Erin Patterson murder trial day 26 as it happened: Mushroom cook says fear of estranged husband’s actions led to phone resets; details dumping food dehydrator at local tip after fatal lunch

• Erin Patterson said she did a factory reset of her phone on August, 2, 2023, to remove her son’s information from it so she could add her own information.
• Patterson said she took her dehydrator to the tip on August 2 because “I was scared that they would blame me for it, for making everyone sick”.
• A doctor suggested the Patterson children come into the hospital for testing as they had eaten some of the lunch leftovers, but Patterson said she didn’t want to unless it was strictly necessary. The children eventually did go into the hospital.
• Patterson recalled visiting urgent care at Leongatha Hospital where she was greeted by a doctor who said they’d been expecting her and that she may have been exposed to death cap mushrooms.
• On the evening of the lunch, Patterson remembers feeling “really nauseous” and between 10pm and midnight began to suffer diarrhoea and strong abdominal cramping.
• Patterson said she vomited straight after the lunch, after having eaten about two-thirds of an orange cake baked by Gail Patterson and brought to the lunch as dessert.
• “I did lie to them,” Patterson admitted when she told her lunch guests that she may need some treatment for ovarian cancer that had been diagnosed “a year or two earlier”.
• Patterson said she “felt a bit hurt … a bit stressed” after receiving a message from her estranged husband Simon, advising that he wouldn’t attend the lunch at her home.
• A tearful Erin Patterson admitted she lied to her in-laws about her medical appointments because “I didn’t want their care for me to stop”.
• Patterson said at one stage she became aware of poisonous mushrooms growing in Gippsland, including some growing on her property that were probably toxic to dogs, so she photographed them.

• Erin Patterson said she did a factory reset of her phone on August, 2, 2023, to remove her son’s information from it so she could add her own information.
• Patterson said she took her dehydrator to the tip on August 2 because “I was scared that they would blame me for it, for making everyone sick”.
• A doctor suggested the Patterson children come into the hospital for testing as they had eaten some of the lunch leftovers, but Patterson said she didn’t want to unless it was strictly necessary. The children eventually did go into the hospital.
• Patterson recalled visiting urgent care at Leongatha Hospital where she was greeted by a doctor who said they’d been expecting her and that she may have been exposed to death cap mushrooms.
• On the evening of the lunch, Patterson remembers feeling “really nauseous” and between 10pm and midnight began to suffer diarrhoea and strong abdominal cramping.
• Patterson said she vomited straight after the lunch, after having eaten about two-thirds of an orange cake baked by Gail Patterson and brought to the lunch as dessert.
• “I did lie to them,” Patterson admitted when she told her lunch guests that she may need some treatment for ovarian cancer that had been diagnosed “a year or two earlier”.
• Patterson said she “felt a bit hurt … a bit stressed” after receiving a message from her estranged husband Simon, advising that he wouldn’t attend the lunch at her home.
• A tearful Erin Patterson admitted she lied to her in-laws about her medical appointments because “I didn’t want their care for me to stop”.
• Patterson said at one stage she became aware of poisonous mushrooms growing in Gippsland, including some growing on her property that were probably toxic to dogs, so she photographed them.

The court is adjourned and today’s hearing comes to an end.

Here are some of the photographs that award-winning photographer Jason South, who is in Morwell to cover the case, took today outside court.

Following the conversation about the dehydrator and the hospital, Erin Patterson said she started to feel scared and to feel responsible.

The following day, August 2, 2023, Patterson said she drove the children to school and returned home.

Afterwards, she took the dehydrator to the tip because she feared where the conversation with government workers might go when it came to the meal and the dehydrator. “I was scared that they would blame me for it, for making everyone sick,” she said. “And I was scared they’d remove the children.”

Patterson said she did not tell anyone that she had realised death cap mushrooms may have been served at the meal.

“I thought there might be evidence of that [in the dehydrator]. Evidence of any foraged mushrooms in there,” she said.