From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Wednesday, May seven, twenty twenty five. Array of light for the Liberal Party. MP Tim Wilson has won back his seat of Goldstein, turfing out Teal Independent Zoe Daniel. Labour's environmental wing wants Anthony Albanesi to go faster on climate mitigation, arguing voters have shifted from the Greens to the government and want to see a twenty thirty five
emissions target above seventy percent. You can read all the latest from the drastically reshaped federal political landscape right now at The Australian dot com dot au. The only survivor of a deadly mushroom lunch has told a jury after eating allegedly poisoned beef Wellington, he led a prayer for his niece, who's charge with three counts of murder and
one of attempted murder. Aaron Patterson had told Ian Wilkinson, his wife, Heather, and her parents in law, Don and Gail Patterson, she feared she had ovarian cancer, but the jury has heard that was not true. Today, the first eyewitness account from a lunch that killed three people.
Ian Wilkinson is an old man. He came into court wearing a vest and a collared shirt. He had a pin on his lapel which was a fish, the symbol of Jesus Christ.
That's Ellie Dudley, the Australian's Legal affairs correspondent. She's covering the trial of Aaron Patterson, the Victorian mother of two who's pleaded not guilty to murdering three elderly relatives by poisoning them with deaf cap mushrooms hidden in a beef Wellington and attempt to murder a third. That third guest is Ian Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor and the only surviving guest from that July twenty twenty three mushroom lunch at Aaron Patterson's house in Lee and Gatha in Country Victoria.
On Tuesday, Ian Wilkinson stepped into the witness box in the Victorian Supreme Court, sitting at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morewell.
Aaron Patterson's been sitting in court every day. She's sitting in a little box with a window in front of her up the back of the court. So there is a moment that my colleague John Ferguson recalled when Anan Wilkinson walked into court, the jury were already in there, and he appeared to hold Aaron Patterson's gaze for a period of time before walking up to the witness box, giving his oath and then beginning to give evidence.
Ian Wilkinson, now seventy one, is related to Aaron Patterson by marriage through his late wife, Heather. Ian Wilkinson told the court Heather, who was sixty six in July twenty twenty three, was working as an English teacher with new migrants. Heather was Aaron Patterson's auntie. She was the younger sister of Erin's mother in law, Gail Patterson. We've used voice actors to bring you the words spoken in court.
She was the baby of the family.
He laughed quite a bit while he was giving evidence. Something that I said to John Ferguson, the associate editor of The Australian who's covering this trial with me, was that he seems really joyful, which was unexpected to me. You know, he's lost his wife, he's lost his wife's sister and her husband. He's had an astronomical amount of media attention. His whole life has been uprooted, but he
appeared to be quite joyful. He's frail to an extent, but perhaps not as frail as you would expect him to be as somebody who spent over a month in hospital after being allegedly poisoned with death cat mushrooms. He just appears to be a gentle old man.
Ian Wilkinson and Aaron Patterson had been related for several decades. He remembered on only two previous occasions visiting Aaron at home, but never stepping inside.
We were outside the house and in the driveway, I suppose you'd call it, and we spoke there. We spoke to Aaron on the doorstep.
Prosecutor Jane Warren's words are read by a voice actor. How would you describe Erin as a person?
Well, just seemed like normal person to me. You know. When we met, things were friendly. We never had arguments or disputes or she just seemed like an ordinary person. I don't know how to describe it. Our relationship was friendly, amicable. It didn't have much depth. We were more like acquaintances. We didn't see a great deal of each other.
When in July twenty twenty three, Aaron Patterson invited the Wilkinsons and her parents in law, Don and Gale Patterson to lunch at her new home in Land. Gaffer Ian Wilkinson remembered his wife being thrilled.
Heather came through. I was still in the main body of the church. She came through from the hall and told me we'd been invited to Aaron's home from a meal. She was fairly excited and she said that good news sort of thing. There was no reason given for the lunch, and I remember talking to Heather wondering why suddenly the invitation.
How did you feel about the invitation.
We were happy to be invited. Yeah, seemed like maybe our relationship with Aaron was going to improve.
When they arrived carrying a fruit platter, Heather Wilkinson was keen to investigate Aaron Patterson's pantry, her husband said. Heather was keen to have a pantry of her own at home and interested in ideas. She and Gail Patterson started moving towards the pantry. Wilkinson told the jury.
Heather was calling out to me, come and look at the pantry. I'd noticed that Aaron was very reluctant about the visit to the pantry and not yet started following them. I thought that maybe the pantry's a mess. It's going to be an embarrassment, so I wouldn't add to the embarrassment by joining the pantry. They went to look at the pantry, and Erin followed them in, and they stood in there for some time talking about the pantry. Heather called out to me, come in here and have a look.
I thought i'd be polite and just stayed where we were standing, talking with Don.
He said. As Aaron mashed potatoes and put the food on the plates on the kitchen bench, both Heather and Gale offered to help.
The offer was rejected and Aaron plaited. There was mashed potatoes, green beans, and beef Wellington.
The beef Wellington. Did you see where that came from before it was plaited?
No, I didn't. Each person had an individual serve. It was very much like a pasty if you imagine a pasty being put on a plate. It was a pastry case, and when we cut into it there was steak and mushrooms. There were four large gray dinner plates and one smaller plate a different color. It was an orangey tan sort of color.
Once the food was plated. How were those plates distributed?
Well, the plates were distributed by three different people. Gail picked up two of the gray plates and put them on the table. Heather picked up two of the gray plates and put them on the table, and Aaron picked up the odd plate and carried it to the table. She took it to her place at the table.
They said grace and it began eating, and Wilkinson said he and Heather both ate their entire meal while Gaiel ate half her beef wellington? Doohn Patterson ate his entire meal? And he also ate the half of the beef wellington that his wife Gail didn't finish. And there was some banter or teasing about that.
Yeah, that's why I remember. There was talk about husbands helping their wives out by eating extra food. Heather mentioned, oh, we should have shared a beef wellington because she thought the meal was a bit on the large side for her. So that's the reason I remember who ate what?
They shared a cake and some fruit, And that's when, according to Ian Wilkinson, Aaron Patterson revealed she had cancer. He thinks he recalls her saying it was overian cancer.
She said that she was very concerned because she believed it was very serious, life threatening. She was anxious about telling the kids, and she was asking our advice about that. I thought this is the reason that we'd been invited to the lunch.
The jury has heard in the Crown's opening statement that the prosecution case is that Aaron Patterson used the story about having cancer as a pretext for inviting the elderly relatives and her husband, Simon to the lunch without the children being present. Simon Patterson declined the invitation. Aaron Patterson's defense has conceded she did not have cancer, but reject that case theory. In the witness box, Ian Wilkinson said Aaron Patterson wanted advice on how to speak to the children.
Don spoke first and he said he thought it would be best to be honest with the kids. Then there was a bit of general conversation and that was what we all thought.
They stopped the conversation after Aaron's son came home with a friend.
I prayed, asking God's blessing on Aaron, that she would get the treatment she needed, that the kids would be okay, that she'd have wisdom in how she told the kids. Then the prayer concluded as the boys arrived in the room.
The Wilkinsons left about three pm. After Ian worked on his sermon for the next day, they went to bed around eleven pm.
I don't think either of us had fallen asleep, and Heather got up abruptly out of bed and made her way the laundry and I could hear vomiting. She was vomiting into the laundry trough. It wasn't very long after that that I also felt the need to go and vomit. It continued right throughout the night. We had vomiting and diarrhea. That that continued right through the night.
Ian Wilkinson told the jury they spent the night camped near the bathrooms. Around dawn, Heather spoke to Donal Gail Patterson, and later that morning Simon Patterson, Erin's husband, came to the house.
He was quite concerned about us. He asked us to call an ambulance. Heather and I said, ah, this is case of gastro you know, a few hours will be all right.
Simon insisted and took the Wilkinsons to Curranborough Hospital, where his parents were, but they were sent on to Lean Gather hospital.
I recall in the lean Gaffa Hospital, Heather reminding me that there were different plates. I think she just plainly said there were different colored plates. Wondering why we were ill, She just noticed the difference in the colours between the plate erin was using and our plates.
The doctor on duty, Chris Webster, thought it was food poisoning.
My memory was that suspicion was falling on the meat.
Exhausted, the pair spent the night in adjoining hospital beds.
We were abruptly woken up by a group of nurses who literally ran us down the corridor in our beds to the urgent care area. Chris Webster was waiting in the urgent care area. He said that he had a communication from the Daninong Hospital indicating suspected mushroom poisoning. He was very frank. He said it's an extremely serious situation. He said there is a time critical treatment available and he was very concerned that we'd be transported quickly to Daninong.
They were sedated, intubated and taken to the Austin Hospital in Melbourne to be treated for amanita poisoning death cap mushrooms. After a fortnight in hospital, Ian Wilkinson was dis charged to rehab, where he spent several weeks. By the time he returned home, his wife was dead, along with Dawn and Gale Patterson coming up what Aaron Patterson's defense barrister
asked Ian Wilkinson in cross examination. In cross examination, Aaron Patterson's barrister, Colin Mandy s C probed numerous parts of Ian Wilkins's evidence. Aaron Patterson's defense, outlined by Mandy in his opening address to the jury, is that the fatal lunch was a tragedy and a terrible accident. Colin Mandy wanted to know if Aaron Patterson came to Ian Wilkinson's church services more frequently than he had previously indicated. Wilkinson
said yes, sometimes she came fortnightly instead of monthly. Mandy asked Wilkinson to agree that sometimes his wife, Heather would drop around and see erin and drop in some sweet treats for the kids.
She did drop around some food.
Mandy wanted to know if Aaron had been helpful with live streaming Ian's church services during COVID. He agreed. Mandy also wanted to know if Ian Wilkinson had changed his story since first speaking to the police. In his police statement, Wilkinson said only that Aaron had described suspected cancer, that she wasn't definitive about having had a diagnosis. Mandy probed this distinction. Wilkinson said he was now confident Aaron Patterson said she definitely did have cancer.
I think she was saying she had cancer because she talked about a diagnostic scan of some sort that showed a tune. I believe that she was saying she had cancer. It wasn't an impression. She plainly said that she had some sort of cancer. Her voice was low at that point. I couldn't exactly catch what sort of cancer she was naming, but she named a type of cancer. She went on to speak about the scan and that this was a serious situation, a situation that made her afraid for the future of her kid's.
The trial continues. You can follow all Ellie Dudley and John Ferguson's reporting anytime at the Australian dot com dot au