Mushroom killer Erin Patterson barely even blinked as she was told she will likely die in prison after being sentenced to life in jail. No tears. No emotion. Just…nothing.
But in a minor win for the cold-blooded killer, Justice Christopher Beale set a non-parole period of 33 years, meaning Patterson will be aged around 83 when she becomes eligible to apply for it.
Patterson, 50, pleaded not guilty to the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.
They died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in beef Wellingtons during lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Only Pastor Ian Wilkinson survived the lunch, with Patterson also convicted of his attempted murder.
On Monday, Justice Christopher Beale decided to jail Patterson for life after agreeing with prosecutors that her offending deserved the full penalty available under Victorian law.
Under Victorian law, 25 years is considered a life sentence.
‘Your failure to show any remorse pours salt into your victims’ wounds,’ Justice Beale said.
Erin Patterson enters the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday
Patterson will likely spend the rest of her natural life bound in chains every time she steps foot outside of her prison cell
Erin Patterson pictured on August 25 as she arrived at the Supreme Court of Victoria to hear victim impact statements
The court heard the respected judge found the matter of setting a parole date his toughest task.
Patterson’s victims had suffered a prolonged and agonising death after consuming the death cap mushrooms.
Patterson stared blankly ahead throughout the 45-minute sentence, showing no signs of emotion.
Dressed in a paisley top and tan jacket, the mother of two appeared subdued, blinking profusely as her crimes were read aloud in court for what was likely the very last time.
Wedged between two prison guards in the prison dock of courtroom four, she appeared to almost fall asleep as her sentence went on.
Patterson was observed leaning back into her chair with her eyes closed throughout much of the sentence.
Upon leaving the court to begin her sentence, she tapped the desks being used by reporters as she walked past.
Justice Beale said he accepted Patterson had indeed served her guests poisoned beef Wellingtons on plates of different colours to her own.
He also accepted she had lured them to their deaths with a phoney story about having cancer.
Ian Wilkinson and his daughter Ruth Dubois outside the court in Melbourne on Monday
Media try to snare a photo of Patterson in the prison van outside the Supreme Court on Monday
The Trial of Erin Patterson is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. Listen here
The court heard Patterson had misled health officials and police following the lunch in an effort to conceal her crime.
Justice Beale condemned Patterson for the lies she told to authorities and the jury to cover her tracks.
‘I am satisfied that your vague story about the Asian grocery was a lie,’ Justice Beale said.
On Monday,members of the public eager for justice lined up along Williams Street for one of the few pulbic seats available in the Supreme Court
More than 1300 people also tuned into the livestream of the sentence.
In a rare concession, television cameras were allowed to beam out the sentence to the public live, although Patterson was not allowed to be filmed.
A large media pack descended upon the court, with a helicopter hovering overhead and more than 50 reporters crammed into the courtroom.
The sentence was picked up by television networks across the planet, with people expected to wake up to the news oceans away.
Justice Beale said he accepted Patterson had meticulously planned the deadly lunch.
‘You did so with the intention of killing them all,’ he said.
Members of the public, many of whom attended the trial in Morwell, snaked down William Street to get a seat inside the court room on Monday
Justice Beale said Patterson bought the dehydrator to dry the death cap mushrooms she used in the beef Wellingtons.
‘You showed no pity for your victims,’ Justice Beale said.
‘You repeatedly denied foraging … we will never know whether revealing the use of foraged mushrooms would have made a difference.’
Justice Beale said it was ‘implausible’ Patterson did not research how the death caps would have killed her victims.
‘You engaged in an elaborate cover-up of your guilt,’ he said.
Justice Beale outlined all of the lies Patterson had told anyone who would listen following the lunch.
He described her offending as an ‘enormous breach of trust’.
‘Not only did you cut short three lives … you inflicted untold suffering on your own children who you robbed of their own grandparents.’
He told the court Patterson’s offending was the worst of its kind.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall (right) arrives at court for Patterson’s sentence on Monday. He was the man responsible for bringing the killer to justice
Members of the public line up outside the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday
‘The gravity of your offending warrants the maximum penalty,’ Justice Beale said.
In coming to his decision, Justice Beale said Patterson had spent 15 months in isolation and would spend years further in solitary confinement.
Justice Beale said those harsh conditions needed to ‘count’ when it came to her sentence.
Patterson’s own defence team earlier accepted Patterson should be sentenced to no less than 30 years in jail for her crimes.
‘We make no argument, your honour, that the head sentence should be anything other than life imprisonment,’ her barrister Colin Mandy, SC told the court during a pre-sentence hearing last month.
‘The ultimate issue – the dispute between the parties or at issue between the parties is whether or not a non-parole period should be fixed.
