Velington, New Zealand (AP) – Australian woman, accused of killing three of her strangers’ loved ones with poisonous mushrooms, told the court on Tuesday that she agreed that she had death hats in the deadly south.
But Erin Patterson said the “vast majority” of fungi came from local shops. She denies the number of three murders and one of the attempts to kill for the beef Velington dish she served for her stepfather, and her alien husband’s aunt and uncle’s home in 2023. In July
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were hospitalized and died in the afternoon in the city of Leongatha in the city of Australia in Victoria. Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson was seriously ill but survived.
Patterson’s lawyer previously said the Supreme Court proceedings that poisoning was a tragic accident, but prosecutors said it was conscious. If convicted, she killed accusations of allegations of life and 25 years in prison for trying to kill.
The long queues formed by the Latrobe Valley Court House on Tuesday after Patterson occupied the bench late Monday, which was the first time she spoke publicly since death.
The accused has been bathing with mushrooms for many years
During the few Tuesday’s evidence, Patterson told the court for 50 years that she had begun to feed on fungi in 2020. March The Covid-19 lock, which was testified only by her children.
“I cut one of the mushrooms a little, baked it with butter and ate it,” she said. “They tasted well and I didn’t get sick.”
Patterson said she also fed her children out of mind mushrooms, crushed “very, very small” that they could not choose them from soldiers, pasta and soups.
She created the taste of exotic varieties, joined the Mushroom Lovers’ Facebook group and bought a dehydrator to keep her findings, patters said. Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she agreed that the cakes of beef Velington, which she served for her southern guests in 2023, were death hats.
“Yes, I do it,” Patterson said.
The accused told his lawyer most of the mushrooms she used that day, came from local supermarkets. She agreed that she could put them in the same container as the dehydrated wild mushrooms, which she had a few weeks ago and others from the Asian grocery store.
April Mandy told the court that his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never had a pleasure before. However, he denied that she was deliberately looking for death hats and said she panicked her dehydrator due to accidental deaths.
Regrets the “ventilation” reports of laws
Earlier on Tuesday, Patterson became tears when they asked about the reports she sent about her laws in 2022. December In a Facebook group conversation, which she described as a “safe ventilation space” for a group of women.
“I wish I would never say that. I am very ashamed of saying it and wishing that the family should not hear that I said,” Patterson said. – They didn’t deserve it.
Patterson, who said they had tried that her stepdaughter mediated with her alien husband Simon for school taxes, said she felt hurt, frustrated and “a bit hopeless.”
The couple officially divorced in 2015. After the previous temporary divisions, the court heard. Simon Patterson was invited to 2023. In July Lunch, but did not attend.
The accused stated that she was still close to the man’s family
Tuesday’s evidence also included Patterson’s health after prosecutors’ suggestions that her invitation to lunch was unusual, and that she had been falsely pretending to receive a cancer diagnosis. The mother of the two admitted that she had never had cancer, but the symptoms were sufficiently exciting.
Despite her separation from Simon, Patterson said she hoped to unite with her alien husband and said she was close to her laws.
“It never changed. I was just their daughter,” Patterson said through tears. – They just continued to love me.
Evidence is submitted for a long prosecution case
The 14 members of the jury have heard five weeks of prosecution of prosecution, including what lunch guests told relatives before they died. Heather Wilkinson said just before he died that patters had eaten his individual beef velington cake from a different color plate to other eaters, prosecutor Nanette Rogers said.
April When opening his case, Rogers said the poisoning was thoughtful, but that her case did not propose the alleged massacre. The prosecutor’s office says Patterson lied when he told investigators that she had eaten the same dish as its guests and fed the rest of their children.
Patterson should continue to give evidence on Wednesday. On Tuesday, her evidence did not contain her story of the day of the lunch or the cross -investigation of prosecutors.