The husband of an Australian woman accused of murdering her in-laws with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington told a court on Thursday how his father was ‘hunched’ in pain just moments before he died.
On the second day of a trial that has gripped the world, the accused woman’s husband Simon Patterson, described seeing his parents in hospital after they had been poisoned.
‘Dad was substantially worse than mum. He was really struggling,’ he told the court.
‘He was lying on his side, he was hunched’, Mr Patterson said, adding that his father’s face was ‘really discoloured’.
‘He wasn’t right inside, he was feeling pain’.
Mr Patterson entered the witness box on Thursday to give evidence against his former wife Erin Patterson.
It is the first time Simon has laid eyes on his estranged wife in person since her arrest over the alleged murder of his parents in 2023.
Ms Patterson, 50, is accused of killing her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with death cap mushrooms served in a pastry dish during a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Erin Patterson as she appeared in court on Monday
A smiling Simon Patterson appears at the Latrobe Valley law courts on Thursday
Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, who all died after attending lunch at Don and Gail’s former daughter-in-law, Erin Patterson’s, home
Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only attendee to survive the lunch, with Ms Patterson also charged with attempted murder over his alleged poisoning.
Mr Patterson said he had been invited to the lunch in late July 2023 at his wife’s home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.
But he told the court he declined, texting his estranged wife that he was ‘uncomfortable’ with the invitation.
She urged him to reconsider, saying she had cooked a ‘special meal’ and spent a ‘small fortune’ on beef eye fillet for the meal.
Ms Patterson had invited the guests under the guise of telling them she had a health issue to relate, the court heard.
Mr Patterson did not turn up to lunch but his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, did, along with his aunt Heather Wilkinson and her husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson.
Within days, Don, Gail and Heather were dead.
During the lunch gathering, Ms Patterson said she had cancer and asked for advice about how to tell her two children, the court heard.
Simon texted Erin Patterson telling her he was pulling out of lunch
Medical tests later found no evidence she had the disease, according to the prosecutor.
At hospital, Mr Patterson said his father informed him of Patterson’s claimed cancer diagnosis, which he had not previously heard of.
His parents were ‘really strong’ in encouraging the couple to resolve their marital issues, Simon said.
Dressed in pink, Patterson showed no emotion as Simon entered the witness box.
The pair locked eyes briefly before Patterson began to give his evidence.
Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Her husband spent the early part of Thursday answering questions about his family and how he came to meet and then separate from Ms Patterson.
He called his estranged wife ‘witty and quite intelligent’ before telling the court she had held a position as an air-traffic controller at Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine.
Simon Patterson entered court with his media cohort Jessica O’Donnell
Simon Patterson will be cross examined by his wife’s legal team (pictured)
A general view of the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court is seen in Morwell, south of Melbourne, on April 30, 2025
Erin Patterson has heard the full extent of the allegations against her in court
He explained how Ms Patterson had enjoyed educating herself, studying pet science, law and science.
When asked if Ms Patterson liked to invite people over to the family home, Simon said it was ‘very rare’.
Mr Patterson became emotional when asked about the breakdown of his relationship, asking for tissues and struggling to answer questions.
‘It’s good to be friends with the person you’re married too … it was really important to me that, sorry can I have some tissues please,’ he said.
‘Did you continue to care for her,’ Dr Rogers asked.
‘Yes,’ he replied.
Mr Patterson claimed while the couple remained friendly during separation, things changed when he made the decision to change his relationship status on his tax return.
He had been dropping off the kids at his wife’s Leongatha home when she allegedly came out and asked to have a chat.
The jury heard Ms Patterson jumped in the passenger side of Simon’s car.
‘She discovered that my tax return for the previous year for the first time noted we were separated,’ Mr Patterson told the court.
His wife told him the move would impact the family tax benefit the couple had previously enjoyed and she was obliged to now claim child support.
‘She was upset about it,’ Mr Patterson said.
On July 16, during a church service, Ms Patterson allegedly asked her in-laws over for lunch, the court heard previously.
She also asked Simon to attend, despite the couple’s relationship being on the decline.
The court heard the purpose of the lunch was to discuss ‘medical issues’ and how ‘to break it to the kids’.
Those issues were Ms Patterson’s false claims that she had ovarian cancer.
The court heard each of Ms Patterson’s guests were initially confused about the invitation and wondered what the purpose was.
Mr Patterson pulled out at last minute because he ‘felt uncomfortable’ – a move which allegedly annoyed his estranged wife.
Ms Patterson texted ‘she was disappointed’ as she’d put in a lot of effort for the ‘special meal’.
The court heard Ms Patterson told her estranged husband it was important everyone attended.
In opening the prosecution case, Dr Nanette Rogers claimed that, while separated, the pair had initially enjoyed a ‘friendly relationship’.
Despite separating in 2015, Mr Patterson had remained hopeful they would reunite someday, Dr Rogers said.
The pair had communicated regularly via the Signal messaging app up until 2022 when Mr Patterson noticed a change.
Dr Rogers told the jury Ms Patterson expressed concern when Mr Patterson listed himself as separated on his tax return.
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She also wanted child support and the school fees paid.
The court heard Ms Patterson changed the children’s school without consulting Simon.
In closing her opening address on Wednesday, Dr Rogers told the jury a motive was not necessary for members to convict Ms Patterson and they would not be given one.
‘Motive is not something that has to be proven by the prosecution,’ Dr Rogers said.
‘The prosecution will not be suggesting that there was a particular motive to do what she did.’
Instead, Dr Rogers told the jury that by the end of the trial they would be convinced Ms Patterson lured her victims to lunch with false claims she had cancer before deliberately serving them mini beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.
She told the jury it could be convinced Ms Patterson had not eaten any of the poisonous meal, pretended to be sick and never fed her children any of the leftovers containing the death cap mushrooms.
Ms Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy, SC suggested motive was an important factor in the case.
‘Did she have a motive to kill these four family members?’ he said. ‘That issue of intention is the critical issue in this trial.
‘Did she intend to kill these four people? That’s the issue.
‘We say she didn’t do it deliberately … the defence case is what happened was a tragedy. A terrible accident.’
