Australian woman Erin Patterson is convicted of 3 murders for poisoning her in-laws with mushrooms

MORWELL Australia AP Australian woman Erin Patterson was Monday detected guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband s relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch The jury in the Supreme Court trial in Victoria state returned a verdict after six days of deliberations following a nine-week trial that gripped Australia Patterson faces life in prison and will be sentenced at a later date Patterson who sat in the dock between two prison officers indicated no emotion but blinked rapidly as the verdicts were read Three of Patterson s four lunch guests her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail s sister Heather Wilkinson died in the hospital after the meal at her home in Leongatha at which she served individual beef Wellington pastries containing death cap mushrooms She was also located guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson Heather s husband who survived the meal It wasn t disputed that Patterson served the mushrooms or that the pastries killed her guests The jury was required to decide whether she knew the lunch contained death caps and if she intended for them to die The guilty verdicts which were required to be unanimous indicated that jurors rejected Patterson s defense that the presence of the poisonous fungi in the meal was a terrible accident caused by the mistaken inclusion of foraged mushrooms that she didn t know were death caps Prosecutors didn t offer a motive for the killings but during the trial highlighted strained relations between Patterson and her estranged husband and frustration that she had felt about his parents in the past The circumstance turned on the question of whether Patterson meticulously planned a triple murder or accidentally killed three people she loved including her children s only surviving grandparents Her lawyers commented she had no reason to do so she had lately moved to a beautiful new home was financially at ease had sole custody of her children and was due to begin studying for a degree in nursing and midwifery But prosecutors suggested Patterson had two faces the woman who publicly appeared to have a good relationship with her parents-in-law while her private feelings about them were kept hidden Her relationship with her estranged husband Simon Patterson who was invited to the fatal lunch but didn t go deteriorated in the year before the deaths the prosecution mentioned The simplest facts of what happened that day and right now afterward were hardly disputed But Patterson s motivations for what she did and why were pored over in detail during the lengthy trial at which more than spectators were called The individual beef Wellington pastries Patterson served her guests was one point of friction because the recipe she used contained directions for a single family-sized portion Prosecutors mentioned that she reverted to individual servings so she could lace the other diners portions but not her own with the fatal fungi but Patterson commented that she was unable to find the correct ingredients to make the recipe as directed Nearly every other detail of the fateful day was scrutinized at length including why Patterson sent her children out to a film before her guests arrived why she added additional dried mushrooms to the recipe from her pantry why she didn t become ill when the other diners did and why she disposed of a food dehydrator after the deaths and informed investigators that she didn t own one Patterson acknowledged several lies during her evidence including that she d never foraged mushrooms or owned a dehydrator But she noted that those suggests were made in panic as she realized her meal had killed people She disclosed she didn t become as ill as the other diners since she vomited after the meal because of an eating disorder She denied that she communicated her guests she had cancer as a ruse to explain why she invited them to her home that day Before the verdict Australian news outlets published photos of black privacy screens erected at the entrance to Patterson s home The occurrence has provoked fervor among the society and media and the courtroom in the rural town of Morwell was packed throughout the trial Source