The sole survivor of a fatal mushroom lunch has extended forgiveness to the woman who cooked it, killing his wife and two other relatives.
Erin Patterson, 50, was found guilty last month of killing three relatives and attempting to kill another with a beef Wellington lunch that was laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms.
Patterson had invited the victims around for lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, in July 2023.
Ian Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, was the only guest at the lunch to survive. In the Victorian supreme court on Monday, he delivered a moving impact statement in which he said he felt "half alive" without his wife Heather, who died after eating the lunch.
Moved to tears as he spoke, he described Heather as a kind and loving woman who took her faith seriously.
Despite his loss, he extended words of forgiveness to Patterson, who is due to be sentenced on 8 September.
“It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good,” he said.
He added, “I’m distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard for my life and the lives of those I love.
"What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of people who have only good intentions towards her?”
Extending forgiveness to Patterson, he said, “I say ‘harms done to me’ advisedly. I have no power or responsibility to forgive harms done to others.
“My prayer for her is that she will use her time in jail wisely to become a better person."
He added, “Now I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness.”
The other two victims of the lunch were his close friends Gail and Don Patterson, who were the parents of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson. Gail Patterson was Heather Wilkinson's sister.
“My life is greatly impoverished without them,” Wilkinson said.
Simon Patterson's victim impact statement was read in court by his cousin Naomi Gleadow.
He said he missed his parents and aunt “more than words can express" but added that he was "thankful however that they are with God, and I will see them again”.
