Australian Erin Patterson can now be called a triple-murderer after a nine-week trial ended in a guilty verdict.
A jury has unanimously agreed the 50-year-old deliberately laced a beef wellington with death cap mushrooms, killing three members of her estranged husband's family.
She's also been found guilty of attempting to murder a fourth person, after a jury deliberated more than six days.
Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says each charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oliver Peterson is with a six PR Perth Live presenter
with a verdict. We've had one this afternoon, just in
the last half hour. Aaron Patterson has been found guilty
of murder and Olli has all the details for us,
Ollie get a Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Indeed, she has guilty of the murder of her former
in laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather,
and the attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The
prosecution's case always said that Aaron Patterson liwit her in
laws to the lunch in the guise of a fake
cancer diagnosis. She deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the
mushroom lunch to poison them, but they were able to
(00:37):
never establish a motive. Now. The prosecution also argued during
the case that a phone from her home pinged in
the towns of Outram and Locke, and that's where the
death cap mushrooms had been cited in the months before.
A Pastorian Wilkinson, who was the sole survivor of the
four victims. He always claimed Patterson served the lunch to
her guests on four tan colored plates, but used a
gray plate for herself. She always refuted those particular claims,
(01:00):
with her defense team saying that it was a tragic
accident that she had told a series of lies to
her family and authorities because she panicked about her lunch
guests falling ill. She always maintained she never deliberately put
death cat mushrooms in the beef Wellington meal. But now,
during that verdict, as it was read down guilty as
I said there on the murder of the former in
law's Don and Gale Patterson, her sister Head and the
(01:21):
attempted murder of head Hiss husband Ian Wilkinson, she was
seen blinking a lot, breathing deeply as that jury found
her guilty on all the charges. She kept her eyes
open and peeled on that twelve person jury as they
left the room. And she'll now face a sentence ryan
of up to life in prison, and she'll return to
the court for a pre senate's hearing later this year.
But yes, breaking news, it's taken a while for that
jury to deliberate. It's taken a good week in a
(01:43):
couple of days after a nine week trial, guilty on
all three counts, and she's facing life behind bars, which
carries a maximum sentence of twenty years.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Holly, are you surprised.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Not at all. I'm more surprised that it took so long, Ryan,
for the jury to reach this guilty verdict. Having said that,
it was a nine week trial, so if you're going
through everything line by line, you can probably understand why
it took the jury what's seven or eight days to
actually come back with a guilty verdict, but unanimous and
on all of the charges guilty guilty, guilty, and attempted
murder guilty as well. So she'll have to prepare for
(02:16):
that pre sentencing hearing. And to be honest, I think
there's a lot of relief in the country Ryan. I
think we've all been holding our breath thinking it was
going this way and now we got the verdict to
match it.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah. I mean, as you said, I feel the same way.
Not surprised with what's happened, but surprised at the length
of time it took to get here. Hey, what's going
on with this anti hate task force being set up?
After weekend a text and an Israeli restaurant.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so a man was charged over that arson attack
on that sphynagogue in Melbourne. Z SI forced twenty people
inside the flee. So the Victorian Premier tot agency to
Allan's announced a new anti hate task for something which
the Prime Minister was ruling out over the weekend and
said it wasn't necessary. But the Victorian Premier says it
is on that attack and several other anti Semitic incidents
over the weekend, so it'll hold its first meeting and
(03:00):
discuss increasing police powers and enforcing anti vilification laws. That
meeting is expected to take place later this week, if
not the weekend. You've had the Premier of Victoria visiting
a synagogue this morning. You've even got the Opposition leader
Susan Lee. She's also been offering her support to the
Prime Minister Anthony Albersi to try and stamp out this
anti semitism. As the PM said over the weekend, there
(03:22):
is no place for this in Australia. But I think
a lot of us in this country at the moment,
Ryan are just wondering what's going on in Victoria. Why
is Victoria almost a bit of an outlier in terms
of not just what's happening with anti Semitism, but a
lot of criminal activity. There's a lot of hate stemming
out of the southern capital of Australia. It might be
the sporting capital in Melbourne, but why is it that
(03:43):
Victoria is embroiled in all of this anti semitism. It
just seems to not sort of fit with the fabric
of what our country is at the moment. So there's
some pretty deep questions being asked in Australia today and
whether or not they're the government's too soft, whether they've
gone to woke, whether they've just got a toughen up,
have a no tolerance policy. So I think a lot
of questions are being asked of the state governor in
(04:05):
Victorian particular.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Absolutely, OLLI very quickly before we go. This woman who's
had her arm bitten at the Queensland Zoo by a lion?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Was she?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And she was in the cage, wasn't she? But not
there as a as a guest.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
No, she suffered that severe injury she was watching the
keepers working in the carnival enclosure. So I don't know
about you, but I don't even want to get too
close to a line. It's a terrible it's a terrible situation,
isn't It's been bitten by a lion? So she's going
to be going into further surgery today. It's understood she
has lost an arm, but she wasn't quite in the enclosure,
but she was watching watching those zoo keepers with the lions.
