SYDNEY — Erin Patterson, 50, on trial for allegedly poisoning three relatives with death cap mushrooms, denied claims she left the hospital to cover her tracks.

Patterson is accused of killing her former in-laws and aunt-in-law in a July 2023 lunch, and attempting to murder a fourth guest who survived. She claims the poisoning was accidental and that she left the hospital briefly after feeling unwell to pack her child's ballet bag and care for pets, not to avoid suspicion.

Prosecutors allege she used the 95-minute absence to fake illness and hide evidence. They also presented internet records showing she had accessed a death cap mushroom site in 2022, which Patterson says she doesn’t recall.

The court heard that Patterson invited her estranged husband to the meal, but he declined. His parents and aunt later died; his uncle survived after a long hospital stay. Patterson said she vomited due to an eating disorder, explaining why she wasn’t as sick. Prosecutors accused her of lying.