SYDNEY: An Australian woman convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal containing poisonous mushrooms was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison on Monday (Sep 8).
The presiding judge said Erin Patterson’s use of individual portions of beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms to poison her in-laws over lunch had a “devastating” impact on the relatives of the deceased.
Patterson was found guilty in July of killing her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, father-in-law, Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson in a case that has been globally followed and dubbed the Leongatha mushroom murders.
A jury also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Patterson’s home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people, some 135km southeast of Melbourne.
On Monday, Justice Christopher Beale said the substantial planning of the murders and Patterson’s lack of remorse meant her sentence should be lengthy, at the sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne.
“The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims. Your crimes have harmed a great many people,” he said.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.”
At a pre-sentencing hearing last month, Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy urged Beale to impose a non-parole period on the sentence, meaning she would have the possibility of eventual release, as her “notorious” reputation would make prison more onerous for her than the average offender.
The prosecution had argued that Patterson should never be released.
Patterson, who maintained her innocence throughout the trial and said the poisonings were accidental, has 28 days to appeal her sentence. She has not yet indicated whether she will do so.
