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Australia: Pasta, wrap, chicken: it was not his first poisoned dish
This Australian was found guilty of the murder of three members of her husband’s family, after having served them a Wellington beef with toxic mushrooms.
After the Wellington beef, the Korma chicken: the Australian considered guilty of a triple murder with poisonous mushrooms had previously attempted to poison her husband by preparing this Indian recipe, according to accusations formulated by the police and made public on Friday, by decision of justice.
Passionate about cooking, but also of criminal cases, Erin Patterson was found guilty in early July for having killed the parents and the aunt of her husband in 2023. She had served them a Wellington beef, an English culinary specialty, garnished with Phalloid amanitis – one of the most dangerous poisonous mushrooms. Her husband had declined the invitation to family meal.
His trial, which was held for more than two months in Morwell, a small rural town in southeast Australia, kept the media and enthusiasts of news from around the world. Several overwhelming accusations made against the fifties had been hidden from the jurors and the public by the courts, in order to guarantee a fair trial to this mother of two.
Friday, the judge of the Supreme Court, Christopher Beale, asked that the secrecy be lifted. Police accused Erin Patterson of having tried to kill her husband Simon, from which she was separated, three times between 2021 and 2022. According to Australian media, she would have served her several dishes, also poisoned, namely Bolognese pasta, Korma chicken and a vegetable wrap. During a preliminary hearing in October 2024, Simon told how his ex-wife had asked him to taste several preparations for curry.
“He suspected her”
“I remember that Erin said that the goal of tasting was, I think, to adapt the dishes in the future to our respective tastes,” he said. Another time, he had fallen ill after eating a Korma chicken served during a camping stay in 2022. “At the beginning, I was hot, especially at the head, then, I felt nauseous and then suddenly, I needed to vomit,” he said. He then fell into a coma before undergoing surgery at the intestines.
Simon worried when Erin offered him homemade cookies, according to his doctor, Christopher Ford. “He was worried about eating cookies because he thought they could be poisoned,” said the professional during a preliminary hearing last year. “He told me that during their absence, Erin had called several times and asked if he had eaten cookies,” he added.
When, in turn, his parents fell ill after eating his ex-wife, Simon told his family that he suspected that he had been sick, following “a deliberate act,” said his cousin Ruth Dubois, during a preliminary hearing. “He had stopped eating food prepared by Erin because he suspected her,” she did something, “she said. “He was really sorry not to have spoken about it” before, remembered Ruth Dubois.
However, the prosecution had abandoned any prosecution concerning these accusations before its trial opens, and justice had imposed silence on the media. The Court must return its verdict on August 25. It faces life imprisonment.