An Australian woman is on trial for the murder of three people who died after eating a meal containing poisonous death cap mushrooms at her home. Erin Patterson, 50, claims she was trying to fix a “bland” lunch and accidentally served the toxic fungi.
Patterson’s defense team argues that the tainted beef Wellington was a tragic accident caused by a mushroom storage mishap. She denies murdering her estranged husband’s parents and their relative, as well as attempting to murder Heather Wilkinson, who survived the meal.
The prosecution claims Patterson lured her guests with a lie about having cancer before deliberately feeding them toxic fungi. However, Patterson says she lied about having cancer because she was ashamed of her struggles with weight loss and wanted to pretend to her in-laws that she was undergoing cancer treatment.
Patterson claims she believed she was adding dried fungi bought from an Asian supermarket to the meal, but had foraged wild mushrooms in the past. She admits to foraging wild mushrooms weeks before the incident and says they may have contaminated the meal.
The trial continues with Patterson’s cross-examination by the prosecution, who are seeking a life sentence for murder and 25 years for attempted murder if convicted.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/australia-mushroom-trial-erin-patterson-wilkinson-60b08cdcc496032499ec9676681289a5