A girl accused of killing her ex-husband’s dad and mom and an aunt by feeding them a beef wellington laced with toxic mushrooms has appeared in court docket.
Erin Patterson made a short look on the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Courtroom by video hyperlink from a jail in Melbourne, Australia, the place she has been held since she was arrested in November final yr.
The 49-year-old mom of two has been charged with three counts of homicide and 5 of tried homicide.
Justice of the Peace Tim Walsh stated through the listening to on Monday that he’ll announce on 7 Could whether or not Patterson will face a committal listening to in the identical court docket in Morwell or in Melbourne.
Morwell is a rural city close to Patterson’s house about 150km (90 miles) east of Melbourne, the Victoria state capital.
The committal listening to will decide whether or not prosecutors have ample proof to place prices earlier than a jury in a trial on the Supreme Courtroom of Victoria.
It was Patterson’s second court docket look on the fees.
She has but to enter any pleas and has not utilized to be launched on bail.
Erin Patterson seems at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Courtroom on 3 November 2023. Pic: AP
Patterson 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 hospital days after consuming a meal at Patterson’s house in Leongatha in Victoria in July final yr.
Ian and Heather Wilkinson. Pic: The Salvation Military Australia – Museum
She can also be accused of the tried homicide of Ms Wilkinson’s husband Reverend Ian Wilkinson, 68.
Reverend Wilkinson spent seven weeks in hospital following the lunch.
Police stated the signs of all 4 of those that turned unwell had been in keeping with poisoning from wild Amanita phalloides, often called loss of life cap mushrooms – that are accountable for 90% of all poisonous mushroom-related fatalities.
Patterson is additional accused of the tried homicide of her ex-husband, Simon Patterson, at that lunch and on three earlier events relationship again to 2021.
He had not accepted an invite to the lunch.
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Detectives looking Erin Patterson’s property in November final yr. Pic: AP
In court docket Walsh requested if Patterson may hear on the outset of the listening to, and he or she replied: “Sure, thanks.”
Her lawyer, Colin Mandy, stated his consumer needed the committal listening to held in Morwell, even when that meant a delay till subsequent yr.
“If it occurs subsequent yr, then Ms Patterson’s content material to attend for that,” Mr Mandy informed the Justice of the Peace.
He added Patterson stated she needed the listening to to happen near her house.
Defence attorneys have offered prosecutors with a listing of anticipated witnesses to be referred to as on the committal.
Mr Mandy stated he anticipated the listening to would final three weeks.
The potential most sentence in Victoria for homicide is life imprisonment, and for tried homicide is 25 years in jail.
