Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Verdict could come as early as today as judge gives jury firm warning

Justice Christopher Beale reminded the jury Erin Patterson didn’t have to give evidence.

The defence previously submitted Patterson was ‘subjected to a lengthy cross examination’ which lasted five days.

‘She was careful, pedantic at times, you wouldn’t have had the impression that she was trying to charm you, persuade you,’ Mr Mandy said of his client’s time in the witness box.

‘She came through unscathed.’

Justice Beale made the comments on Friday, before sending the jury home early for the weekend.

‘Don’t let anybody get in your ear over the weekend,’ Justice Beale warned.

‘Only discuss this case with fellow jurors. Have a media blackout as far as you’re concerned.

‘You’ve been doing a great job, keep going.’

The trial will resume at 10.30am.

Justice Christopher Beale commenced his address to the jury – or ‘charge’ – last week after allowing jurors to prepare for the closing stage of the marathon Erin Patterson murder trial.

On Thursday, Justice Beale indicated that his address will conclude today and then two jurors will be balloted out before the remaining 12 decide Patterson’s fate.

This means there is a possibility a verdict in the murder trial, which has garnered worldwide attention, could come as early as today.

Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms.

Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit.

The court heard Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon (pictured), was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but didn’t attend.

Witnesses told the jury that Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate to those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates.

Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this.

Justice Beale said he wanted to ‘focus on confirmed lies’ which would help the jury ‘assess Patterson’s credibility’ while he gave directions to the jury on how to assess the alleged incriminating conduct.

‘You can use the fact she lied to help determine the truthfulness of things she said,’ he said.

Justice Beale told the jury if they believed she lied to cover up the crime, they still needed to stake into account all of the evidence observed during the trial.

‘It includes, as you know, alleged lies,’ Justice Beale said.

‘I will concentrate on the alleged lies for a moment because there are two ways you can use them if you find there were lies and there were some admitted lies.

‘That is not to say just because you find the accused lied about one matter, you must also find she has been lying about everything else.’

Justice Beale told the jury they needed to consider if Patterson behaved the way she did because she feared she looked guilty.

He then turned to ‘alleged credit lies’, which he explained assess the credibility of the accused.

Justice Beale said if the jury believed Patterson told lies they could use it against her credibility.

Justice Beale is now referring to a German article on death cap mushroom poisonings which was previously mentioned in evidence.

The article included a severity grading of amanita poisoning – the toxic ingredient of a death cap mushroom.

The jury heard Grade 4 is the most serious and often ends up fatal for patients, but Grade 1 says ‘patients exhibit gastrointestinal phase with typical delay, but do not develop signs of liver or kidney dysfunction’.

Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos (pictured) gave evidence about the article, and under cross-examination Mr Mandy asked the expert witness about ‘explanations for differences in reactions’ to death cap poisoning.

Dr Gerostamoulos said factors that may explain different reactions of individuals who have eaten the same meal include variations in concentration of toxins, how much of the meal was consumed, general health, weight, age and ‘toxic tolerances’.

Mr Mandy asked the expert if two adults, with no serious pre-existing health conditions, consumed the same amount and same meal, which contained death cap mushrooms, and one person died, what would he expect the health outcomes to be for the person who did not die?

Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos said: ‘It would be likely that there would be some adverse outcomes for that person who survived.’

Justice Beale reminded the jury in Victoria last year that there was an incident where two people consumed the same meal containing death cap mushrooms where one person died while the other one was ‘significantly ill’ for a period and ended up in the ICU.