Crowds of reporters and photographers gathered at the back entrance of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Monday, 25 August. A can of Elnett hairspray lay discarded on the street – a nod to reporters prepping for live TV feeds as reports were beamed around the world.
Bystanders, gripped by the horrifying “Mushroom Murderer” case, waited for handcuffed killer Erin Patterson, 50, to arrive in a police van to face her pre-sentence plea hearing.
Inside the courtroom, space was limited as I took my seat alongside the world’s media, readying to face the woman who cooked the fatal fungi lunch on 29 July 2023, which resulted in the slow, painful deaths of Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, plus the attempted murder of sole survivor Ian Wilkinson.
Tears and grief fill the courtroom
Upstairs in the gallery, members of the public – who earlier queued outside the court to get in, telling me of their wishes to “support the victims’ families” – were in tears as the heartbreaking victim impact statements were read out.
There was an audible gasp when Patterson entered the courtroom, flanked by two security guards. With her brown hair tied back and looking thinner than during her 10-week murder trial in Morwell, the almost expressionless murderer was dressed in a paisley top, black trousers and sandals.
Confronted with hearing seven of 28 victim impact statements, the usually impassive Patterson became visibly distressed, even sobbing and clutching a tissue to her face as the victims’ loved ones – including survivor Ian, his daughter Ruth Dubois and Patterson’s estranged husband Simon – spoke of the long-lasting trauma she has wreaked on their lives.
“As a mother, I could never understand how you could willingly choose this for your children,” Ruth said movingly in her final sentence.
A family scarred by tragedy
Choosing not to appear in court, Simon says his children have been traumatised by the attention of strangers since the crime, revealing he has installed security cameras to protect them.
“They have been robbed of hope,” he says, adding that they are saddled with a lifetime of everyone knowing “their mother murdered their grandparents”.
Criminal defence lawyer Ruth Parker comments that Simon – who alleges Patterson attempted to poison him on three separate occasions before the murders – could bring a civil case against his ex-wife once she has been sentenced.
“He may be able to claim the emotional impact of the killings or sue for personal injury,” she tells Woman’s Day.
In closing, the defence and prosecution agreed that Patterson should receive a life sentence for her grievous crimes, with Patterson’s lawyer Colin Mandy SC fighting for a 30-year non-parole period, which could mean she’s released from prison at age 80.
Justice Beale will hand down a sentence on 8 September.
Forgive you
With his hands and voice shaking, Ian Wilkinson chose to face Justice Beale, not Patterson, as he read his moving victim impact statement. Breaking down, Ian, 71, remembered Heather, his wife of 44 years, as “brave, witty and simply a delightful person”, adding that he only feels “half alive” since her loss.
He talked of her love of being a mum of four kids, with six grandchildren. The “silence in our home is a daily reminder” she is gone and the simple joys of life, such as “pottering around the house”, have been stolen from him. Incredibly, the pastor ended his speech saying, “I make an offer of forgiveness… I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim and she has become the victim of my kindness.”
Locked up for life?
As Patterson waits to find out if she will spend life behind bars, the grim reality of her daily existence in one of Melbourne’s most notorious prisons, Dame Phyllis Frost, has been revealed. Locked up since November 2023, the mushroom killer has spent more than 400 days in the infamous Gordon wing – an isolation unit that is home to some of the worst female killers in Australia. (United Nations guidelines state that anything over 15 days in isolation is considered torture.) Alone for up to 22 hours a day in her cell, Patterson spends her time crocheting blankets, watching TV or using a computer.
She receives her meals via a trapdoor, with her only access to the outside world a 1.5×1.5m courtyard. Outside of prison guards, the only woman she can communicate with is a terrorist who has attacked other prisoners. Her defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC says she hasn’t spoken a word to this person in her 14 months in jail. Patterson is considered such a high target that her lawyer questions if she will ever leave the isolation wing.
