Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Accused killer chef to face her sixth day on the witness stand

Another large audience has arrived at the Morwell courthouse where accused killer Erin Patterson will face her sixth day in the witness box.

Patterson has been a big drawcard with people queuing up outside (pictured) the courthouse very early each morning to get a front row seat in the murder trial.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.

Last week, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury it was possible the trial may go on for another couple of weeks.

Justice Beale said once evidence is completed, he will have legal discussions with the parties while the jury is out, before closing addresses can commence.

On Friday, Patterson claimed she talked to Simon about how Don and Gail were.

‘I suggest you did not ask him… you did not ask how Don was,’ Dr Rogers suggested.

‘We discussed how Don and Gail were, that’s how I found out they were in hospital,’ Patterson said.

Patterson claimed this occurred during a phone conversation.

Dr Rogers suggested ‘there was no discussion about Don and Gail being in hospital’.

‘There was a conversation, yes,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson never asked how Don was doing.

‘Disagree,’ Patterson replied.

‘And never asked about Gail,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Disagree,’ Patterson replied.

‘Do you maintain you asked Simon at this point how Don was?’ Dr Rogers asked.

‘I can’t remember the exact words of that conversation,’ Patterson replied.

‘We had a discussion about their health … we were discussing how Don was.’

‘Did you ask or not ask how Don was?’ Dr Rogers said.

‘Yeah I would have,’ she said

‘And did you ask how Gail was?’ Dr Rogers asked.

‘Correct,’ Patterson replied.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson never asked Simon how Don and Gail were.

‘I disagree,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers suggested to Patterson (pictured) that she didn’t love Don and Gail.

‘Correct or incorrect,’ Dr Rogers asked during court proceedings on Friday.

‘Incorrect,’ Patterson said tearfully.

‘I love them a lot, they’ve always been really good to me, I think Simon hates that I still had a relationship with his parents.’

Dr Rogers pressed further.

‘That’s what you told police that you “loved his parents”, that’s not true, I suggest you were angry that they took Simon’s side,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘That’s not true,’ Patterson replied.

‘In fact you had two faces,’ Dr Rogers suggested.

Dr Rogers accused Patterson of having a ‘public face’ of how she presented herself as loving of Don, Gail and to other family but her ‘private face’ of how she really felt was contained within her Facebook messages.

‘I suggest your private face is the one you show in a private message group,’ Dr Rogers asked.

‘Incorrect,’ Patterson replied.

‘And that’s how you felt about Simon,’ Dr Rogers suggested.

‘Incorrect,’ Patterson said.

‘And (Simon) wasn’t a decent human being,’ Dr Rogers suggested.

‘Actually, I still believe that,’ Patterson said.

Patterson was last week reminded about the conversation she had with Simon (pictured) at the Monash Medical Centre where he said, ‘is that how you poisoned my parents using that dehydrator’.

The conversation took place after Patterson learned people had been getting treatment for death cap posioning.

Dr Rogers took Patterson to her previous answers.

Patterson was reminded that she said she dried foraged mushrooms in the dehydrator weeks earlier and put them into a jar.

‘And I just got really scared,’ she said at the time.

‘Frantic,’ Patterson said upon arriving home.

Patterson agreed that was her evidence.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson lied to Simon about her medical issues because she wanted him at the lunch to ‘poison him’.

‘No, that’s not true,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson made a poisonous beef Wellington for Simon ‘in case he turned up’.

‘No, that’s not true,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers suggested when Simon didn’t show at the lunch she dumped his beef Wellington.

Patterson told the jury she put the pastry and mushrooms in the bin

On Friday, Patterson was shown a message she wrote to her Facebook friends on December 7, 2022, where she discussed that if Simon wanted to walk away from his responsibilities, then it’s ‘a blessing in disguise’.

Patterson is also reminded of the ‘this family I swear to f***ing God’ message.

Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers suggested to Patterson this ‘expressed your true feelings’.

Patterson was also reminded of the ‘f*** them’ message.

‘That’s what you thought about Don, “f*** them”,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘I regret writing that,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers also suggested Patterson was angry at Don and Gail (pictured) for not taking her side over Simon’s.

‘I wasn’t angry but I was frustrated and hurt,’ she said.

Patterson said she wasn’t angry when she wrote the ‘f*** them’ message.

Patterson also denied she was angry when she wrote those messages to her Facebook friends.

The court also heard another message where Patterson described Simon as a ‘deadbeat’.