The true motive behind Erin Patterson’s court docket bombshell – as her jail circumstances are revealed

A lawyer has revealed why accused mushroom chef killer Erin Patterson has requested that her committal listening to be held in her native space, regardless of the transfer leading to further jail time.

Ms Patterson, 48, appeared in LaTrobe Valley Magistrates’ Courtroom through video-link for a particular listening to on Monday – her first public look in additional than 5 months.

The mother-of-two is being represented by barrister Colin Mandy SC in what is anticipated to be a three-week committal listening to.

Mr Mandy argued there have been ‘highly effective causes’ for the listening to to happen in Ms Patterson’s area people in Leongatha, jap Victoria, noting that most of the witnesses would come from there.

‘These are her directions, your honour. She wish to have her committal heard… in her area people,’ he advised Justice of the Peace Tim Walsh.

‘It is not solely a matter of precept, there are highly effective causes for a committal having to happen in Ms Patterson’s area people.

‘The proceedings must be held locally the place the offences are alleged to have taken place, nearer to her residence.’

Mr Walsh stated he couldn’t accommodate the preliminary listening to within the court docket in Morwell, 60km from Leongatha, as a result of it was booked out.

He warned {that a} delay may see Ms Patterson spend an additional 15 months in custody on high of the 172 days she has already spent behind bars.

Prison defence lawyer Celine Khoury advised Dawn host Natalie Barr that it could possibly be as much as two years earlier than Ms Patterson’s trial takes place.

‘So, as we have heard, committal isn’t going to be till subsequent 12 months. I feel they’re saying three weeks. However these items can blow actually far out,’ she stated.

‘So if we’re not getting a committal for till subsequent 12 months, I do not suppose we will be seeing a trial for not less than a year-and-a-half to 2 years.

‘However step one is to attempt to get the committal achieved. And as soon as we have crossed that bridge, then a Justice of the Peace will decide as to if there’s sufficient proof to uplift the matter to the Supreme Courtroom.

‘If there’s sufficient proof for it to go earlier than a jury, then Ms Patterson will enter (a plea). Responsible or not responsible, the matter shall be uplifted. After which she shall be tried.’

On Monday, Crown prosecutor Sarah Lenthall objected to the proposed delay and stated the committal listening to ought to proceed ‘as quickly as doable’.

Mr Walsh refused to decide to Ms Patterson’s request and stated he would hand down his choice when the matter returned to court docket subsequent month.

Ms Patterson was remanded in custody to re-appear in court docket on Could 7.

The 48-year-old has been behind bars on the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne’s western industrial suburbs since her arrest final November.

She is amongst 600 maximum-security feminine inmates in Victoria’s hardest ladies’s jail which is notoriously violent, freezing in winter and boiling scorching in summer season. 

Positioned between an asphalt quarry and {an electrical} substation, Dame Phyllis Frost is certainly one of three adjoining jails housing hundreds of inmates, two of them state-run.

Patterson can obtain visits from associates or her kids, however not on Christmas Day when the state’s public prisons are closed to guests. 

She may have contact with jail chaplains behind bars presently, and reportedly since her incarceration has been studying the Bible, which is available inside.

Ms Patterson’s former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died from suspected mushroom poisoning after consuming a beef wellington dish cooked by Patterson at her Leongatha residence on July 29.

She is additional charged with 5 counts of tried homicide of her estranged husband Simon Patterson. 

Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the one one to outlive the lethal lunch.