MELBOURNE: Australian mushroom murderer Erin Patterson lost her bid to overturn her convictions and had her sentence toughened on Friday, after failing to convince an appeal court that she had been wrongfully jailed for killing three people with a poisoned lunch.
Patterson was found guilty last year of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt by deliberately lacing their beef Wellington meal with highly toxic death cap mushrooms.
The 52-year-old maintained that her triple murder convictions were a “miscarriage of justice”, urging the Court of Appeal in Victoria state to either release her or order a retrial.
The court found that the killings were “carefully planned and deliberate” and that there were insufficient grounds for a retrial.
“This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated,” judge Stephen McLeish said.
“It stands to be denounced in the strongest terms.”
Patterson was also convicted of the attempted murder of her husband’s uncle, a local pastor who survived after spending weeks in hospital.
The court not only dismissed Patterson’s appeal but also ruled that her original sentence did not reflect the gravity of her crimes.
Patterson was initially eligible to apply for release after serving 33 years.
The court ruled that she should not be eligible for parole, meaning she is likely to spend the rest of her life in prison.
Patterson did not attend the appeal hearing in person, instead watching proceedings via video link from a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Her lawyers had alleged numerous irregularities during the trial, including an “oppressive” cross-examination and unfair decisions over the admission of evidence.
Manifestly inadequate
Prosecutors argued that the 33-year non-parole period imposed by the trial judge was “manifestly inadequate”.
They said the judge had erred in finding there was a substantial chance Patterson would be held in solitary confinement for years to come, and that this had “infected” his decision on parole.
Patterson’s trial last year drew podcasters, film crews and true crime enthusiasts to a courthouse in the rural town of Morwell, a quiet hamlet in Victoria better known for its prize-winning roses.
Audiences from New York to New Delhi followed every twist in a case that many now simply call the “mushroom murders”.
The motive for the killings remains a mystery.
A 12-person jury found Patterson guilty in July last year of murdering her husband Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, as well as his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, at her home in the Victorian farming village of Leongatha.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian, a pastor who fell gravely ill but eventually recovered.