(04:40):
Maybe just step back a bit.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
We just stay out of the cage. Hey, thanks, olly
good to have you on the show. OI Pedison six
PR Perth Live presenter, just confirming that guilty verdict for
Aaron Patterson on all counts over in Australia. For more
from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks.
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
Oliver Peterson is with a six PR Perth Live presenter
with a verdict. We've had one this afternoon, just in
the last half hour. Aaron Patterson has been found guilty
of murder and Olli has all the details for us,
Ollie get a Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Indeed, she has guilty of the murder of her former
in laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather,
and the attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The
prosecution's case always said that Aaron Patterson liwit her in
laws to the lunch in the guise of a fake
cancer diagnosis. She deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the
mushroom lunch to poison them, but they were able to
(00:37):
never establish a motive. Now. The prosecution also argued during
the case that a phone from her home pinged in
the towns of Outram and Locke, and that's where the
death cap mushrooms had been cited in the months before.
A Pastorian Wilkinson, who was the sole survivor of the
four victims. He always claimed Patterson served the lunch to
her guests on four tan colored plates, but used a
gray plate for herself. She always refuted those particular claims,
(01:00):
with her defense team saying that it was a tragic
accident that she had told a series of lies to
her family and authorities because she panicked about her lunch
guests falling ill. She always maintained she never deliberately put
death cat mushrooms in the beef Wellington meal. But now,
during that verdict, as it was read down guilty as
I said there on the murder of the former in
law's Don and Gale Patterson, her sister Head and the
(01:21):
attempted murder of head Hiss husband Ian Wilkinson, she was
seen blinking a lot, breathing deeply as that jury found
her guilty on all the charges. She kept her eyes
open and peeled on that twelve person jury as they
left the room. And she'll now face a sentence ryan
of up to life in prison, and she'll return to
the court for a pre senate's hearing later this year.
But yes, breaking news, it's taken a while for that
jury to deliberate. It's taken a good week in a
(01:43):
couple of days after a nine week trial, guilty on
all three counts, and she's facing life behind bars, which
carries a maximum sentence of twenty years.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Holly, are you surprised.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Not at all. I'm more surprised that it took so long, Ryan,
for the jury to reach this guilty verdict. Having said that,
it was a nine week trial, so if you're going
through everything line by line, you can probably understand why
it took the jury what's seven or eight days to
actually come back with a guilty verdict, but unanimous and
on all of the charges guilty guilty, guilty, and attempted
murder guilty as well. So she'll have to prepare for
(02:16):
that pre sentencing hearing. And to be honest, I think
there's a lot of relief in the country Ryan. I
think we've all been holding our breath thinking it was
going this way and now we got the verdict to
match it.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah. I mean, as you said, I feel the same way.
Not surprised with what's happened, but surprised at the length
of time it took to get here. Hey, what's going
on with this anti hate task force being set up?
After weekend a text and an Israeli restaurant.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, so a man was charged over that arson attack
on that sphynagogue in Melbourne. Z SI forced twenty people
inside the flee. So the Victorian Premier tot agency to
Allan's announced a new anti hate task for something which
the Prime Minister was ruling out over the weekend and
said it wasn't necessary. But the Victorian Premier says it
is on that attack and several other anti Semitic incidents
over the weekend, so it'll hold its first meeting and
(03:00):
discuss increasing police powers and enforcing anti vilification laws. That
meeting is expected to take place later this week, if
not the weekend. You've had the Premier of Victoria visiting
a synagogue this morning. You've even got the Opposition leader
Susan Lee. She's also been offering her support to the
Prime Minister Anthony Albersi to try and stamp out this
anti semitism. As the PM said over the weekend, there
(03:22):
is no place for this in Australia. But I think
a lot of us in this country at the moment,
Ryan are just wondering what's going on in Victoria. Why
is Victoria almost a bit of an outlier in terms
of not just what's happening with anti Semitism, but a
lot of criminal activity. There's a lot of hate stemming
out of the southern capital of Australia. It might be
the sporting capital in Melbourne, but why is it that
(03:43):
Victoria is embroiled in all of this anti semitism. It
just seems to not sort of fit with the fabric
of what our country is at the moment. So there's
some pretty deep questions being asked in Australia today and
whether or not they're the government's too soft, whether they've
gone to woke, whether they've just got a toughen up,
have a no tolerance policy. So I think a lot
of questions are being asked of the state governor in
(04:05):
Victorian particular.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Absolutely, OLLI very quickly before we go. This woman who's
had her arm bitten at the Queensland Zoo by a lion?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Was she?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And she was in the cage, wasn't she? But not
there as a as a guest.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
No, she suffered that severe injury she was watching the
keepers working in the carnival enclosure. So I don't know
about you, but I don't even want to get too
close to a line. It's a terrible it's a terrible situation,
isn't It's been bitten by a lion? So she's going
to be going into further surgery today. It's understood she
has lost an arm, but she wasn't quite in the enclosure,
but she was watching watching those zoo keepers with the lions.
(04:40):
Maybe just step back a bit.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
We just stay out of the cage. Hey, thanks, olly
good to have you on the show. OI Pedison six
PR Perth Live presenter, just confirming that guilty verdict for
Aaron Patterson on all counts over in Australia. For more
from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks.
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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