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A woman standing trial in Australia denied charges of murder, stating that she vomited the toxic mushroom dish that fatally poisoned her relatives after overeating dessert. Erin Patterson faces accusations of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following a beef Wellington lunch she prepared at her home in Victoria in July 2023.

Prosecutors allege that Patterson intentionally served toxic death cap mushrooms to her guests, but not herself. However, her defense argues that the contamination was an unintentional accident, which also made Patterson ill. She testified that she only consumed a small portion of the lunch but later ate a large portion of an accompanying cake, which led to her vomiting due to feeling overly full.

Medical experts previously told the court that Patterson did not exhibit the same severe symptoms as the lunch's other diners. During her third day of testimony, she confessed she fabricated a story about having cancer to persuade her guests to visit, when in reality she was planning for weight-loss surgery. She admitted to discarding a food dehydrator and wiping her phone shortly after the incident because she feared being blamed for the deaths.

The luncheon resulted in the deaths of three individuals in the days that followed, including Patterson's former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66. Ian Wilkinson, a 71-year-old local pastor, is the sole survivor after extensive hospitalization.

Patterson described the preparation process for the fatal lunch in detail, stating she envisioned discussing health matters with her guests. After deliberating on what to cook, she chose beef Wellington, a dish her mother would make on special occasions during her childhood. Finding the mushrooms she initially used too bland, she added dried ones from a container that may have included foraged mushrooms, which she had bought months earlier from an Asian grocery store.

Throughout her testimony, Patterson outlined that she served the meal without assigning specific plates, although Wilkinson had previously testified that the guests used grey plates while Patterson used an orange one. She also revealed her longstanding struggle with bulimia, which involved binge eating and subsequent vomiting, a pattern that continued on the day of the lunch.

Two days after the incident, Patterson went to the hospital exhibiting gastro-like symptoms, where she was questioned about the potential consumption of death cap mushrooms. In the hospital, her estranged husband accused her of using a dehydrator to poison his parents—a claim he later denied.

This ongoing trial revolves around the intricate details surrounding the tragic luncheon and the subsequent deaths of Patterson’s relatives.