Australia to appeal Erin Patterson’s 'inadequate' sentence in mushroom murder case

Australia’s Victoria state will challenge the sentence of Erin Patterson, who was convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband using poisonous mushrooms, ABC reported on Monday. The prosecutor described the 33-year minimum prison term as “manifestly inadequate.”

Patterson, found guilty in September, had served her victims individual portions of Beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms in the township of Leongatha. The presiding judge noted that she showed no pity for her in-laws. Her 33-year sentence is among the longest ever given to a woman in Australia.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions has filed an appeal against the sentence of Erin Patterson with the Court of Appeal,” a media adviser at the Supreme Court of Victoria told Reuters. The Office of Public Prosecutions confirmed the appeal was filed on the grounds that the sentence was “manifestly inadequate.”

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Under the sentence, Patterson will be in her 80s before she can apply for parole. Last week, her barrister Richard Edney said she plans to appeal her conviction, though no formal appeal has been lodged yet.

The case has attracted intense public and media attention, drawing journalists, podcasters, and documentary makers from across Australia and the world to the small courthouse in Morwell.