12.00pm
Patterson refused help plating beef Wellington, placed her unique plate at table
Wilkinson said the group then moved to the verandah and discussed the garden and some wind damage to some trees.
“We looked at a particular bush, at the end of the verandah. It wasn’t doing so well. Heather and Gail are both keen gardeners. It was a discussion about why this plant was not doing so well, and whether it … might be better, moved to another location,” he says.
Eventually, they moved back into the house. Once inside, Wilkinson says Patterson started mashing potatoes for lunch.
“Erin plated up the food,” he says.
“She was on the kitchen side of the kitchen bench and she was putting the food on the plates.”
The jury heard Heather and Gail offered to help Erin plate the food, but she rejected the offer and did it all herself at the bench.
“There was mash, potatoes, green beans and beef Wellington,” Wilkinson says.
“Each person had an individual serve [of beef Wellington]. It was very much like a pasty, if you imagine a pasty being put on a plate. Pastry encased, and when we cut into it, there was steak and mushrooms.”
Wilkinson says there may have been gravy on the table.
There were four large, grey dinner plates – and one smaller plate in a different colour.
“It was an orangey-tan colour,” he says.
Wilkinson says Gail Patterson picked up two of the grey plates and placed them on the table, and Heather the other two. Erin took the unique plate and placed it at her seat.
12.11pm
‘We should have shared’: beef Wellington portions were large, said Heather Wilkinson
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Wilkinson uses a touch screen and yellow digital marker to explain the seating arrangement at the table, placing the first letter of each person’s name at their seats.
“We said grace, [and] we began eating.”
Wilkinson says the group remarked over the meal as they ate.
The jury heard that Ian and Heather Wilkinson finished their portions, Gail Patterson ate her vegetables and half of her beef Wellington, and Don Patterson ate his whole meal and half of Gail’s beef Wellington.
“There was talk about husbands helping their wives out by eating extra food. Heather mentioned: ‘We should have shared a beef Wellington’, because she thought the meal was a bit on the large side for her.
“So that’s the reason I remember who ate what, because of that little exchange,” Wilkinson says.
He couldn’t remember how much Erin ate from her place.
“She was definitely eating, and I don’t remember any comments, like: ‘Oh, you didn’t eat much’, or anything like that,” he says.
The jury heard that after the meal, the group was fairly full and did not eat much of the cake Gail had brought or the fruit platter provided by the Wilkinsons.
The jury has been excused for a 15-minute break.
Of the four guests who dined on beef Wellington at Erin Patterson’s house in 2023, only one survived. On Tuesday, that guest – Ian Wilkinson – will tell his story for the first time when he takes the stand as a witness in the cook’s murder trial.
www.theage.com.au