Mushroom murder accused Erin Patterson is happy to wait behind bars for more than a year if it means her case can be held near her regional Victorian home.
Patterson faced court for the first time in five months today over the alleged mushroom poisonings via video link from a secure wing at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
She was dressed in a blue prison jumper.
Magistrate Tim Walsh asked if Patterson could hear him OK. " Yes, thank you," she replied as the hearing got underway.
The 49-year-old was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder last November after serving a beef wellington meal to her relatives.
Police allege she was laced it with death cap mushrooms on July 29.
Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, subsequently died following the lunch.
Two of the attempted murder charges are related to the sole survivor of the lunch, Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, and Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, who was invited but did not attend.
Patterson is also alleged to have attempted to murder Simon on three separate occasions in 2021 and 2022. She and her husband had separated before the alleged attempted murders. They have two children.
'If it has to be next year, Ms Patterson is happy to wait for that'
More than 70 people watched today’s hearing, with dozens of journalists and observers sitting in the courtroom at Morwell, about 150km east of Melbourne.
Walsh said the regional magistrates court could not accommodate Patterson's committal hearing until next year, as it was servicing six courts out of one location.
He asked Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy SC if the case could be moved to Melbourne Magistrates Court or fast-tracked to the Supreme Court. Mandy said Patterson wanted the committal hearing to be heard at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court instead.
"If it happens next year, then Ms Patterson's content to wait for that," he said. Walsh said it would mean she would be in custody for up to 15 months "at the least".
The defence barrister said his client wanted the committal to be held close to her home.
"It's not only a matter of principle, and there are powerful reasons for the committal having to take place in Ms Patterson's local community," Mandy said.
The defence provided prosecutors with a list of anticipated witnesses to be called at the committal.
Mandy said he expected the hearing to go for three weeks.
The case was adjourned to a committal mention on May 7, when Walsh will decide whether to move it to Melbourne. Patterson is then expected to formally enter a plea.
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