The Victorian woman suspected of allegedly poisoning family members with mushrooms is now claiming that she too ate the tainted mushrooms.
Erin Patterson has given an official statement to police where she claims she purchased the mushrooms from two stores and also consumed them.
The 45-year-old prepared the lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29 for her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and Wilkinson’s husband Ian.
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Don and Gail Patterson, both in their 70s, have since died, 66-year-old Heather Wilkinson has also died while her husband 68-year-old Ian continues to fight for life.
According to Patterson, the meal contained both button mushrooms from the grocery store and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne.
Police believe the four people allegedly consumed death cap mushrooms.
Patterson claimed she was also hospitalised after consuming the meal and that her children were not at home at the time of the lunch.
According to the ABC, Patterson is hoping her statement will “clear up the record”.
I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones.
Erin Patterson
“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 judgment.
“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.”
Investigations are ongoing.
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