Melbourne, Australia — A lady accused of serving her ex-husband’s mother and father and an aunt toxic mushrooms with lunch appeared in an Australian courtroom on Monday charged with three counts of homicide and 5 of tried homicide.
Erin Patterson, 49, appeared briefly within the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court docket by video hyperlink from a Melbourne jail the place she’s been held since she was arrested in November final 12 months.
Justice of the Peace Tim Walsh mentioned he would announce on Might 7 whether or not Patterson will face a committal listening to in the identical courtroom in Morwell or in Melbourne. Morwell is a rural city close to Patterson’s residence about 90 miles east of Melbourne, the Victoria state capital.
Committal hearings decide whether or not prosecutors have ample proof to place fees earlier than a jury in a Victorian Supreme Court docket trial.
It was Patterson’s second courtroom look on the fees. She has but to enter any pleas and has not utilized to be launched on bail.
Anita Lester /AAP picture by way of AP
She is accused of killing her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, each 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
All three died in a hospital days after consuming a meal at Patterson’s residence in July final 12 months.
She can be accused of the tried homicide of her ex-husband, Simon Patterson, at that lunch and on three earlier events relationship again to 2021. Simon Patterson didn’t settle for an invite to attend the lunch.
She is also charged with the tried homicide of Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68.
Ian Wilkinson spent seven weeks in a hospital following the lunch.
Police say the signs of the 4 sickened relations had been per poisoning from wild Amanita phalloides, often called demise cap mushrooms.
The potential most sentence in Victoria for homicide is life imprisonment, and for tried homicide is 25 years in jail.
Patterson appeared in courtroom on Monday carrying a blue jail sweater.
Walsh requested if Patterson may hear on the outset of the listening to, and she or he replied, “Sure, thanks.”
Her lawyer, Colin Mandy, mentioned his consumer needed the committal listening to held in Morwell, even when that meant a delay till subsequent 12 months.
“If it occurs subsequent 12 months, then Ms. Patterson’s content material to attend for that,” Mandy advised the Justice of the Peace.
Mandy mentioned she needed the listening to to happen near her residence.
Protection legal professionals have supplied prosecutors with a listing of anticipated witnesses to be known as on the committal listening to, which Mandy mentioned he anticipated would final three weeks.
