Victoria Court of Appeal rejects Erin Patterson's appeal and refuses to reduce non-parole period
The Court of Appeal dismissed Erin Patterson's appeal against her murder convictions and agreed with the director of public prosecutions that her 33-year non-parole period should not be reduced.
A three-judge panel of the Victorian Court of Appeal rejected Erin Patterson's appeal on all grounds and upheld the director of public prosecutions' request for a longer non-parole period. Patterson, 52, is serving a life sentence with a 33-year non-parole term for the murders of her estranged husband’s parents and aunt, and for the attempted murder of the aunt’s husband, who survived after eating a mushroom-contaminated meal.
Justice Stephen McLeish said the court dismissed all but two of Patterson's appeal grounds, granted leave on the remaining two, and then dismissed those as well. He added that the court agreed with the DPP that Patterson should be resentenced because the nature of the offences made a fixed non-parole period inappropriate.
"The offending was carefully planned and deliberate, involving an elaborate series of deceptions," McLeish said, noting Patterson's false statements about having cancer, the source of the mushrooms and her foraging activities.
The court concluded that Patterson intended to kill all four victims over a three-week period, from the invitation to the lunch through to the victims' deaths. The judges indicated that any future parole application would not be expected until Patterson is in her early 80s.
Patterson has 28 days to seek leave to appeal to the High Court and may apply for a further appeal if new, compelling evidence emerges, though such a request faces a high evidentiary threshold.