By Alasdair Pal
MORWELL, Australia (Reuters) -The jury in the trial of an Australian woman who allegedly murdered three elderly relatives of her estranged husband using poisonous mushrooms retired to consider its verdict on Monday, in a case that has gripped the country.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, in July 2023.
The prosecution alleges she served them death cap mushrooms in a Beef Wellington alongside mashed potato and green beans, before destroying evidence and lying to the police and medical workers to cover up her crimes.
She denies the charges, that carry a life sentence, with her defence calling the deaths “a terrible accident”.
On Monday, presiding judge Justice Christopher Beale ended a five-day summary of the evidence to the jury capping some of the final court proceedings in the trial, now in its tenth week.
“Your verdict of guilty or not guilty must be unanimous,” he told the jury of 14. “No matter how you reach your verdict, you must all agree.”
Seated in the dock at the rear of the court, Erin Patterson looked towards the jury box as the jurors were balloted to a final 12 who will decide the outcome of the trial.
Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving lunch guest who has attended almost every day of the trial, sat with relatives out of sight of the accused, a few feet to her right.
The jury will discuss the evidence in the case at court during business hours, before being sequestered nightly at a hotel until they reach their verdict, Beale said.
The case at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, a former coal mining town whose best-known tourist attractions until the trial were a rose garden and a regional art gallery, has fascinated Australia.
Members of the public have queued for hours for the limited seats in Court 4 where the trial is taking place, while television crews and photographers have been camped outside the building.
State broadcaster ABC’s daily podcast on the trial is the country’s most popular, while several documentaries on the case are already in production.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
