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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, July one, twenty twenty five. Nations prepared to

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Speaker 1: pony up on defense spending could receive new missiles from

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Speaker 1: the US ahead of Australia. The revolutionary weapons are in

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Speaker 1: hot demand, but the growing gulf between Canberra and the

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Speaker 1: White House means Australia could miss out. Former PM Paul

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Speaker 1: Keating warns the government's proposed superannuation tax could affect millions

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Speaker 1: more people than expected. That story's live now at the

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Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot Au. Its decision time for Aaron Patterson.

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Speaker 1: The jury in her Victorian Supreme Court murder trial has

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Speaker 1: started deliberations. She's pleading not guilty to three murder charges

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Speaker 1: and one of attempted murder related to a deadly family

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Speaker 1: lunch at her home in twenty twenty three. So did

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Speaker 1: she have a motive to murder? That's today's episode. Did

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Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson have a motive to kill four elderly relatives

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Speaker 1: or did she have a motive not to kill them?

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Speaker 1: That's the key consideration for a jury that's been sent

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Speaker 1: out by Justice Christopher Beale. We've used voice actors throughout

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Speaker 1: this episode. Here's what the judge told the jury before

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Speaker 1: they began deliberations.

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Speaker 2: For some murders, there may be evidence of motive, but

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Speaker 2: some murders occur for no apparent reason. The motives of

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Speaker 2: such murders might only ever be known to the accused.

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Speaker 1: Patterson has told the court she loved Don Gale Patterson,

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Speaker 1: her parents in law, and Heather and Ian Wilkinson, the

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Speaker 1: aunt and uncle of her husband. Simon Simon Patterson, was

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Speaker 1: a witness for the Crown, who told the court during

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Speaker 1: the trial, Aaron had a good relationship with his parents.

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Speaker 3: She got on particularly well with Dad. They shared a

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Speaker 3: love of knowledge in the world, and I think she

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Speaker 3: liked his gentle nature. Mum and Dad were really active

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Speaker 3: in maintaining a good relationship with Erin.

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Speaker 1: I think it was mutual, but Simon Patterson told the

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Speaker 1: jury tensions emerged after their rocky marriage ultimately ended in separation.

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Speaker 1: He said Erin was angry when she saw his tax

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Speaker 1: return in late twenty twenty two, about seven months before

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Speaker 1: the fatal lunch.

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Speaker 3: She said that she discovered that my tax return for

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Speaker 3: the previous financial year had, for the first time noted

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Speaker 3: that we were separated before that we hadn't got the

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Speaker 3: government involved in the fact we were separated at all

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Speaker 3: before then, and so she said that mattered, I think

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Speaker 3: for the family tax benefit something of that nature, and

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Speaker 3: she would be obliged to claim child sport of me,

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Speaker 3: which had never happened before. So, yeah, she pointed that out,

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Speaker 3: and that was she was upset about it.

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Speaker 1: On Monday, the jury showed up at the Marwell Courthouse

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Speaker 1: with suitcases and bags ready to move into accommodation all together.

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Speaker 1: For the duration of their deliberations. They'll be sequested, that is,

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Speaker 1: they can't go home while they deliberate, returning to the

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Speaker 1: courthouse each day to sit in the jury room and

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Speaker 1: go through the evidence. At the conclusion of Justice Bial's directions,

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Speaker 1: two jurors were ejected after their numbers were drawn in

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Speaker 1: a ballot. Only twelve can now consider the verdict.

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Speaker 2: Now, once you've reached a unanimous verdict on each of

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Speaker 2: the charges, you should push the buzzer in the jury

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Speaker 2: room and tell my tip stuff. He will then arrange

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Speaker 2: for us all to return to court.

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Speaker 1: Justice Biale said jurors are welcome to ask questions of

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Speaker 1: the court by having their four person hand. A note

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Speaker 1: to court officers.

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Speaker 2: There's one thing that must not appear in any question

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Speaker 2: that you ask, and that's the numbers. I don't want

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Speaker 2: to know about it. I don't want to hear about it.

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Speaker 2: You should only discuss the case with each other, and

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Speaker 2: you should only do that when you are altogether in

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Speaker 2: the privacy of the jury room here in court. Don't

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Speaker 2: discuss when you're at the hotel. Don't get into little

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Speaker 2: groups and have discussions about the case. To prove that

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Speaker 2: the accused is guilty of murder, the prosecution must prove

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Speaker 2: the following four elements beyond reasonable doubt. One the accused

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Speaker 2: caused the death of the deceased by serving the deceased

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Speaker 2: a poisoned meal.

