MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge on Monday sentenced triple-murderer Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.
Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court that Patterson’s crimes involved an enormous betrayal of trust.
Patterson was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries
laced with foraged death cap mushrooms.
Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.
“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Beale said.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.
Both prosecution and defense lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the 50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
But defense lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.
Ian Wilkinson did not comment on the sentence but thanked police, prosecutors and health services he'd encountered since the poisonings.
“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.
“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who through their prayers and messages of support have encouraged us,” he added.
Beale said Patterson had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted his invitation to lunch.
She had pretended to have been diagnosed with cancer as a reason to bring them together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.
Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson's account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn't accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.
“Only you know why you committed them (the crimes). I will not be speculating about that matter,” the judge told Patterson.
Patterson showed little emotion during the sentencing hearing, which took less than an hour. She kept her eyes closed for much or it or stared directly ahead.
Patterson maintained at her trial that she had added foraged mushrooms to the meals by accident.
But she had initially denied to authorities that she fed her guests foraged mushrooms. A drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to her dying victims.
Beale told Patterson he inferred “from your pitiless behavior that your intention to kill was ongoing.”
Beale noted that no psychiatric or psychological reports had been provided in her sentencing hearing. He said he had no doubt she had instructed her lawyers not to provide such evidence.
Patterson has been in custody since she was charged on Nov. 2, 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.
Patterson, who turns 51 on Sept. 30, will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056.
The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.
Beale accepted that because Patterson was classified as a “notorious” prisoner who had to be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety, her conditions were harsher than those of a mainstream prisoner.
Patterson spends at least 22 hours a day in her cell and has never spoken to the only inmate she's allowed to. That inmate, who has an adjoining exercise yard that shares a mesh wire fence, has been convicted of terrorism offenses and has attacked other prisoners.
"I infer that, given the unprecedented media coverage of your case, and the books, documentaries and TV series about you which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come, and, as such, remain at significant risk from other prisoners," Beale said.
