Justice Christopher Beale will sentence the triple murderer on Monday, with the hearing to be broadcast live in a state first
Justice Christopher Beale will sentence the triple murderer on Monday, with the hearing to be broadcast live in a state first
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 9.30am 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.