‘Ms Patterson is 50 years of age, and so because these allegations, these convictions are standard sentence offences, unless the court considers that it’s in the interest of justice not to do so, the court must fix a non-parole period of 30 years if the relevant term is the term of the offender’s natural life.
‘Even the imposition of a 30-year non-parole period would see Ms Patterson reach the age of 80 or so before she became eligible to apply for parole.’
Patterson’s chances of securing a non-parole period had been hampered by her refusal to show any insight into her offending.
She maintains her innocence and therefore was seen by the court as a remorseless killer with little to no chance of rehabilitation, even after 30 years behind bars.
Karen Chetcuti was subjected to a horrific death, which earnt her killer life in prison without a chance of parole
The crimes of evil killer Michael Cardamone have been compared to those of Erin Patterson
Crown prosecutor Jane Warren had cited the disturbing case of evil killer Michael Cardamone to reinforce her argument that Patterson should be denied parole.
Cardamone, who was aged 50 like Patterson, sedated Karen Chetcuti near Wangaratta in 2016 with an animal tranquilliser, bound and gagged her, injected her with methamphetamine and battery acid, fractured her skull and then burnt her alive.
Cardamone was jailed in 2017 for life without parole by Justice Lex Lasry, who openly stated the cold-blooded killer deserved no mercy.
‘It’s obviously a question that your honour may consider. And that is the question of mercy,’ Ms Warren told Justice Beale.
‘His Honour Justice Lasry considered the question of mercy and whether mercy might be applied in the sentencing exercise; and his decision ultimately not to fix a non-parole period in that case.
‘And his honour stated that, “Sometimes a crime is so horrific, so cruel, and so callous that a step towards mercy becomes too difficult to take”.
‘In our submission, that is apt for this case. It is a crime that is so cruel and so horrific that in our submission the offender is not deserving of this court’s mercy.’
Patterson’s living conditions in jail had been the only thing standing in the way of her not receiving a non-parole period.
Patterson’s legal team Sophie Stafford, Ophelia Hollway and Colin Mandy, SC enter the Supreme Court of Victoria last month
Crown prosecutors Dr Nanette Rogers and Jane Warren have called for nothing less than life without parole for Patterson
She has remained in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre’s notorious Gordon Unit for much of her time, with no prospect of moving anytime soon.
Known as a management unit for the jail’s most high-risk offenders, it contains only 20 cells for the worst of society.
There, prisoners are locked down as much as 23 hours a day, with limited access to a small, one-square-metre courtyard at the rear of their cells.
The court heard the Gordon Unit where Patterson is held was recently described as ‘appalling’ by a County Court judge.
Mr Mandy argued no person should be caged for the remainder of their life under such extreme conditions.
‘Informing the question of whether a non-parole period should be fixed, we submit, are the conditions and circumstances of her imprisonment,’ he told the court.
‘Plainly where a prisoner is held in isolation or separation as it’s described here, that’s a factor relevant to sentence.
‘The contention is that Ms Patterson will likely be held in those conditions for the foreseeable future and perhaps … for the entire length of her sentence.’
Mr Mandy pointed to the case of Cardinal George Pell, who faced similar jail conditions when he was originally sentenced over historical child sex offences that were eventually overturned.
‘We use that phrase “likely” because it falls within Chief Judge Kidd’s ruling in Pell where his honour said that it’s necessary for the court to inform themselves as to the probabilities of a custodial situation,’ Mr Mandy said.
Patterson’s friend Ali Rose Prior outside the courthouse on Monday
Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Erin Patterson on live television
‘(Patterson) will in our submission always be at risk from other prisoners and that risk, regrettably, given the auspices of the custodial arrangement, can only be effectively managed by isolation.
‘Those are very deprived circumstances.’
Justice Beale suggested some concern over the prospect of Patterson being held within the Gordon Unit for the entirety of her sentence.
‘(It) doesn’t sound very humane,’ he said.
As it stood, the judge had no real idea whether or not Patterson would indeed spend her life caged in isolation, but thought she would likely spend many years there.
‘Your honour cannot sentence on the basis of prediction or mere speculation,’ Ms Warren told him.
‘Well, I feel fairly confident that she’s going to remain notorious for a long, long time,’ Justice Beale responded.
Ms Warren argued Justice Beale could not sentence on the basis that Patterson would spend her entire sentence in those conditions.
‘But, we accept, certainly, the foreseeable future,’ she said.
The once wealthy killer, who is believed to have now exhausted that wealth, has 28 days to appeal the decision.
Without funding, she will need to convince taxpayer-funded lawyers an appeal was justified.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .