Day 2 of Erin Patterson’s appeal: Triple-murderer pushes for conviction to be overturned, Crown seeks no parole

Convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson will return to court on Thursday for the second day of her appeal against conviction, while prosecutors are set to argue why she should never be freed.

The 51-year-old mother of two sentenced to life in prison in September last year for the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, with a poisoned lunch in July 2023.

Patterson, who maintains she is innocent and the ill-fated lunch was a tragic accident, is appealing the jury’s guilty verdicts in the Court of Appeal.

She was handed a minimum term of 33 years, which the Director of Public Prosecutions will seek to overturn by arguing the sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

Day one of Patterson’s appeal played out before a packed court of her victims’ families, media, police and public observers on Wednesday as her lawyers made the case seven issues during the trial made her conviction a miscarriage of justice.

These included the unwelcome discovery jurors were sequestered in the same Traralgon hotel as several members of the prosecution, evidence they argue should never have been put to the jury and “unfair” tactics from the prosecution.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Brendan Kissane KC, and Crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams begun responding to these appeal grounds on Wednesday afternoon — but only addressed two of the seven — before the hearing wrapped after 4pm.

It’s expected they will continue to respond to the appeal grounds when the case resumes on Thursday morning, with the afternoon set aside for both sides to argue on Patterson’s sentence.

The hearing is being live-streamed on the Supreme Court of Victoria website, with more than 1,400 people tuning in on the first day.

Following an 11-week trial last year, jurors unanimously found Patterson murdered her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents and aunt by serving a beef wellington containing death cap mushrooms during a lunch on July 29, 2023.

Each fell critically ill following the meal – Don, Gail and Heather died in early August, while Mr Wilkinson slowly recovered after spending more than a month in hospital.

Originally published as Day 2 of Erin Patterson’s appeal: Triple-murderer pushes for conviction to be overturned, Crown seeks no parole