Overview

• Justice Christopher Beale delivered the sentence in a televised hearing with a 10‑second delay, a first for Victoria’s supreme court.
• Patterson received three life terms for the murders, served concurrently with a 25‑year sentence for the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
• Prosecutors urged life without parole while the defense sought a chance of release; the judge fixed a 33‑year non‑parole period.
• Patterson maintains her innocence and has until 6 October to appeal her convictions and sentence.
• The case stemmed from a July 2023 lunch in Leongatha where a beef Wellington was laced with death cap mushrooms, killing Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, with Ian Wilkinson surviving.