A woman accused of killing her ex-husband's relatives with poisonous mushrooms appeared in an Australian court on Friday.
Erin Patterson, 49, did not enter pleas to three counts of murder and five of attempted murder or apply to be released on bail when she appeared briefly in a local court in Morwell in Victoria state.
Patterson maintains she is innocent and says she did not intentionally serve her guests poisonous mushrooms for lunch.
While three murder charges relate to the lunch, three of five attempted murder charges are linked to separate incidents between 2021-22, according to police.
Police arrested Patterson on Thursday at her home in Leongatha, where she had served her guests beef wellington in July.
Her parents-in-law, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70 and her aunt-in-law, Heather Wilkinson, 66, were hospitalised the next day and died within days.
She was charged with the attempted murder of Ms Wilkinson's husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68, who managed to recover from his illness.
The remaining attempted murder charges relate to Patterson’s former husband, Simon, who was also invited to the lunch but did not attend, reported the Associated Press.
Officers said they were linked to three separate incidents where it is alleged a 48-year-old man became ill following meals between 2021 and 2022.
The potential maximum sentence in Victoria for murder is life imprisonment.
The defendant's two children were at home during the lunch in July but did not eat the allegedly poisonous beef wellington dish.
Police searched Patterson's house on Thursday with what they described as “technology detection dogs.”
Prosecutor Greg Ellis requested the case be adjourned for 20 weeks to allow police time to analyse computer equipment seized from the home.
Magistrate Tim Walsh ordered Patterson to remain in custody and appear in court next on May 3.
Walsh told her it was important that her case "progresses through the system as fast as possible". She replied "OK" and nodded her head.
Police say the symptoms of the four family members who attended the lunch were consistent with poisoning from death cap mushrooms.
The defendant has publicly denied any wrongdoing. Australian media has reported that she wrote in a statement that she cooked the meal using mushrooms bought from a major supermarket chain and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store.
She wrote that she also ate the meal and later had stomach pains and diarrhoea.
