The sole survivor of a toxic mushroom lunch told a Melbourne court on Monday he felt “half alive” after the death of his wife and continued to grieve the loss of two close friends.
Ian Wilkinson read the first victim impact statement in Victoria’s Supreme Court during the sentencing of Erin Patterson.
In July, a jury convicted Patterson, 50, of murdering Wilkinson’s wife Heather, her sister Gail, and Gail’s husband Don with Beef Wellington pastries made using death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Wilkinson, who survived after weeks in hospital and a liver transplant.
Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, described his wife as a woman of faith who embodied “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.”
“I only feel half alive without her,” Wilkinson said, before breaking down in tears.
“It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good,” he added.
He said Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon, were the closest people to him outside his immediate family.
“My life is greatly impoverished without them,” Wilkinson said.
“I’m distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard for my life and the lives of those I love. What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of people who have only good intentions towards her?” he added.
Despite his grief, Wilkinson told the court he forgave Patterson.
“I say ‘harms done to me’ advisedly. I have no power or responsibility to forgive harms done to others,” he said.
“My prayer for her is that she will use her time in jail wisely to become a better person,” he added.
Erin Patterson attended court in person on Monday, wearing a paisley blouse and a light brown jacket. At an earlier hearing this month, she appeared via video link from prison.
Seven relatives of the victims either read impact statements or had them read on their behalf.
The sentencing hearing will continue on Tuesday. Patterson faces a maximum life sentence for each murder and up to 25 years for attempted murder.
