Woman Accused of Killing In-Laws with Poisoned Beef Wellington Speaks Out During Trial

Erin Patterson, 50, stands accused of killing in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, as well as the attempted murder of Heather's husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, by serving them death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington meal she prepared for them back in 2023.

Later that evening, all four of Patterson's guests "became ill," with only Ian Wilkinson surviving after being hospitalized.

While prosecutors insist she served them the deadly dish on purpose, Patterson has maintained her innocence -- with her defense team insisting she meant no harm and this was all a "tragedy and terrible accident."

Patterson took the stand for the first time Monday, with the defense calling her to testify after prosecutors wrapped up their case against her. She first opened up about her relationship with Don and Gail's son, Simon Patterson, which began in 2005 before the pair tied the knot in 2007.

Per The Sydney Morning Herald, Erin said that before they got married, she was an atheist who was trying to convert the Christian Simon to her side. "But things happened in reverse and I became a Christian," she said, after experiencing what, in her words, "can be best described as like a spiritual experience" after going with him to church.

On the stand, she reportedly credited Gail with supporting her after the "traumatic" birth of the couple's first baby -- saying Simon's parents "came very quickly" to help.

"Don and Gail came very quickly. It would have been only a couple weeks after," she testified. "I remember being really relieved that Gail was there because I felt really out of my depth."

After a trip across Australia in 2009 with Simon and their 3-month-old son, Erin said she and her husband separated for the first time upon returning to Perth. They would reunite, before eventually split for good in 2015. Per Erin, however, she and Simon had a solid coparenting relationship.

"Obviously our relationship was struggling to cause a separation, [but] it was really important to both of us to cooperate about [our son] and make it as easy on him as possible," she said, per ABC News Australia. "Primarily what we struggled with over the entire course of our relationship ... it was, we just couldn't communicate well when we disagreed about something."

"We could never communicate in a way that would make each of us feel heard and understood," she added, though she described their overall relationship as "functional."

In early 2023, she said, she started to feel more distance between her and her in-laws as well and was seeing less and less of them -- due, in part, to her moving out of the same town as them.

"I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family, particularly Don and Gail, had perhaps had a bit more distance or space put between us," she said. "I'd begun to have concerns that Simon was not wanting me to be involved too much with the family any more. Perhaps I wasn't being invited to so many things."

Speaking about her own mental state before the deaths, Patterson said she was battling low self-esteem and weight gain, and was "planning to have weight-loss surgery."

"And the further inroads I made into being middle aged, the less I felt good about myself, I suppose," she reportedly said, concluding her testimony for the day. She'll be back on the stand Tuesday.

According to The Guardian, her testimony comes after the surviving dinner guest, Ian Wilkinson, took the stand for the prosecution -- reportedly claiming Erin served their meals on grey plates, before seating herself with a smaller, orange-tan colored plate.

Erin's attorney also claimed during opening statements that she, too, became sick after eating the same meal, but not to the extremes as her guests. He also denied she deliberately tried to find death cap mushrooms while foraging for their meal.

Following the deaths of both Heather and Gail, but before Don died, Erin actually spoke with reporters outside her home.

"I'm devastated by what's happened," she said, calling Heather and Gail "some of the best people that I've ever met." She said her late mother-in-law was like the mother she "didn't have" after her own died four years ago, adding that she's "never been anything but good and kind to me."

"They never did anything wrong to me," she said of the Wilkinsons. "I'm so devastated what's happened and the loss to the community and to the families and to my own children who have lost their grandmother."

When asked about the lunch, she told reporters, "What I can tell you is that I just can't fathom what has happened. I just can't fathom what has happened ... I pray that [Don] pulls through, because my children love him. I'm devastated, I loved them, I can't believe this has happened and I'm so sorry they have lost their lives. I just can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

One reporter also asked about detectives saying she was considered a suspect at the time.

"I say I didn't do anything. I loved them and I'm devastated that they're gone and I hope with every fiber of my being that Don pulls through," she said, before going inside and avoiding any questions about where the mushrooms came from.