Erin Patterson discharged herself five minutes after doctor warned she may have death cap mushroom poisoning, court hears

A doctor who treated Erin Patterson has told her triple murder trial that he was surprised she discharged herself from hospital five minutes after being told she may have been exposed to potentially fatal mushroom poisoning.

Dr Christopher Webster, who was working at the Leongatha hospital two days after Patterson served beef wellington to her in-laws for lunch, gave evidence on Wednesday at the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023.

She has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

She is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.

Webster told the court that Don and Gail Patterson had already been transferred to intensive care, and the Wilkinsons were about to be transferred to a larger hospital, when Patterson arrived at the hospital about 8.05am on 31 July 2023.

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He said he told Patterson he was concerned the group were victims of death cap mushroom poisoning.

Webster said he also asked Patterson where the mushrooms she used in the dish had come from, and she provided a one-word response: “Woolworths.”

Soon after, she discharged herself against medical advice, once Webster told her that she would need to start undergoing treatment, saying she had not been prepared to be admitted.

“I had suggested to her that she had been exposed to potentially deadly death cap mushroom poisoning, and being in hospital would be a better place for her to be,” Webster said.

Webster told the court he contacted two superiors in order to get clearance to call police in a bid to make Patterson return to the hospital. He also called Patterson three times, he said.

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A recording of his triple zero call was played to the court, outlining Webster contacting them at 9.25am and expressing “concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier but has left the building”.

The court previously heard from Simon that Patterson was known to not like hospitals, and had discharged herself from them twice before.

Patterson returned to Leongatha hospital soon after Webster’s calls.

After she returned, Webster received a call from Mirboo North police at 10.04am, who told them they were at Patterson’s house.

He asked them to secure leftovers of the meal, though said he had “no idea” at the time whether any existed.

“I had no idea, but I figured there was a chance. Strike while the iron’s hot. The police were there,” Webster said.

He asked Patterson where the leftovers could be found and she said police would be able to find some in the bin.

Patterson also seemed reluctant for her children to attend hospital, Webster said, after she told him they had eaten meat from the beef wellington, but not the mushrooms or pastry.

He said that when Patterson told him the children could be scared about having to attend hospital, he responded: “They can be scared and alive, or dead.”

The court was shown CCTV of Patterson leaving the hospital, and signing the “discharge against medical advice form”.

Webster said during his evidence that during his conversations with Heather Wilkinson about the meal that she had described the beef wellington as “delicious”.

The children of Patterson’s lunch guests were also called as witnesses on Wednesday.

Anna Terrington and Matthew Patterson, the children of Don and Gail Patterson, and Ruth Dubois, the daughter of Heather and Ian Wilkinson, gave evidence.

Terrington, Don and Gail’s youngest child, told the court she had known Patterson since the accused and Simon started a relationship in about 2005.

She agreed that her parents had maintained a good relationship with Patterson despite her separating from Simon in 2015.

Terrington also agreed, under cross-examination from Sophie Stafford, for Patterson, that they had been supportive of her and there was no animosity between them.

About 5pm on the day of the lunch, about two hours after her parents returned home, Terrington spoke to her mother.

“Mum said it went well,” Terrington, who became emotional during her evidence, told the court.

“She said that they had beef wellington and that it was too much for mum, so dad finished hers.”

Terrington agreed that Patterson and Simon had loaned her and her husband about $400,000, and that she had been close with Patterson during one of their pregnancies.

These pregnancies resulted in them having children three days apart who became known in the family as “the twins”, the court heard.

Matthew Patterson, a church pastor, also agreed that his parents had a positive relationship with Patterson, which remained the “status quo” even after her separation from Simon.

He told the court about a lunch in 2021 when Patterson told him she was sad the relationship was “unable to move forward”, and she asked him for advice about how to get Simon to take part in counselling relating to the marriage.

Matthew said it appeared that the communication between Simon and Patterson had become more “mechanical” in later years, and that she had attended fewer family events, but acknowledged that may have been because Covid-19 made such events less frequent.

He said he had also been loaned about $400,000 by Simon and Patterson.

Matthew also said he called Patterson after his parents became unwell and asked her where she bought the mushrooms used in the beef wellington.

She told him Woolworths and an Asian grocer or supermarket in the Oakleigh area, he said.

“It was a general, broad, vague answer, rather than a specific one,” Matthew told the court.

Dubois, who said in court that she only considered herself an acquaintance of Patterson, expressed surprise when her mother, Heather Wilkinson, told her she had been invited to lunch.

Patterson had come across Heather and Gail after a sermon at the Korumburra Baptist church, where Ian was a pastor, 13 days before the lunch.

Dubois said her mother had told her Patterson said to them after the sermon “just the two I was looking for” and invited them for lunch.

Her mother had said, after Dubois expressed surprise at the invitation, “Yes, we were surprised also, that had never happened before.”

The court also heard from medical witnesses about the treatment provided to the lunch guests, and a search of the Victorian cancer registry, which confirmed that Patterson had never been diagnosed with cancer.

The court has previously heard Patterson told her lunch guests that she had cancer but her lawyers told the court it was acknowledged she had never been diagnosed.

The trial continues.