A woman accused of poisoning her in-laws at a lunch admitted on Wednesday that she dumped a kitchen device used to prepare the meal laced with death cap mushrooms.
Erin Patterson, 50, said she disposed of the food dehydrator at a local tip because she feared she would be blamed for making her relatives ill and her children would be taken from her, a court heard.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to killing her estranged husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, in July 2023.
They died after eating death cap mushrooms served in a beef wellington at Patterson's home in Victoria, Australia.
She is also accused of the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who survived.
