An Australian woman who allegedly killed three people with a lunch of poisonous mushrooms has pleaded not guilty to murder, according to the BBC.
Erin Patterson, 49, faces three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. She cooked a beef wellington and mushroom lunch last July.
Police also say she tried to kill her ex-husband on three other occasions. Patterson has always maintained his innocence.
She has repeatedly said that she did not intentionally poison her guests. She was asked to formally enter pleas to the charges against her in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on Tuesday. “I am not guilty,” she said in a video.
One of the guests escaped with his life after three months in hospital
Patterson hosted a lunch at her home in Leongatha on July 29. Her former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson attended, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and husband Ian. Police said ex-husband Simon Patterson was also invited but could not make it.
A few hours after eating the meal, all four guests fell ill with what they initially thought was severe food poisoning. Within days, the Patterson couple, both 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, were dead. Ian Wilkinson, 68, survived after spending almost three months in hospital.
Police say the four ate mushrooms that are extremely lethal if ingested.
Patterson was named a suspect by police after she emerged unharmed after lunch.
After months of investigation, detectives allegedly discovered three more attempted murders that Patterson made against her estranged husband between 2021 and 2022. In November, she was arrested and formally charged with a total of eight crimes.
Her case will now be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne for trial. Her first hearing was scheduled for May 23.
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