Victoria’s Supreme Court will hand down the triple murderer Erin Patterson’s sentence on Monday morning, with the hearing to be broadcast live in a historic first for the state.
The state’s supreme court will allow a television camera inside the courtroom to broadcast the sentencing hearing – with a 10-second delay – for the first time.
Patterson, 50, faces the prospect of spending the rest of her life in prison. Justice Christopher Beale will deliver her sentence from 9.30 am in a hearing expected to last about 30 minutes.
In July, after an 11-week trial, a jury found Patterson guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband, Simon, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The jury also convicted Patterson of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson.
Patterson hosted the guests at a lunch in July 2023, deliberately feeding them beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms.
Delivering an emotional victim impact statement in a pre-sentencing hearing last month, Wilkinson, a pastor, offered Patterson forgiveness for trying to murder him.
“Now I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness,” he said.
But Wilkinson said he was “compelled to seek justice” for the three murder victims. He said he bore Patterson no ill will and his prayer for her was that she would use her time in custody to reform.
Simon Patterson said his estranged wife’s crimes had robbed their two children, a son born in 2009 and a daughter born in 2014, of “the kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for”.
The prosecution and defence agreed Patterson should receive a life sentence for her crimes, which Beale said were “horrendous”. Prosecutors called for no prospect of parole for Patterson, while the defence said she should be given a chance to be released.
Patterson’s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, said her notoriety meant she was in onerous conditions – spending 22 hours locked in her cell – which should be considered by Beale. He said his client’s isolation made the “burden of imprisonment” much greater for her than for other prisoners.
Jane Warren, for the prosecution, agreed that Beale could consider these conditions.
Beale said the fact that Patterson had spent most of her days isolated in her cell for at least 14 months since her arrest in November 2023 “doesn’t sound very humane”.
While it is typically illegal for media outlets to record inside a courtroom, the court has granted permission for a television camera to film Beale handing down his sentencing remarks. The footage, which media outlets can re-broadcast, will go live with a 10-second delay.
Patterson will have until 6 October to lodge an appeal against her conviction, sentence or both.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges and claimed the deaths were a tragic accident.
In Victoria, the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment without parole.
The standard sentence is 25 years’ imprisonment, according to a guide for judicial officers produced by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria. Standard sentences apply to a range of serious offences and must be considered as a guidepost by the court when making a sentencing decision.
The last triple murderer to be sentenced in Victoria was Robert Farquharson, who was convicted of murdering his children in 2007 and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years.
