SYDNEY — The lone surviving guest of a lunch where three others died after being served food laced with deadly mushrooms told an Australian court today the actions of host and convicted murderer Erin Patterson had left him feeling “half alive”.

Patterson was found guilty last month of luring her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoning them with individual portions of Beef Wellington that contained toxic death cap mushrooms.

A jury also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Erin Patterson’s home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135km south-east of Melbourne.

The seriousness of her offences meant Patterson’s sentence could only be life imprisonment, her own barrister said today during a pre-sentencing hearing.

Earlier, Ian Wilkinson told a court in Melbourne that the death of his wife had left him bereft.

“It’s a truly horrible thought to live with that somebody could decide to take her life. I only feel half alive without her,” he said, breaking down in tears as he delivered his victim impact statement.

Wilkinson, a pastor in a local church, spent months in hospital recovering from the poisoning, and said on Monday he had only narrowly survived.

He called on Patterson, who said the poisonings were accidental and continues to maintain her innocence, to confess to her crimes.

“I encourage Erin to receive my offer of forgiveness for those harms done to me with full confession and repentance. I bear her no ill will,” he said.

“I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim and she has become the victim of my kindness.”