{"id":11629,"date":"2025-09-09T11:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/11629\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T11:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:49:08","slug":"erin-patterson-compensation-for-victims-likely-to-be-sought-from-mushroom-killer-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/11629\/","title":{"rendered":"Erin Patterson: Compensation for victims \u2018likely\u2019 to be sought from mushroom killer estate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Patterson received a further sizeable inheritance from her mother Heather Scutter\u2019s estate after her death in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI think both of us think money was; money has not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions,\u201d Simon said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">He said the couple used part of the inheritance to travel around Australia and overseas after their wedding in 2007 and to buy and sell properties in Western Australia and Victoria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">The windfall allowed Patterson and her family a life most would be envious of \u2013 with regular trips to New Zealand and an extended holiday to Africa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI was comfortable financially, such that I could afford to go to university and I didn\u2019t need to work a full-time job at the same time,\u201d she told the jury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">In the witness box, Simon agreed Patterson was \u201cvery generous\u201d to his three siblings, each receiving large loans to purchase their family homes without interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Instead, the couples were expected to pay back their loan as they could with indexation.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Erin Patterson\u2019s home in Leongatha. Photo \/ Ian Currie, NewsWire \" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Erin Patterson\u2019s home in Leongatha. Photo \/ Ian Currie, NewsWire <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">In the years after their final separation in 2015, Patterson and her husband remained financially intertwined, with both their names listed as joint owners on several properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">In about January 2021, they began to divide assets, with Simon taking the former family home in Korumburra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Patterson took full ownership of a unit on Lyons St in Mount Waverley, a home on Shellcot Rd in Korumburra and her under-construction home on Gibson St in Leongatha.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">The Shellcot Rd home was sold after Patterson moved into Gibson St \u2013 where the fatal lunch occurred \u2013 and she sold the Mount Waverley unit six weeks after her arrest for about A$1m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Patterson bought the Gibson St block in 2019 for A$260,000 ($288,000) and enlisted Simon to help design what she expected would be her forever home, moving in 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI saw it as the final house, meaning I wanted it to be a house where the children would grow up \u2026 and I\u2019d grow old there,\u201d she told her trial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">But a year later, Patterson would find herself in custody after the poisoning murders of Simon\u2019s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt Heather Wilkinson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">An order, made by Justice Michelle Quigley on July 23, states that \u201cno person shall dispose of or otherwise deal with the property\u201d at 84 Gibson Street, Leongatha.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">It further states it is \u201clikely\u201d that an application for restitution or compensation would be made against Patterson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">The restraining order was sought by the Director of Public Prosecutions, who argued the property was considered \u201ctainted\u201d by Patterson\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Under Victoria\u2019s Sentencing Act 1991, victims of a crime can apply for restitution or compensation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Orders for compensation, of an amount a court sees fit, can be made for pain and suffering experienced, for medical and counselling expenses, or for any other expense incurred as a direct result of the offending.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Leongatha home sits on a sprawling hectare block. Photo \/ NewsWire\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Leongatha home sits on a sprawling hectare block. Photo \/ NewsWire<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">An application for a compensation order must be made within 12 months of a guilty verdict or conviction by a victim or on a victim\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">During a pre-sentence hearing, the Supreme Court was told 28 victim impact statements had been written, including from four generations of the Patterson and Wilkinson families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Patterson\u2019s remaining wealth, aside from what was spent on her top-tier defence team, will likely be sought as compensation to members of those families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Proceedings related to the restraining order over the property are listed to return to the Supreme Court in November for a directions hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">On Monday, Patterson was jailed for life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years over the murder of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patterson received a further sizeable inheritance from her mother Heather Scutter\u2019s estate after her death in 2019. \u201cI&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14237,5837,5195,14238,334,1349,6023,638,1872,2082,71,42,14236,14239,14235,120,4275,14234,43,1523,14233,2249,13911,1529,61,40,38,41,39,8844,3912],"class_list":["post-11629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accountable","tag-battle","tag-be","tag-coldblooded","tag-compensation","tag-court","tag-erin","tag-estate","tag-face","tag-for","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-held","tag-inlaws","tag-killer","tag-likely","tag-murder","tag-mushroom","tag-news","tag-over","tag-patterson","tag-soon","tag-sought","tag-three","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victims","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}