Accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson has asked for her committal hearing to be held in her local area even though it would mean more prison time, and her lawyer has revealed why.
Ms Patterson, 48, appeared in LaTrobe Valley Magistrates Court via video link for a special hearing on Monday – her first public appearance in more than five months.
The mother-of-two is represented by barrister Colin Mandy SC at what is expected to be a three-week inquest hearing.
Mandy argued there were “compelling reasons” for the hearing to be held in Ms Patterson’s local community in Leongatha, eastern Victoria, and noted many of the witnesses would come from there.
—Those are your instructions, your honor. “She would like her sentence to be heard… in her local community,” he told magistrate Tim Walsh.
‘It is not just a matter of principle: there are compelling reasons why the internment has to take place in Mrs Patterson’s local community.
“The process should take place in the community where the crimes were allegedly committed, closer to their home.”
Walsh said he could not hold the preliminary hearing at the court in Morwell, 60 kilometers from Leongatha, because it was full.
He warned that a delay could result in Patterson spending an additional 15 months in custody on top of the 172 days he has already spent behind bars.
Ms Patterson appeared at LaTrobe Valley Magistrates Court via video link for a special hearing on Monday – her first public appearance in more than five months.
Criminal defense attorney Celine Khoury (pictured in Sunrise on Tuesday morning) said it could be up to two years before Erin Patterson’s trial takes place.
Ms Patterson has been behind bars at the Dame Phyllis Frost Center in Melbourne’s industrial western suburbs since her arrest last November (pictured, a prison cell).
Criminal defense lawyer Celine Khoury told Sunrise host Natalie Barr that it could be up to two years before Ms Patterson’s trial takes place.
‘So, as we have heard, the internment will not be until next year. I think they’re saying three weeks. But these things can go very far,” he said.
“So if we don’t get a commitment until next year, I don’t think we’ll see a trial for at least a year and a half to two years.”
But the first step is to try to have the internment carried out. And once we’ve crossed that bridge, a magistrate will make a decision on whether there is enough evidence to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
“If there is enough evidence to present it to a jury, then Mrs. Patterson will appear.” Guilty or not guilty, the matter will be elevated. And then she will be judged.
On Monday, Crown prosecutor Sarah Lenthall objected to the proposed delay and said the committal hearing should take place “as soon as possible”.
Walsh refused to accept Patterson’s request and said he would give his decision when the matter returned to court next month.
Ms Patterson was remanded in custody to reappear in court on May 7.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson (right) survived the meal but his wife Gail (left) died.
Don and Gail Patterson died after eating allegedly poisoned food at Erin Patterson’s home.
The 48-year-old has been behind bars at the Dame Phyllis Frost Center in Melbourne’s industrial western suburbs since her arrest last November.
She is among 600 maximum security inmates at Victoria’s toughest women’s prison, which is notoriously violent, freezing in the winter and boiling hot in the summer.
Located between an asphalt quarry and an electrical substation, Dame Phyllis Frost is one of three adjacent prisons housing thousands of inmates, two of them run by the state.
Patterson can receive visits from friends or his children, but not on Christmas Day, when the state’s public prisons are closed to visitors.
She will have contact with prison chaplains behind bars at this time and has reportedly been reading the Bible, which is available inside, since her incarceration.
Ms Patterson’s former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died from suspected mushroom poisoning after eating a beef Wellington dish cooked by Patterson at her Leongatha home on July 29.
She is also charged with five counts of attempted murder of her ex-husband Simon Patterson.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only one to survive the deadly lunch.
