Erin Patterson sentenced to life with 33-year nonparole for poisoning

Erin Patterson was sentenced on Monday to life imprisonment with a nonparole period of 33 years after a judge found she deliberately poisoned a lunch in July 2023 with foraged death cap mushrooms, killing three relatives of her estranged husband and seriously injuring a fourth. The sentencing hearing took place in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne and, in a first for the court, Justice Christopher Beale delivered his remarks while a television camera filmed him for live public broadcast.

A jury in July convicted the 50 year old of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for serving beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms to Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, at Patterson's home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, survived after weeks in hospital and a liver transplant. Justice Beale said the crimes amounted to an enormous betrayal of trust and that Patterson's lack of remorse "pours salt into all the victims' wounds," remarks he read as he imposed the maximum sentence.

Prosecutors had argued Patterson's actions were planned and callous and urged that she never be...