Sole survivor of Australian mushroom poisoning grieves loss of wife and friends

MELBOURNE, Australia — The sole survivor of a deadly lunch laced with toxic mushrooms said Monday he felt only half alive following the death of his wife and he continued to grieve the loss of his two closest friends.

Ian Wilkinson read the first victim impact statement at a sentencing hearing for Erin Patterson at the Victoria state Supreme Court in Melbourne. The 50-year-old will be sentenced Sept. 8 on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

A jury convicted her in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries and foraged death cap mushrooms.

Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.

She also was convicted of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital and survived after receiving a liver transplant.

The prosecution argued for a life sentence without possibility of parole, while defense lawyers want her to become eligible for release after serving 30 years for the 2023

“The offending here is horrendous,” Justice Christopher Beale told the court.

Poisoning survivor describes grief

Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, described his wife as a woman who took her faith seriously and was full of love, kindness and self-control.

“I only feel half alive without her,” Wilkinson said before weeping.

“It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good,” he added.

He described Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, as the closest people to him after his wife and family.

“My life is greatly impoverished without them,” Wilkinson said.

“I’m distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard for my life and the lives of those I love. What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of people who have only good intentions towards her?” he added.

Wilkinson offered Patterson his forgiveness for the harms she had done to him.

“I say ‘harms done to me’ advisedly. I have no power or responsibility to forgive harms done to others,” Wilkinson said.

“My prayer for her is that she will use her time in jail wisely to become a better person,” he added.

Erin Patterson attended the Melbourne court in person on Monday, wearing a paisley top with a light brown jacket. She appeared emotionally moved as Ian Wilkinson spoke.

Seven relatives of victims either read impact statements to the court on Monday or had them read on their behalf.

Patterson could face decades in prison

Erin Patterson faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25 years for attempted murder.

She will have a month after her sentencing to lodge an appeal against her sentence and conviction.

The defense submitted that Erin Patterson claimed she had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and that her husband believed she suffered from anxiety, high-functioning autism and possible ADHD.

The judge said the evidence of Asperger’s “doesn’t have a lot of credibility.”

Prosecutor Jane Warren dismissed the claims of mental health conditions as hearsay evidence.

She said Beale should show Erin Patterson no mercy. She likened the case to one in 2017 when Michael Cardamone was sentenced in Victoria to life in prison without possibility of parole for the murder of a neighbor whom he burnt alive.

“It is a crime that is so cruel and so horrific that, in our submission, the offender is not deserving of this court’s mercy,” Warren said.