Erin Patterson has formally pleaded not guilty to murder charges over the alleged mushroom poisonings of her family members.
Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after hosting an allegedly fatal meal at her home in regional Victoria in November.
She is charged with killing Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband Simon Patterson, as well as his aunt Heather Wilkinson, who were at her Leongatha residence for lunch on July 29, 2023.
She is also accused of making three other attempts in 2021 and 2022 to kill Simon Patterson.
The two charges of attempted murder are also related to the lunch, as Simon, who was invited but did not show up, and Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, who was hospitalized following the meal but was released in September, did not die.
On Tuesday's brief hearing in the Latrobe Valley magistrates court in Morwell, Patterson, wearing a royal blue jumper and had her hands clasped in front of her, appeared in court via webcam from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, where she is being kept on remand.
According to what the court heard, Patterson chose to "fast track" her case, which meant she would skip a magistrates court committal hearing and proceed to the Supreme Court for a section 198 hearing, where the evidence against her would be considered for the first time.
It required her to plead guilty for the first time to the charges against her. During Magistrate Tim Walsh's outline of the allegations against her, she responded "not guilty, your honor" eight times.
The prosecutor, Sarah Lenthall, told the court that three attempted murder charges against Patterson about Simon have also been amended to include the alleged locations of the incidents.
