SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of killing three lunch guests with deadly mushrooms should not be judged guilty just because she lied after the meal, her defense lawyer said Wednesday.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest – her husband’s uncle – who survived the lunch after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson has steadfastly maintained her innocence during a seven-week-long trial that has made headlines from New York to New Delhi.
As the trial came to its closing stages on Wednesday, defense lawyer Colin Mandy sought to explain Patterson’s behavior in the days following the deadly feast.
Patterson told police investigating the deaths that she did not own a food dehydrator, which was allegedly used to prepare the death cap mushrooms.
Security footage showed Patterson dumping a dehydrator at a nearby rubbish facility, and forensic tests found trace amounts of death cap mushrooms on the appliance.
“No one knows what they would have done in a similar situation,” Mandy told the trial.
“She is not on trial for being a liar.”
Mandy said there was nothing unusual about Patterson’s knowledge of death cap mushrooms.
She developed an interest in foraging for mushrooms during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, Mandy said, teaching herself which varieties were safe to eat.
