Heather Wilkinson, along with Don and Gail Patterson, could not tell their stories as they died terrible deaths in this monstrous plot.
When it became Patterson’s defence team’s turn, it was clear their egg and spoon would be no match for the sword of justice.
In a normal plea, the offender’s lawyers usually call character witnesses to say sure, their client may be a homicidal maniac, but they care for rescue dogs, donate to charity and buy cookies from Girl Guide fundraisers.
They then produce a psychiatry report to say their client had a terrible childhood, was brought up by wolves in the jungle and got hit in the head by lightning when they were five.
But Patterson’s lawyers couldn’t do that as Erin maintains she is innocent and the victim of such a monstrous injustice not seen since the witch trials in Salem.
One tactic the defence could have explored would have been to say that while Patterson maintained her innocence, she was prepared to waive an appeal so that her surviving family, including her children, could get on with their lives. That might have got her a three to five-year discount.
But that is not in Patterson’s DNA. She is the victim. She asked to have her trial at Morwell then whinged and whined about her cell conditions, no doubt writing a stinging review on Tripadvisor.
Erin Patterson arrives at court for her plea hearing. It did not go well.Credit: POOL
With yet another complaint, she told a custody officer: “You don’t know what it is like to suffer.”
Everything is relative. Being painfully and deliberately poisoned so that your vital organs shut down is suffering. Not having a fluffy pillow in your watchhouse bunk is more an inconvenience.
While she says she is the biggest patsy since Lee Harvey Oswald, her senior barrister, Colin Mandy, SC, took a more sensible route.
“This is very grave offending, and we make no argument that the sentence should be anything other than life imprisonment, but the issue is whether there should be a non-parole period,” he told Beale.
Patterson is aged 50 and has already served nearly two years. Mandy wants the judge to set a minimum of 30 years so she could be out when aged about 80. Mandy must surely acknowledge this submission is ambitious.
Barrister Colin Mandy, SC, outside court with Erin Patterson’s legal team of Sophie Stafford (left) and Ophelia Hollway.Credit: Jason South
In fact, the plea backfired. Out of the blue her team said Patterson was suffering from autism. It would appear to be another Erin self-diagnosis as she didn’t provide a medical diagnosis or even a sick note from a teacher.
Of course, we remember that she used a fake cancer diagnosis to lure her victims to the deadly beef Wellington lunch and so another piece of medical trickery is unlikely to endear her to the judge.
To make the point, prosecutor Jane Warren said in court: “The evidence just isn’t there.”
Beale responded, “She doesn’t have a lot of credibility … you’re pushing on an open door.” More appropriately he could have said she has stepped onto a trapdoor.
The judge said he had read 28 victim impact statements, affecting four generations of the families, describing it as a tsunami.
Prosecutor Warren came off the long run wanting the judge to throw away the key. “It is a crime that is so cruel and so horrific that, in our submission, the offender is not deserving of this court’s mercy.”
Mandy played his strongest cards. Patterson will do jail hard. She will have to be in protection for years, which is solitary confinement. She can chat to her neighbour through some mesh but as that neighbour is a committed, barking-mad terrorist, the dialogue will hardly be witty.
Patterson will not see her children grow up and has ruined her life.
But she finished three lives and damaged many more.
Former husband Simon Patterson told the court how he and his children had been stalked by the media and how they were made to feel as if they were the prize targets in a massive story not of their making.
Beale has listened and acted. After a plea hearing, a judge usually takes months to write their sentencing remarks. In this case, he has broken speed records to be back in court on Monday.
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He wants this off the books, not for his sake but the sake of the victims in the hope that the searing light of publicity dims – at least temporarily.
Contrary to the view that sentencing judges can be soft or tough, they really have to stay within the lanes with sentencing guidelines and a nod to previous cases.
And contrary to public perception, sentencing, at least at the serious end, has become tougher.
In 1987, Julian Knight murdered seven people and wounded 19 in a mass shooting in Hoddle Street. He received life with a minimum of 27 years. That is about four years per killing with no punishment for the wounding.
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More astonishing was the fact the prosecutor said there should be a minimum sentence.
Decades later, the government stepped in to ban him from parole.
Back then, we in the media would get it wrong. The headline would be the main sentence not the minimum that was the real sentence.
Once inside, an offender would get a further discount for good behaviour. So a murderer who was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years would probably serve only 14 and with a few cunning tricks, serve even fewer.
Beale has a balancing act. Life with no minimum would likely lead to an appeal on sentence, dragging the case out for another year. If the judge shows mercy, it will not be for Patterson but for the survivors who want this circus ended.
If she gets a minimum and appeals, the prosecution could again ask for life potentially extinguishing any chance she will be freed.
One case he may look at is that of Ashley Mervyn Coulston who in 1992 went to a house in Burwood to answer an ad for a tenant.
He tied up the three people in the house, Kerryn Henstridge, 22, Anne Smerdon, 22, and Peter Dempsey, 27, and executed them.
No motive was ever established. After trials and retrials, he was finally sentenced to life with Justice Norman O’Bryan saying: “You have forfeited forever your entitlement to live outside the confines of a prison.”
Beale will consider how tough Patterson’s jail time will be. But it is hard to think of a worse crime.
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She researched methods of murder for months, perhaps years. She decided death cap mushrooms would be the best poison, went out and foraged for the right ones then plotted the crime she believed could be written off as a horrible accident.
Although her prime target was ex-husband Simon, she proceeded with the deadly lunch in the hope he would change his mind. When he didn’t, she prepared the deadly beef Wellingtons, served them to her four guests then prayed with them.
She made small talk watching as they took bite after bite, then watched as Don finished his wife’s leftovers. A hot lunch from the coldest of killers.
As soon as they were gone, she headed to the local tip to dump evidence, faked similar symptoms when her guests fell ill, concealed evidence, lied, used her kids as alibi witnesses, and has not once, not ever, shown the slightest sign of remorse.
The judge will also know she will not re-offend. No one in their right mind would eat anything she served up after she serves her time.
Beale would be well within the law to sentence her to life with no minimum, but if he sets a non-parole period, it will be close to 40 years.
The defence would like her eligible for release by the time she is 80. It will be closer to 90, if at all.
Forty years is 14,610 jail lunches. None will be beef Wellington.
If she gets out, she will be an old and broken woman.
If she gets out.
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