Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale ruled on March 14 that Erin Patterson, convicted of triple murder, must face a separate trial for three alleged attempted murders of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson. The decision aimed to prevent prejudice in the original trial.
Prosecutors ultimately dropped the attempted murder charges just before the triple-murder trial began in Morwell. Patterson was found guilty on July 7 of killing Simon's parents, Don and Gail, 70, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66, and attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson.
Prosecutors alleged Patterson attempted to poison Simon multiple times between 2021 and 2022. Incidents included a penne pasta in November 2021 that led to a five-day hospital stay, a chicken korma curry in May 2022 that caused a coma and bowel surgery, and a wrap in September 2022 that made him ill while camping.
Justice Beale ruled that the attempted murder charges should be heard separately to prevent jurors from misusing or overvaluing the evidence. He stated that the probative value of the evidence did not substantially outweigh the risk of unfair prejudice to the accused.
Beale also excluded evidence of poison-related documents found on Patterson's devices and a Facebook post to a poisons page, citing temporal remoteness and lack of relevance. Patterson will face a pre-sentence hearing in August.
