Arabic version: قرار استئناف باترسون مرتقب في المحكمة العليا بولاية فيكتوريا

According to ABC News, Erin Patterson will learn whether her appeal against convictions for murdering three lunch guests and attempting to murder a fourth with poisonous mushrooms in 2023 has succeeded.

Patterson, 52, is serving three life sentences with a 33-year non-parole period after a jury found her guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson. The three died after being served death cap mushrooms in beef Wellington at Patterson’s Leongatha home in Victoria’s south-east. Ian Wilkinson, a Korumburra church pastor and Heather Wilkinson’s husband, survived after becoming gravely ill.

Her lawyers argued at a two-day appeal hearing in August that a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred during the 2025 Morwell trial. They cited an accommodation issue that placed jurors at the same hotel as the prosecution’s main police witness and two prosecution team members. The defence also challenged prosecutor Nanette Roger SC’s cross-examination and closing address.

Judges Lesley Taylor, Stephen McLeish and Peter Kidd must first decide whether to grant leave to appeal. They could refuse leave, dismiss the appeal, uphold it and order a retrial, or quash the verdicts and acquit Patterson. The court will also decide a prosecution appeal seeking a life sentence without parole if Patterson’s appeal fails. Patterson is not expected to attend the hearing, which will be held in Court 1 of the Victorian Supreme Court because of strong public and media interest.