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ARTICLE VIEW:
Sole survivor of Australian mushroom poisoning feels ‘half alive’
after the murder of his wife and friends
Story by Associated Press
Updated:
12:14 AM EDT, Mon August 25, 2025
Source: AP
The sole survivor of a deadly lunch laced with toxic mushrooms said on
Monday he felt only half alive following the death of his wife and he
continued to grieve the loss of his two closest friends.
Ian Wilkinson read the first victim impact statement in the Victoria
state Supreme Court at the sentencing hearing of .
A jury Patterson, 50, in July of murdering Wilkinson’s wife Heather
Wilkinson, her sister Gail Patterson, and her husband Don Patterson
with a lunch of Beef Wellington pastries and foraged death cap
mushrooms in July 2023.
Erin Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Ian
Wilkinson, who spent weeks in hospital and survived after receiving a
liver transplant.
Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, described his wife as a woman who took her
faith seriously and was full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
“I only feel half alive without her,” Wilkinson said before
weeping.
“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 described Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of Erin Patterson’s
estranged husband Simon Patterson, as the closest people to him after
his wife and 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.
Wilkinson offered Patterson his forgiveness for the harms she had done
to him.
“I say ‘harms done to me’ advisedly. I have no power or
responsibility to forgive harms done to others,” Wilkinson 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 the Melbourne court in person on Monday rather
than watch via a video link from prison which she did during a hearing
earlier this month. She wore a paisley top with a light brown jacket.
Seven relatives of victims either read impact statements to the court
on Monday or had them read on their behalf.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
She faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25
years for attempted murder.
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