Erin Patterson says her lies to police after cooking a deadly meal for her estranged husband’s family were a “stupid knee-jerk reaction” to finding out people had become sick.

The accused triple murderer, 50, spent a fourth day in the witness box before a Supreme Court jury on Thursday.

She has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian.

All three died in hospital days after eating death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons in July 2023, at Patterson’s Leongatha home in regional Victoria.

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC finished his examination in chief of Patterson on Thursday morning by asking about her lies to police.

Citing her police interview on August 5, 2023, he asked Patterson if she had lied about never having dehydrated food and denying ownership of a dehydrator.

“Were those lies?” Mandy asked.

“Yes,” Patterson replied.

He then asked her why she lied to detectives about the dehydrator.

“I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms that I’d foraged for the meal I prepared was responsible for making people sick,” Patterson said.

After police told her, during a search of her home before the interview, that Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson had died she had a “stupid knee-jerk reaction to just dig deeper and keep lying”.

“I was just scared, but I shouldn’t have done it,” Patterson told the court.

Mandy asked Patterson if her answer to police that she had “never” foraged for mushrooms was also a lie.

“Yes, they were both lies,” she replied.

He then asked if she intended to kill or cause serious injury to each of her lunch guests by serving them poisonous beef Wellingtons.

“No, I didn’t,” she said.

Asked if she intended to harm them, she said no.

Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC began her cross-examination of Patterson before midday and went straight into Patterson’s lies.

She put to Patterson that she had disposed of the food dehydrator because she had been using it to dry death cap mushrooms.

“I didn’t know that I’d done that,” Patterson said.

Rogers then accused Patterson of having “rushed out” of Monash Hospital, the day after she was released, to get rid of evidence.

“No,” Patterson said.

“You lied to police about never owning a dehydrator because you had used the dehydrator to prepare death cap mushrooms to include in the lunch,” Rogers said.

“No, I didn’t know that,” Patterson said.

“You lied because you knew if you told police the truth it would implicate you in the deliberate poisoning of your four lunch guests,” Rogers said.

Patterson responded: “No, no, it’s not true.”

As the trial nears the end of week six, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury he could not say how much longer it would go but they should make arrangements.

He said Patterson may be in the witness box into early next week. The court would not sit on Monday, which is a public holiday in Victoria.

After that, he said there would be some legal discussions without the jury, and then there could be “more evidence”.

Closing addresses from the prosecution and defence will follow, and could each take “a couple of days”. Beale will then give directions to the jury, which could take another couple of days.

“Then the boot is on the other foot because none of you can tell me how long you will be in deliberations. Take all the time you need,” Beale said.

The trial continues.

-AAP