When asked about the family dynamics, he said he knew his mother had organised the lunch, recalling Don and Gail Patterson – the boy’s grandparents – had been over for a meal before, but not Ian and Heather Wilkinson. He said he knew four family members were attending the lunch but his father, Simon Patterson, had declined to attend.
He said his mother didn’t interact much with Ian and Heather Wilkinson, describing their interactions as “not a negative one, but it’s not strong”.
On the morning of the lunch in July 2023, the boy said he saw his mother preparing what he believed was a salad before they were dropped into town to have lunch at McDonalds and then see a film.
When he was later dropped home by his father, the boy said the lunch guests were still at the house. He said he spoke to his grandfather about his flying lessons and a flying simulator before the four guests left the home together soon after.
Later that day, when it was time to take his friend home after a sleepover, the boy said he found his mother upstairs building Lego.
“I came upstairs and said, ‘hey mum it’s getting late, so should we bring him back now?’,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Patterson’s young daughter said in video evidence she was unsure if her mother had previously made the beef Wellington meal she served in July 2023, but told an investigator her mum was a good cook and the pair often baked cupcakes together.
The girl was asked how she knew they were eating leftovers from the July 29 lunch for dinner the next day. She said that her mother told her.
“I remember I was asking her what we were having that night and she said that she was making leftovers from yesterday’s lunch,” she said.
The girl said she first learned someone might be sick two days after the lunch, and while she didn’t feel unwell, she and her brother were taken out of school for tests at a Melbourne hospital.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned by a mushroom meal.
“I had a shower, got dressed, had my breakfast and Mum drove us to the bus stop.
“And then in the middle of school, Dad picked [my brother] and I up to get checked at the hospital because Mum went to the hospital after [my brother] and me were on the bus.
“We drove to Melbourne and got a blood test and stayed the night.
“Then we had another blood test on Tuesday morning and we stayed there until 5pm just waiting to leave. And we had blood pressure taken two times as well,” she said.
When asked about food and cooking, the child said her mother liked cooking and that they often made cupcakes together. She was unsure if Patterson had made beef Wellington before, and didn’t recall ever cooking mushrooms with her. The girl said she didn’t like mushrooms, and would sometimes eat them and sometimes pick them out.
She said she had no memory of ever picking mushrooms but recalled her mother buying brown ones in the past from the IGA in Korumburra or the Woolworths in Leongatha.
The trial, which is being heard in the Supreme Court in Morwell, continues.
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