By Mikaela Ortolan, ABC
Dr Chris Webster was convinced of Erin Patterson's involvement in the mushroom poisoning of her in-laws when she told the emergency doctor she got the death cap mushrooms from Woolworths. Photo: ABC News
While convicted triple-murderer Erin Patterson sat in a Leongatha hospital just days after she had prepared and served a poisonous meal to her relatives, it was one word she said that led a doctor treating her to believe she was guilty.
Dr Chris Webster answered the Leongatha Hospital doorbell when Patterson first presented and quickly connected the 50-year-old to four other patients who had suspected mushroom poisoning.
On Monday, a jury found Patterson guilty of murdering her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Gail's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who fell gravely ill after the lunch but survived.
Webster, who gave evidence during the nine-week trial, said he grew suspicious of her almost immediately.
"I explained that death cap mushroom poisoning was suspected and [asked] where'd you get the mushrooms," he said on Tuesday.
According to him, she replied with a single word: "Woolworths."
And it was in that moment that he said he came to the conclusion that Patterson had carried out a murderous act.
"When she didn't respond in a way that instantly would have explained it as a tragic accident, that's it, from that moment in my mind she was guilty," he said.
"She was evil and very smart to have planned it all and carried it out but didn't quite dot every 'i' and cross every 't'."
Coming face-to-face with Erin in court
Webster said there was a lot to take in when he first walked into the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell.
"You're terrified, you're incredibly anxious," he said.
He recalled the moment he glanced at Patterson, who was sitting at the back of the courtroom while he took the witness box.
"When I took the opportunity to sort of sneak a peek, it was visceral," Webster said.
"I felt the intensity, the hostility and the negativity towards me through her glare.
"It was a very intense gaze that we exchanged and I kind of looked away fairly quickly."
Erin Patterson denied poisoning four of her in-laws, three of whom died. Photo: AFP / MARTIN KEEP
Webster had worked at urgent care for eight years when Patterson presented on the Monday after the lunch.
He said her actions whilst there set off alarm bells in his mind as she sat down "not far from Ian and Heather".
"Erin sat in a chair and I don't even remember her looking in the direction of Ian and Heather Wilkinson - they weren't barriered, there were opened curtains on the cubicle."
He said she lacked "any sort of expected normal human emotional response" to being in that situation.
"When people come through the doors that I led Erin through, they usually make a beeline for their [loved one]. They go straight to that bed and they embrace the loved one," he said.
"They usually cry or shake or respond in an emotive way and then they spin around and they try to find a nurse or a doctor to come over and explain what's going on to their loved one."
'She's evil', doctor says
During his evidence, Webster told the court he had informed Patterson that she would be given urgent medical treatment, but within minutes, and against medical advice, she left the building.
CCTV footage showed another doctor, Veronica Foote, trying to stop Patterson from leaving but after signing a discharge form she is seen walking out.
Webster told the jury he tried to contact Patterson three times after she had left the hospital and resorted to calling police with the hope officers could locate her and bring her back to hospital.
That triple-0 phone call was played to the jury.
He went on to tell the jury that he also held concerns for Patterson's children after she told him they had eaten beef Wellington leftovers.
"Erin was reluctant to inform the children and I said it was important, and she was concerned they were going to be frightened," he told the court during the trial.
"And I said, 'They can be scared and alive, or dead'."
While Patterson disputed some of the testimony of medical staff including Webster, the prosecution would go on to argue it was part of a series of lies she told to cover up an act of murder.
Now behind bars, Patterson's home in Leongatha sits empty and the frenzy that followed the case has simmered.
"It's just a sad way to get recognition for a lovely town really," one of Patterson's neighbours said, who was "glad" the ordeal was over.
- ABC
