Poison mushroom murder accused faces court
The woman accused of murdering three people by allegedly serving them death cap mushrooms at her home has faced court in Victoria.
Erin Patterson, 49, has been charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder after four people fell ill during a lunch at her home in South Gippsland in July.
She is accused of the murder of her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gailās sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
All three died in hospital days after consuming a meal at Pattersonās Leongatha home on July 29 this year.
Media filled three rows of seating, as she appeared in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on Friday morning, wearing a beige jumper and reading glasses, for a brief hearing.
Flanked by two custody officers in safety glasses, Patterson showed no emotion as she sat in the custody dock on the side of the court room.
āMorning Ms Patterson,ā Magistrate Tim Walsh said, as he started the hearing.
āMorning,ā she replied.
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Prosecutor Acting Sergeant Greg Ellis asked the court for 20 weeks to prepare and serve a brief of evidence on Pattersonās lawyers.
āThere needs to be analysis of computer equipment seized yesterday,ā he told the court.
The magistrate appeared annoyed and questioned why it would take ā20 weeks to analyse computer equipment in a triple murder, where the informant is confident he had enough evidence to charge this lady yesterday?ā
Defence lawyer Bill Doogue, who said he had been engaged with Patterson āfor a whileā, agreed to the delay.
āIt seems to be based on a lot of analysis that we havenāt received and hasnāt even been completed, which is why theyāre asking for extra time,ā he said.
Walsh explained to Patterson that the matters they were discussing were administrative.
āSo donāt be too concerned alright, the important thing is this matter progresses through the system as fast as possible,ā he told her.
āOK,ā she replied, nodding her head.
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Both the defence and prosecution tried to move the matter to Melbourne, but Walsh decided to set down the next hearing at the Morwell court.
āI imagine the materials are going to be voluminous, and that it does go to Melbourne so that a particular magistrate can manage the matter,ā Walsh said.
Doogue said Patterson did not have any custody management issues.
Walsh told Patterson there was no application for bail as he did not have the power to grant it.
If she applies for bail, that will need to be heard in the Supreme Court at a later date.
The accused triple murderer was escorted out of the court room and will be remanded in custody to next face a hearing via video link on May 3.
She is charged with the attempted murder of Wilkinsonās husband Ian, 68, who spent close to two months in hospital critically ill and is still in recovery, court documents stated.
The remaining four charges of attempted murder relate to Pattersonās ex-husband.
Police will allege she first attempted to murder Simon Patterson between November 16 and 17, 2021.
She is again accused of her ex-husbandās attempted murder last year, between May 25 and 27, and on September 6.
Patterson is also charged with Simon Pattersonās attempted murder at the July 29 lunch.
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