Verdict handed down in mushroom murders case

WorldPolitics
7 Jul 2025 • 1:38 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • An Australian jury has found Erin Patterson guilty of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband.
  • Patterson was convicted of killing her mother-in-law, father-in-law, and her mother-in-law's sister, and attempting to murder the sister's husband.
  • The victims died after consuming a beef wellington meal, which was laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms, prepared by Patterson at her Leongatha home in July 2023.
  • Patterson had pleaded not guilty, saying the deaths were accidental, but the prosecution argued she deliberately used the toxic fungi and lied about her actions.
  • She faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with sentencing to be determined later.

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