Patterson’s life as ‘dangerous inmate’ revealed
Details of Erin Patterson’s life behind bars as a “dangerous inmate” have emerged as a date was set for the mushroom murderer’s sentencing.
Source: AAP
Patterson was found guilty by a jury of three murders and one attempted murder over the deaths of her estranged husband Simon’s family, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66. The 50-year-old triple killer will learn her fate on September 8.
She maintains her innocence, despite pleas from sole surviving lunch guest Ian Wilkinson to confess and repent.
Patterson attended an emotional plea hearing on Monday where her defence team did not dispute a life sentence.
Her legal team accepted the offending for which she was convicted was “very grave”.
“We make no argument the head sentence should be anything other than life imprisonment,” her barrister Colin Mandy SC told the Supreme Court on Monday.
“The ultimate issue between the parties is whether a non-parole period should be fixed.”
Prosecutors said Patterson, who has been in prison since November 2023, was not deserving of the court’s mercy because her crime was “so cruel, so horrific”.
“Your honour should reach the conclusion that, because of the seriousness of the offences here, it would be inappropriate to fix a non-parole period,” prosecutor Jane Warren told Justice Christopher Beale.
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Warren asked Beale to make factual findings about Patterson’s intention to kill.
“It is a case that demonstrates the highest level of planning and preparation, and upmost level of premeditation,” she said.
Patterson subjected her victims to “slow and painful deaths” by using death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons, she argued.
She claimed Patterson “had days” where she could have provided medical staff with vital information on her victims, to provide life-saving treatment in hospital before they died.
“Even if she told Simon Patterson she’d used wild mushrooms, that would have … completely changed the treatment,” Warren said.
She alleged Patterson’s “elaborate attempt” to cover up her crimes, including disposing of a dehydrator and lying about becoming unwell, had aggravated the offending.
But Mandy argued there could be no finding that her acts were deliberate nor her intention was to kill and cited a lack of clear evidence on where and how the death cap mushrooms were sourced.
Beale noted the crime’s impact on two families, the Wilkinsons and Pattersons, was “like a tsunami” that had affected four generations.
The church pastor offered an olive branch of forgiveness to Patterson for trying to kill him at the July 2023 lunch.
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Dangerous inmate
Details of Patterson’s restricted life behind bars at Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre emerged during the hearing.
The mum of two has limited outside access and is permitted to speak only to one other inmate, a terrorist who has harmed other inmates.
Patterson is a “keen crocheter” and inside her cell she has access to wool, a hair straightener, books, magazines, television and a computer, the court was told on Monday.
She has been in protective isolation for much of that time, spending 22-24 hours a day alone in her cell, because of the notoriety of her offending, barrister Colin Mandy SC told the court.
Corrections Victoria assistant commissioner Jenny Hosking was called by prosecutors to discuss Patterson’s conditions behind bars.
She said short staffing at the women’s prison, because of inmate numbers dropping during the Covid-19 pandemic, had led to more lockdowns, which restricted movement for inmates.
Patterson, 50, has a small courtyard attached to her cell, but Mandy said she had not been given regular access to it.
He said prison officers had approved Patterson’s access to speak to a fellow prisoner in the courtyard, through a mesh fence, but she had not spoken “one word to that other prisoner”.
Mandy said the prisoner was serving a sentence for terrorism and had attacked another inmate while in custody.
“There has been no request by Ms Patterson for access to that person,” he said.
The inmate is believed to be “Tiny Terrorist” Momena Shoma, who is serving a four-decade prison term and stabbed a fellow inmate with a pair of gardening shears in 2020.
Mandy claimed Patterson had been allowed into the prison library only “a handful of times” and had to be taken there in a prison van escorted by two guards. She is given 20 minutes to be inside.
He said Patterson had tried to go to the leisure centre, but each time she visited it had been locked and her access to her unit’s lounge area had been minimal.
Hosking said Patterson’s high-profile and details of her offending meant her safety was at risk, but her placement in the protective unit would be continually reviewed.
But Mandy argued Patterson’s placement in isolation was permanent because the “notoriety of these offences is not likely to diminish”.
-with AAP
