South Gippsland community remember those dead in suspected mushroom poisoning

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Community members in a South Gippsland town in Victoria are arriving at a church for a day of prayer to remember the victims of a deadly family lunch believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms.

Transcript

00:00 I'm here at St Joseph's Church here in Curran Borough where locals have been turning out

00:05 despite cold and rainy weather for a day of quiet prayer and reflection.

00:11 It comes after a suspected mushroom poisoning late last month that left three people dead

00:16 and another in a critical condition.

00:18 Curran Borough locals Don Patterson and his wife Gail Patterson died after eating lunch

00:24 at their former daughter-in-law Erin Patterson's home in the nearby town of Leangatha.

00:29 Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson also died and her husband Ian remains in hospital.

00:35 Erin Patterson cooked the fatal meal, beef wellington containing mushrooms.

00:40 Police have said her guests showed symptoms consistent with eating death cap mushrooms.

00:44 While the lunch was held in Leangatha, Don and Gail Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson

00:50 are all from this town of Curran Borough.

00:52 This tight-knit community is still trying to understand the impact of what has actually

00:57 happened.

00:58 The church representative has spoken of the toll that this has had.

01:03 I think that the community has hurt over the last three weeks and there's a lot of sadness

01:08 in this community and that's what today is about.

01:12 It's an opportunity for people to come together from all walks of life, all beliefs, all creeds,

01:17 to come together just to reflect in a quiet environment in a beautiful church here and

01:24 an opportunity for people just to meditate as they wish.

01:28 The community will continue to send hopes and prayers for Ian Wilkinson to make a full

01:32 recovery.

01:33 Importantly, his representative says that he is showing signs of improvement.

01:38 Ian Wilkinson is also a pastor who's very well known in the church community and many

01:43 people feel very connected to him.

01:46 Police say that there are no further updates at this time and they are continuing their

01:50 investigation into the incident.

01:52 Erin Patterson denies any wrongdoing and says she has no reason to have wanted to hurt her

01:58 loved ones.

01:59 Members of this small community say they will continue to support one another through this

02:03 difficult time.

02:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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