“It is a case so cold, so horrific our submission is the offender is not deserving of … mercy,” prosecutor Jane Warren said.
On Monday, more than 100 people packed into courtroom four at the Supreme Court in Melbourne to hear those closely affected by Erin Patterson’s crimes speak for the first time about the impact of what she did.
Justice Christopher Beale said they highlighted the tsunami of grief the crime had caused.
Ian Wilkinson was first to speak, battling to contain his emotions as he spoke of his “beautiful” wife of 44 years.
From left: Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson.
“Heather was always supportive and encouraging to me,” Wilkinson said. “She was wise and had skills that made up for my shortcomings.
“Together, we faced life as a team and we delighted in each other’s company.
“A very important member of our family is missing.”
At one point, Wilkinson almost fell as he removed his glasses to reach for tissues to wipe away streams of tears.
Steadying himself with his right hand, the pastor took a short breath and clutched a black folder filled with notes before he continued.
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Wilkinson said his wife was compassionate, intelligent, brave and witty and loved sharing life with others. He said she loved to learn languages and travel, but her proudest achievement and greatest work was their four children and six grandchildren.
“I think the way our children conducted themselves through the crisis of our illness and subsequent legal proceedings is testament to her mothering skills,” he said.
“I continue to carry a heavy burden of grief over her untimely death. It’s a truly horrible thought to live with, that somebody could decide to take her life. I only feel half alive without her. My consolation is that we will be reunited in the resurrection and the age to come.”
Turning to his own injuries, Wilkinson said that after nearly dying, it had taken him the best part of two years to regain some health and strength after the fateful lunch. He paused to thank the medical professionals who battled tirelessly to save his life.
Before taking a seat, the pastor also spoke about Erin Patterson, and the distress he carries at the callous and calculated disregard she showed his life and the lives of those he loved. Nearby, Patterson, 50, sat in the dock listening intently with reddened eyes and a chin that at times appeared to tremble.
“What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder is the solution to their problems,” Wilkinson said. “My prayer for her is that she will use her time in jail wisely to become a better person.”
His words were repeated in a further six victim impact statements read aloud which gave a painful reminder of the kind and generous people caught up in the tragedy. In total 28 victims prepared words for the judge to consider.
Heather and Ian Wilkinson’s daughter Ruth Dubois, was the second to speak.
Erin Patterson’s legal team Sophie Stafford (left), Ophelia Hollway and Colin Mandy, SC, arrive at the Supreme Court.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Her father remained standing by her side as she remembered a mother who was generous and kind, with gentle patience and a good sense of humour – the person she went to for advice, who shared her successes and lifted her up during tough times.
“It’s horrible to know it was these good attributes that were used to lure these people,” Dubois said. “The world seems colder and harsher.”
She said it was difficult to comprehend how her mother’s murderer could spend months planning to kill and then sit and watch her victims eat the deadly beef Wellington.
“There were multiple times she could’ve stopped, could have cancelled the plans, helped medical staff … changed the outcome. Instead, at every stop of the way she chose to follow through,” she said.
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Erin Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, said the couple’s two children had been left without grandparents and had lost the kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for.
He wrote about the safe, honest home their children now lived in with him and the trauma he had endured from what he described as an abrasive legal system and callous mainstream media he viewed as dehumanising.
Strangers, he said, had menaced his home, and ambushed him at his door and in the street.
The court also heard a statement from Lynette Young, Gail and Heather’s sister, who recalled that instead of stopping to buy Don Patterson a chocolate eclair for his birthday last year, she cried.
Don Patterson’s 100-year-old mother, Martha, wrote of her now broken family that she hopes God will help heal. His nephew Tim Patterson spoke of the victims’ final days alive and the injustice of never knowing why their lives were taken.
“I still ask myself, why? Why did Erin decide that she’d make her life’s work a portrait of death and destruction? Why did she decide to focus her expertly hidden wrath upon the most selfless, loving people, group of people, I’ve known? I guess that’s the final injustice in all of this, the lack of explanation, reason or remorse,” he wrote.
“It’s a strange thing, but for some reason, I still can’t fully accept they’re gone. In my mind, it’s just that we haven’t seen each other in a while.”
During a 10-week trial, the jury heard Erin Patterson invited her in-laws and the Wilkinsons to her home on the day of the lunch to falsely tell them she had cancer and ask for their advice on breaking the news to her children.
Simon Patterson had also been invited, but withdrew from the event the night before.
Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming the deaths were a terrible accident, and continues to maintain her innocence.
Prosecutor Jane Warren said the killer had engaged in an “egregious level of premeditation”, luring the guests to the lunch under false pretences, feeding them poison and subjecting those who died to slow and painful deaths.
She added that Patterson’s actions were followed by an elaborate cover-up, which was “indicative of a complete absence of regret or remorse and complete indifference”.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, called on the judge to sentence his client to a non-parole period, allowing for her possible release after the age of about 80.
He said his client’s conditions in custody, where she was largely held in isolation, were a significant factor the judge should consider when formulating his sentence.
“In all of the circumstances, we urge the court to impose a non-parole period,” Mandy said.
Patterson is to be sentenced on September 8.
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