Australian mushroom murder suspect denies covering tracks

An Australian woman accused of murdering three people with death cap mushrooms denied Tuesday that she was covering her tracks when she left hospital against medical advice for 95 minutes.

Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking a beef Wellington lunch with the fatal fungi.

She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth lunch guest -- her husband's uncle -- who survived the dish after a long stay in hospital.

Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has made headlines worldwide.

She says the beef-and-pastry meal, which she cooked in individually sized portions, was poisoned by accident.

Two days after the lunch, Patterson went to hospital but left within minutes against medical advice, saying she needed to make arrangements for her children and animals and would return shortly afterwards.

Patterson was absent for 95 minutes before she returned to receive medical treatment, the trial heard.

Prosecution lawyer Nanette Rogers charged Patterson with using this time to "cover your tracks" and only went back to hospital to "maintain the fiction of being similarly unwell as your lunch guests".

Patterson rejected the accusation.

"I am sure I did some thinking in that time, but it was not about covering my tracks," Patterson said.

The accused said she used the 95-minute window to pack her child's ballet bag and feed the animals.

The court heard that internet logs indicated Patterson's device accessed a website showing death cap mushroom sightings in May 2022 -- a year before the lunch.

Patterson said she could not recall visiting that website.

She rejected the allegation that she must have been familiar with it because she looked up the specific webpage.

The lunch host said her "only interest" in death cap mushrooms was to ensure they did not grow in the South Gippsland area, where she lived.

The prosecutor charged that Patterson's real interest was in "death cap mushrooms generally", not just whether they grew in the local area.

Patterson denied the claim.

Patterson had invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the Victorian state farm village of Leongatha.

Simon turned down the invitation saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard previously. The pair were long estranged but still legally married.

Simon's parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch and all three were dead within days.

Heather's husband Ian fell gravely ill but recovered.

Patterson has told the court she had an eating disorder and made herself vomit after her guests left, explaining why she did not become as ill as her lunch guests.

Rogers suggested to Patterson on Tuesday that she was "lying" about vomiting.

Patterson responded: "I wish that were true, but it is not."

The trial in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne, is expected to last another two weeks.