In a written statement sent to Victoria Police on Friday – and obtained exclusively by the ABC – Gippsland woman Erin Patterson has given her first detailed account of what transpired before and after the fatal lunch.
“I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones,” Ms Patterson said.
“I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.”
Ms Patterson’s mother and father-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, died after eating lunch at Ms Patterson’s home in Leongatha, a town south-east of Melbourne, on July 29.
Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, also died, and her husband Ian Wilkinson was left in a critical condition.
Speculation has swirled in the fortnight since the shocking events in the small South Gippsland community, and has only intensified as police remain tight-lipped about the status of their investigation.
Police have said the people who fell ill and died displayed symptoms of having eaten death cap mushrooms, and last week said Ms Patterson was being treated as a suspect but that investigators were keeping an open mind.