Mushroom cook Erin Patterson ate leftovers from the death-cap mushroom-laced lunch with her children but could not finish her portion because she was unwell, a jury has been told.
Patterson’s nine-year-old daughter described the steak, mashed potatoes and beans they ate on the night of July 30, 2023, in a recorded police interview played to the Victorian Supreme Court.
She denied there was gravy or other ingredients in the meal but said her brother ate the rest of Patterson’s serving when she couldn’t finish it.
“She wasn’t very hungry, she didn’t eat very much,” the girl told police.
The rest of the girl’s police interview will be played to the jury today as her mother stands trial on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Patterson’s former in-laws Don and Gail, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, all died in hospital days after the July 29 lunch at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s south-east.
Heather’s husband Ian, for whom Patterson is charged with attempted murder, was the only survivor of the meal.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.
The jury was told Patterson began feeling unwell on July 30 and had to use the bathroom at least 10 times over the course of the day.
But when she presented to Leongatha Hospital on the morning of July 31 with symptoms of nausea and diarrhoea, registered nurse Cindy Munro recalled her appearing relatively healthy.
“Erin was sitting up in the bed, in the trolley, and she didn’t look unwell to me,” Munro told the jury.
A paramedic also told the jury Patterson’s demeanour was good when they had to transport her to Monash Hospital for suspected death-cap mushroom poisoning.
Patterson was able to move onto the ambulance stretcher unassisted and did not need to use the bathroom once throughout the 90-minute journey, Eleyne Spencer told the court.
