"Your failure to exhibit any remorse pours salt into all the victims' wounds," said Judge Christopher Beale in sentencing Victorian woman Erin Patterson to life in prison over the fatal poisoning of her estranged husband's elderly relatives.
In July, a jury convicted the 50-year-old on three counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder, for deliberately serving her in-laws - only one of whom survived - a meal containing poisonous wild mushrooms two years ago.
Patterson will be eligible for parole in 33 years' time.
The Law Report analyses the sentence in a case described by Judge Beale as falling in the "worst category of offences."
To hear more in-depth expert coverage of the important legal stories and cases of the week, search for The Law Report podcast on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Guest:
Dr Sarah Krasnostein, writer and expert in sentencing law; co-author of the upcoming book on the Patterson trial, The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder
Image Details
Erin Patterson will be sentenced today after a jury found her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.