms," he said.
Ian Wilkinson (left) was the only guest to survive the lunch. His wife Heather Wilkinson, and Don and Gail Patterson all died from suspected mushroom poisoning. Photo: ABC / Supplied
Erin Patterson tells guests she had cancer
Wilkinson said the group said grace and tucked into their meals. He and his wife ate their entire servings, while Don ate his meal and half of his wife's.
The guests ate some of the dessert of cake and a fruit platter before Patterson dropped a bombshell, claiming she had been diagnosed with cancer, Wilkinson said.
"In that moment I thought, 'this is the reason we've been invited to the lunch'," he said.
"I thought it was some sort of ovarian or cervical cancer, something like that."
Wilkinson said Patterson had sought advice from the guests on how to break the news of the cancer to her children and was told by Don Patterson that the best approach was to be honest.
Earlier in the trial, Erin Patterson's lawyers conceded the cancer claim was false.
Wilkinson said later that night, he and his wife began feeling sick. The following morning, the Wilkinsons went to the Leongatha hospital, on the insistence of his nephew Simon Patterson.
Wilkinson said his wife repeatedly remarked about how Patterson had eaten off a different-coloured plate.
He said hospital staff initially feared their diarrhoea and vomiting was down to food poisoning. The following day they were woken abruptly and rushed to the Dandenong Hospital.
The group were moved again to the Austin Hospital and in the days that followed, Wilkinson's wife Heather, Don and Gail Patterson died.
Wilkinson survived and was allowed to return home on 21 September, close to two months after the lunch.
The trial continues.
- ABC
