SYDNEY, 17 AUG (DNA) — Australian toxic mushroom killer Erin Patterson launches an appeal Wednesday against her conviction in a triple-murder case that made headlines worldwide. The 51-year-old was found guilty last year of murdering her husband’s parents and an elderly aunt in 2023 by serving them a beef Wellington lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms.
Patterson was also convicted of the attempted murder of her husband’s uncle, a small-town local pastor who survived the beef-and-pastry dish after weeks in hospital. A judge sentenced her to life imprisonment, eligible for parole after 33 years. Over two days, three judges at the Court of Appeal in Melbourne will hear two appeals:
Patterson’s attempt to overturn her conviction and the prosecution’s demand for a stiffer sentence. She has asked to watch the appeal by live video link from her prison, the maximum-security Dame Phyllis Frost Center in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Patterson claims she suffered several counts of “substantial miscarriage of justice” because the trial judge erred in deciding what evidence could be presented. Some evidence accepted by the judge — relating to Facebook messages, cell towers and posts of death cap mushroom sightings — was not relevant or unfairly prejudicial to her case, her lawyer said. — DNA
