In appeal, Australian mushroom murderer alleges ‘miscarriage of justice’

In appeal, Australian mushroom murderer alleges ‘miscarriage of justice’
Erin Patterson’s bid to appeal her guilty verdicts had been lodged and accepted by the Court of Appeal. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 05 November 2025
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In appeal, Australian mushroom murderer alleges ‘miscarriage of justice’

In appeal, Australian mushroom murderer alleges ‘miscarriage of justice’
  • Erin Patterson was handed life in prison with parole this year for killing three people with toxic mushrooms

SYDNEY: Australian convicted murderer Erin Patterson has alleged a “substantial miscarriage of justice” took place when she was convicted for killing three people with toxic mushrooms, court documents made public on Wednesday showed.
Patterson, 51, was handed life in prison with parole this year for serving a beef Wellington laced with poisonous fungi to her estranged husband’s parents, aunt and uncle during a lunch at her home in 2023, killing three of them.
Local media, including national broadcaster ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald, reported Monday that Patterson’s bid to appeal her guilty verdicts had been lodged and accepted by the Court of Appeal.
The state of Victoria’s Court of Appeal said Wednesday however that while her appeal had been lodged, it had not yet been accepted.
In a document outlining the grounds for her appeal, Patterson’s lawyer alleged several counts of “substantial miscarriage of justice” took place during her trial, which sparked a global media frenzy.
They said that a “fundamental irregularity” had taken place while the jury was sequestered that “fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts,” without giving further details.
Patterson’s lawyer also accused the prosecution of an “unfair and oppressive” cross-examination during the trial.
And her lawyer said that evidence submitted and accepted by the judge was not relevant to her case, while others were not admitted but should have been.
She also requested that she not be physically present in court should an oral hearing into her case go ahead.
Patterson was sentenced in September and a judge said she would be eligible for parole after 33 years.
The prosecution has since appealed that “manifestly inadequate” sentence.
Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms – the world’s most lethal fungus.
But a 12-person jury found Patterson guilty in July of murdering her husband Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, as well as his aunt Heather Wilkinson, at her home in Leongatha, in the state of Victoria.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian, Heather’s husband.


Massive Russian attack hits Ukraine energy infrastructure: Kyiv

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Massive Russian attack hits Ukraine energy infrastructure: Kyiv

Massive Russian attack hits Ukraine energy infrastructure: Kyiv
KYIV: A massive Russian attack hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, killing one person and prompting power cuts in several regions, Kyiv authorities said Saturday.
Moscow has in recent months escalated its attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, damaging natural gas facilities which produce the main fuel for heating in the country.
Experts have said Ukraine risks heating outages ahead of the winter months.
“The enemy is massively attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again. Because of this, emergency power outages have been introduced in a number of regions of Ukraine,” Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk wrote on social media, without specifying where.
“Emergency power outages will be canceled after the situation in the energy system stabilizes,” she said. “Despite the enemy’s plans, Ukraine will have light and heat this winter.”
Air raid alerts were triggered across Ukraine overnight, with authorities in northeastern Kharkiv and southern Odesa reporting drones strikes on energy facilities.
A drone strike on the eastern city of Dnipro ripped through a nine-story building, killing one woman and wounding six, including a child, according to emergency services.
In the capital Kyiv, civil and military authorities said falling debris had caused fires in two locations in the central Petchersky district.

- ‘Technological disaster’ -

Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power and heating grid throughout its almost four-year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure.
Drones also hit energy infrastructure Ukraine’s southern Odesa late Friday evening, the region’s governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.
“There was damage to an energy infrastructure facility,” he said, reporting no dead or wounded.
The attacks on energy infrastructure have raised concerns of heating outages in Ukraine as the war enters its fourth winter.
Kyiv’s School of Economics estimated in a report that the attacks shut down half of Ukraine’s natural gas production.
Ukraine’s top energy expert, Oleksandr Kharchenko, told a media briefing Wednesday that if Kyiv’s two power and heating plants went offline for more than three days when temperatures fall below minus 10 degrees Celsius, the capital would face a “technological disaster.”
Ukraine has in turn stepped up strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries in recent months, seeking to cut off Moscow’s vital energy exports and trigger fuel shortages across the country.
On Friday evening, drone attacks on energy infrastructure in southern Russia’s Volgograd region caused power cuts there too, governor Andrei Botcharov said on Telegram.