SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of triple murder with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington had rarely invited her four guests to eat at her home before, a court heard Friday.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in July 2023 by serving them the pastry-and-beef dish with death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of her husband’s uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In a trial that has seized international attention, prosecutors played a recording of a police interview with Patterson’s son, then 14, following the lunch.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his mother had hosted his paternal grandparents at her house “once before.”
And she had “never” previously hosted Heather and Ian Wilkinson, his father’s aunt and uncle, the boy said.
His mother’s relationship with the couple was “not a negative one, but it is not strong,” the youngster told police.
The accused’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, had declined the invitation to lunch at her home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.
Four members of his family attended: his parents Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle.
While the guests had lunch, Patterson’s children went to a McDonald’s and the cinema.
Within hours after eating, the four guests developed diarrhea and vomiting and were taken to hospital, where doctors diagnosed death cap mushroom poisoning.
Days later, three of the guests were dead. Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, lived after weeks of hospital treatment.
On the morning after the lunch, Patterson’s son said she was “a little bit quieter” than usual, complaining of “feeling a bit sick and had diarrhea,” the court heard.
The family had missed their local church service because “mum was feeling too sick,” he said.
That night, Patterson and her children ate the purported leftovers of the beef Wellington.
The defendant has said she scraped off the mushrooms because her children were picky eaters.
“It was probably some of the best meat I’ve ever had,” her teenage son said.
“Mum said it was leftovers.”
Jurors also heard a recording of a police interview with Patterson’s daughter, then nine, who said her mum was a good cook.
“We make cupcakes and muffins,” she said.
The girl, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, said she did not get sick from eating the claimed leftovers.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that neither she, nor her children, consumed the deadly mushrooms.
Her defense says it was “a terrible accident” and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.
The trial is expected to last another five weeks.

DUBAI: A UAE nurse shortlisted for the Aster Guardian Global Nursing Award 2025 has said that he will not spend a cent of the $250,000 prize money on himself, but instead on pediatric cancer research.

Fitz Gerald Dalina Camacho has been shortlisted for the award, which includes the quarter-of-a-million dollar prize.

The 10 shortlisted for the prize were selected from a record-breaking 100,000 applicants from 199 countries.

The only candidate working in the UAE and wider Arab world, Camacho is listed with nine other nurses in the running for the annual award, which celebrates their dedication and skill. 

The Filipino nurse learned about the nomination during a shift at work. “I was shocked when my parents and friends sent me the links on social media. I did not expect to be nominated,” Camacho said.

Despite his modesty, Camacho has an extremely decorated career. After starting his pediatrics training in the Philippines, he moved to the Gulf, first in Saudi Arabia.

“It was quite a transition for me moving to Saudi,” Camacho said. “But it is a very good foundational place where the learning is very (well) supported.”

He has been stationed in the UAE for 11 years and is currently a duty manager at Mediclinic City Hospital in Dubai.

Since starting this post, Camacho has taken it on himself to upskill his nursing colleagues in areas where they might lack experience; especially in different age groups.

“I started an initiative of upskilling our nurses, and training them in terms of rehabilitation and intensive care,” he explained. “If they were an adult nurse, I have skilled them to pediatric and if they were pediatric, I have skilled them to adult.”

But Camacho said that he wants to make a move in his career from education to research so he could pursue one of his passions — pediatric care.

“I’ve seen how patients with cancer struggle,” Camacho said, “So if I were chosen as the winner, then I would use the money for pediatric cancer patients back home in the Philippines.”

The final round of the award will include interviews from a distinguished grand jury. After voting, the winner will be announced at a gala event in Dubai on May 26.