May 1 (UPI) -- The estranged husband of an Australian woman who is accused of poisoning a lunch for her family with deadly mushrooms testified Thursday that it was unusual for her to have people over to her home.
Simon Patterson said he was invited to a meal served by his former wife Erin Patterson in July of 2023, to which her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian Wilkinson were also invited, but he had decided not to attend the day before it took place.
Simon Patterson testified Thursday in Morwell, in the Australian province of Victoria that it was "very rare" for Erin to hold social gatherings at home, and he felt "too uncomfortable" about the situation to attend.
Erin Patterson ostensibly texted him that she was disappointed he wouldn't come after bowing out of the meal.
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"I've spent many hours this week preparing lunch for tomorrow... It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow and that I can have the conversations that I need to have," she wrote.
Simon Patterson was the first witness to testify against Erin Patterson, who has been charged in the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Erin allegedly served the victims a lunch of beef wellington, mashed potatoes and green beans that also contained death cap mushrooms, which led to the deaths of the three who died and illness suffered by Mr. Wilkinson, who survived but spent weeks in the hospital
Erin has pleaded not guilty, and her legal team says she unintentionally served the poisonous fungus to family members whom she loved.
Prosecutors purport that Erin invited the group to lunch under the false pretense that she had been diagnosed with cancer. In the opening statement delivered Wednesday, the jury was told Erin Patterson allegedly drove to a location where the death cap mushrooms had been sighted, and that after the meal was served, she said any mushrooms in the lunch came from a grocery store.
Prosecutors also allege she traveled to a local dump to get rid of the food dehydrator she used to prepare the lethal meal.
The defense has said she panicked because the people she served the lunch to had become ill.
Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty in May of 2024 after she was charged in November 2023 with three murder counts and five counts of attempted murder.
