MELBOURNE, Australia — A woman accused of serving her ex-husband’s parents and an aunt poisonous mushrooms with lunch appeared in an Australian court on Monday charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder. Erin Patterson, 49, appeared briefly in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court by video link from a Melbourne prison where she has been held since she was arrested in November last year.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of her ex-husband, Simon Patterson, at that lunch and on three previous occasions dating back to 2021. Simon Patterson did not accept an invitation to attend the lunch. She also is charged with the attempted murder of Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68. Ian Wilkinson spent seven weeks in a hospital following the lunch.