By William Ton William Tonaap
KEY EVENTS IN THE MURDER TRIAL OF ERIN PATTERSON
* 2015: Erin and Simon Patterson separate but continue an amicable relationship with shared custody of their two children
* November 2022: Simon notices a change in their relationship after he changes his tax return to “separated” and Erin asks for child support
* June 24, 2023: Erin hosts her former in-laws, Don and Gail, for lunch with her children at her home in Leongatha; no one falls ill
* June 28, 2023: Erin tells Don and Gail about a lump on her elbow that requires testing
* July 16, 2023: At a Sunday service held at Korumburra Baptist Church, where Simon’s uncle Ian Wilkinson is pastor, Erin invites Simon, Don, Gail, Ian and his wife Heather to another lunch at her home
* July 28, 2023: Simon texts Erin to decline her invitation and says he feels too uncomfortable to attend the lunch
* July 29, 2023: Don, Gail, Heather and Ian gather at Erin’s home in Leongatha, where they eat beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms cooked by Erin. All four become sick in the late evening
* July 30, 2023: All four go to local hospitals in Leongatha and nearby Korumburra before being transferred to Dandenong and then the Austin Hospital in Melbourne
* July 31, 2023: Erin taken by ambulance from Leongatha Hospital to Monash Medical Centre with stomach pains; a toxicologist notifies Victoria’s health department about the suspected poisoning event
* August 1, 2023: Health Department speaks to Erin for four-and-a-half hours before she is discharged from Monash; she says she bought some of the mushrooms for the beef Wellington from Leongatha Woolworths and used dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne’s southeast
* August 3, 2023: Victoria Police launches its investigation into the lunch
* August 4, 2023: Gail, 70, and her sister Heather, 66, die in hospital after being diagnosed with Amanita phalloides, death cap mushroom poisoning, the same day police find a dehydrator at Koonwarra Transfer Station
* August 5, 2023: Don, 70, dies in hospital after also being diagnosed with death cap mushroom poisoning, the same day police search Patterson’s Leongatha home and take her to the station for an interview
* September 23, 2023: Ian released from hospital
* April 29, 2025: Trial against Erin starts in Morwell with a jury of 15 empanelled, openings begin the following day
* June 2, 2025: Erin enters the witness box to give evidence in her own trial which lasts for eight days
* June 30, 2025: The jury is sent away to start deliberating
* July 7, 2025: The jury returns guilty verdicts for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson