Erin Patterson tells murder trial her side of story after fatal lunch

Mr Mandy (pictured left) asked Patterson about the dehydrator.

Patterson said the dehydrator was the same one she took photos of and shared images with online friends.

Mr Mandy asked if Patterson lied to police about the dehydrator.

‘It was (a lie),’ she said.

Mr Mandy repeated some dialogue from the police interview:

‘Do you know anything about a dehydrator in your house?’ Mr Mandy said.

Patterson responded: ‘Yes [those were lies]’.

‘Well I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking maybe mushrooms that I’d foraged for the meal I’d prepared were responsible for making people sick,’ she said.

‘It was this stupid knee jerk reaction, but I was just scared and shouldn’t have done it.’

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked Patterson about the use of her phone during the August 5 police search.

‘So the general principal was that it had to be out on the table in front of where I was sitting,’ she said.

‘I couldn’t just be playing with it generally.’

Patterson said she wanted to clarify if her daughter had a ballet lesson and asked police if she could text a ballet mum.

Patterson said she was granted access to the phone.

‘[That was] quite early in the search, maybe an hour or so in,’ she said.

Erin Patterson, who returned to the witness box wearing a paisley muumuu, agreed Simon told her on the Sunday that Don and Gail were in Korumburra hospital on fluids.

Patterson said she learned the pair were moved to Dandenong hospital on Monday and on Tuesday afternoon, Patterson said she learned the couple were then moved to the Austin ICU.

‘It was clear to me there had been a progression of symptoms, it seemed likely to me they were getting sicker,’ Patterson said.

The commencement of today’s murder trial session has been delayed due to an apparent power outage in parts of Morwell.

Proceedings were due to start at 10.30am.

Erin Patterson’s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, is pictured entering the court this morning.

Patterson on Wednesday told the jury she spoke about her health with her lunch guests ‘right at the end of the meal’.

‘I mentioned I had an issue a year or two earlier where I feared I had ovarian cancer,’ she said.

‘I’m not proud of this but I led them to believe that I might need some treatment for that over the next weeks and months, I did (mislead them).

‘They all showed a lot of compassion about that and then we saw Simon’s car driving into the driveway, so Ian said why don’t we pray for Erin and that’s what we did.’

Patterson said she was embarrassed and ashamed that she didn’t have control over her body or what she ate.

‘I lied, I was ashamed, I was embarrassed, I shouldn’t have lied to them,’ she said tearfully.

On Wednesday, Patterson said the conversation with Simon made her think about all the times she had used the dehydrator and dried foraged mushrooms with it weeks earlier.

‘What if they got in the container with the Chinese mushrooms,’ she said.

‘Maybe that had happened, I was thinking maybe that’s how this all…’

Patterson said after she dumped the dehydrator at the tip she felt ‘scared and responsible’.

‘I just felt really scared,’ she said.

‘I was frantic, people had got sick.’

Patterson said she got the dehydrator and then drove to the Koonwarra Transfer Station tip (pictured).

The jury heard the dehydrator was located and seized by police.

Debris found within the appliance tested postive for death cap mushrooms.

On Wednesday, Patterson told the jury she spoke to estranged husband Simon Patterson (pictured) on August 2.

She said she had a conversation with the kids about why they were at the hospital, and why everyone else was unwell.

Patterson said there was concerns her lunch had made people unwell.

Patterson explained how she had previously used a dehydrator to dry mushrooms.

‘(Simon) said to me “is that how you poisoned my parents using that dehydrator?”‘ Patterson said while sobbing in court.

‘I said “of course not”.’

Erin Patterson (pictured) will resume giving evidence in her murder trial shortly after today’s proceedings kick off at 10.30am.

Lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC is expected to finish questioning his client before the prosecution lead by Dr Nanette Rogers SC (pictured in yellow scarf) will have an opportunity to cross-examine the accused killer.

Patterson in the witness box has been a big-ticket item as far as members of the public are concerned.

A crowd (pictured) started to gather outside Morwell Court, a small regional courthouse about two hours east of Melbourne, from 7am with people eager to see Patterson give evidence.

The trial is sitting at the Supreme Court at Latrobe Valley Law Courts instead of the main supreme court in Victoria. As a result, seats to watch the proceedings are limited.