Australian woman Erin Patterson, 50, has been sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison for murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, in what became known as the “Leongatha mushroom murders.”
00:00An Australian woman who fatally poisoned three of her estranged husband's relatives with a mushroom-laced beef wellington has been sentenced to at least 33 years in prison, the longest non-parole term ever given to a woman in Victoria.
00:16Erin Patterson was found guilty in July of murdering her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, father-in-law, Donald Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, during a 2023 lunch at her Leongada home.
00:31The 50-year-old was also convicted of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, who survived.
00:38Justice Christopher Beale said the killings were carefully planned and that Patterson showed no remorse.
00:43He noted she avoided poisoning herself by eating from a different color plate and had lured her in-laws with a false cancer claim.
00:51The judge also said Patterson had intended to kill her estranged husband, who declined to attend.
00:56The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims.
01:01Your crimes have harmed a great many people.
01:03Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson's health, thereby devastating the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families,
01:14you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.
01:21He declined to speculate on her motive.
01:24Ian Wilkinson did not comment on the length of the sentence, but thanked police, prosecutors, and medical staff for their support.
01:31We're thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover.
01:42Patterson will be 82 before she is eligible for release.
01:46She maintains the poisonings were accidental and has 28 days to appeal.
01:50Australia does not have the death penalty.
01:52The case, widely dubbed the Leongatha Mushroom Murders, shocked Australia, devastated the victim's rural hometown of Corumbura, and drew global headlines.
02:03It prompted the Supreme Court of Victoria to allow, for the first time, a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.
Be the first to comment