Hundreds of people attended the funeral service that was held in Australia for the couple who passed away after eating a mushroom beef Wellington that was prepared by their ex-daughter-in-law.
Gail and Don Patterson were two of the three guests who passed away after the lunch at Erin Patterson’s home a month ago; the incident is the subject of a scandal that has captivated the entire country.
The police have a strong suspicion that Don Patterson and his family, as well as Heather Wilkinson, took poisonous death cap mushrooms.
Ms. Patterson has maintained that she is blameless and that her usage of mushrooms was only accidental.
Her four guests were all struck with a severe illness several hours after the lunch. The fourth person there was Ian, Ms. Wilkinson’s husband, who is also a pastor in the community.
According to reports from Australian media outlets, Mr. Wilkinson continues to be hospitalized but is making progress toward a recovery.
Despite the fact that Erin Patterson, along with her two children, did not appear to be injured after the lunch, the police have designated her as a suspect. However, she has not been arrested, nor are there any accusations pending against her at this time.
According to the cook, the deaths in Australia caused by mushrooms were accidental.
On Thursday, she was noticeably absent from the gathering of mourners that took place at the memorial service in the rural community of Korumburra, which is located about three hours’ journey south-east of Melbourne.
The primary eulogy was given by her ex-husband Simon Patterson, and it was his first publicly recorded comments on the tragedy. In spite of the fact that he had been invited to the family lunch on July 29, he ended up being unable to attend at the very last minute.
During the emotional talk, Mr. Patterson did not name his ex-wife, but he did describe his parents as ardent Christians. Both of his parents had served as missionaries in the past, and they were guided by their faith and service to others.
“The fact that they died in consecutive days reflects the togetherness that they always worked so hard (to achieve),” he said. “The fact that they died in consecutive days.”
We were one of the few families that ate the evening meal together as a group at the tea table.
Mr. Patterson also disclosed that his father, who was 70 at the time, had undergone an emergency liver transplant while he was in the hospital, and that his “good fitness” had allowed him to survive the operation.
“Although unfortunately the rest of his body was all too sick to anywhere past that point,” he continued. “I’m sorry to say that.”
Mr. Patterson attempted to hold back his tears as he continued, saying, “It wasn’t a coincidence that mum’s final text message in our family group chat, as she lay in Dandenong Hospital, was ‘Lots of love to you all.'”
Since the terrible event that occurred in the family, Australia has been fixated on the case, and every aspect has been thoroughly investigated. Due of the widespread interest in the case across the country, there was a television team present during the service on Thursday, relaying the view to other networks.
Ms. Patterson has constantly stated that she is innocent and claimed that she was taken to the hospital after the lunch because she was experiencing stomach aches.
She defended her behavior in a statement that she had provided to the police and that was made public around two weeks ago.