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Speaker 1: The judge said it wasn't disputed that Patterson served Heather

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Speaker 1: Dawn and Gail beef Wellington's that she had made that

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Speaker 1: were poisoned with death cap mushrooms, or that this caused

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Speaker 1: their debts.

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Speaker 2: Two, the accused alleged conduct was conscious, voluntary, and deliberate. Three,

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Speaker 2: at the time of the alleged conduct, the accused intended

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Speaker 2: to kill or cause really serious injury to the deceased.

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Speaker 2: Four The accused killed the deceased without lawful justification or excuse.

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Speaker 1: The judge said there was special meaning attached to the

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Speaker 1: words conscious, voluntary, and deliberate.

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Speaker 2: The term conscious excludes the acts of an unconscious person,

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Speaker 2: such as a sleepwalker. It's amazing sometimes what sleepwalkers can.

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Speaker 1: Do, he said. Voluntary means the accused must be in

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Speaker 1: control of her actions.

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Speaker 2: This excludes the acts of a person operating in one

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Speaker 2: of the number of rare mental states where the mind

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Speaker 2: loses control of the body's actions, and the term deliberate

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Speaker 2: excludes accidental acts.

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Speaker 1: Deliberate is the most important word, because that's what's in

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Speaker 1: dispute here. The defense says Patterson accidentally included deathcap mushrooms

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Speaker 1: in the meal eaten by everyone, and that she vomited

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Speaker 1: after the meal and didn't become seriously unwell. The Crown

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Speaker 1: says Patterson made a death cap free version of the

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Speaker 1: meal for herself and poisoned the four plates intended for

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Speaker 1: her guests. In relation to Ian Wilkinson, the man who

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Speaker 1: survived although he spent weeks in hospital, Patterson faces a

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Speaker 1: different charge, attempted murder. That means the requirements are slightly different.

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Speaker 1: The jury must find that Patterson.

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Speaker 2: Consciously, voluntarily and deliberately served Ian Wilkinson a poisoned meal,

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Speaker 2: the accused alleged conduct was a more than merely preparatory

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Speaker 2: to killing Ian Wilkinson, and b immediately and not remotely

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Speaker 2: connected with killing Ian Wilkinson.

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Speaker 1: That is, she wasn't just preparing to kill Ian Wilkinson,

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Speaker 1: that she actually intended to kill him in that moment,

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Speaker 1: and that there was no lawful justice, justification or excuse

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Speaker 1: for her conduct. Coming up the points the jury can

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Speaker 1: disagree on justice, Biale told the jury they have to agree,

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Speaker 1: but not completely.

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Speaker 2: In relation to each charge. Your verdict guilty or not

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Speaker 2: guilty must be unanimous. However, this requirement does not mean

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Speaker 2: that you must all reach your verdict for the same reasons.

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Speaker 1: On Monday, he rattled through the main elements of the

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Speaker 1: way the Crown and Defense summed up their cases. On

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Speaker 1: that crucial question of motive. He started with the Crowns

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Speaker 1: doctor Nannette Rodgers, who, he said, put it like.

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Speaker 2: This, Sometimes internal motivation is only known to the person themselves.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to know why a person does it

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Speaker 2: to know that they did it. The question is not

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Speaker 2: why she did it, but the question is whether you're

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Speaker 2: satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she did.

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Speaker 1: The judge quoted in it Rogers telling the jury about

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Speaker 1: Simon's recollection of Don and Gail Patterson being dragged into

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Speaker 1: the dispute over money, and that the accused had told

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Speaker 1: others Simon had become nasty.

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Speaker 2: Their son noticed it. He said the relationship was very negative. Also,

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Speaker 2: the children had stopped staying over at Simon's. Simon spoke

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Speaker 2: of inflammatory messages so upsetting that they decided that Gail

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Speaker 2: would not read the group messages anymore. There was a

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Speaker 2: division deeper than the family knew. She expressed her true

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Speaker 2: feelings to her online friends, told them she was an atheist.

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Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson was duplicitous. Consider the eye roll emojis in

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Speaker 2: those messages. She's seeming accepted in her evidence in chief

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Speaker 2: and cross examination that they were eye rolling emojis, then

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Speaker 2: a moment later said you can't see that they are

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Speaker 2: eye rolls.

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Speaker 1: The judge reminded the jury of Roger's reading aloud Patterson's

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Speaker 1: messages about the family, which she sent to online friends.

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Speaker 4: This family, I swear to fucking God they are lost,

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Speaker 4: cause I'm sick of this shit. I want nothing to

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Speaker 4: do with them, so fuck them. Simon's messages will just

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Speaker 4: be horrible and be gaslighting and abusive and it will

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Speaker 4: ruin my day, and his parents' messages will be more

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Speaker 4: weasel words. I don't need anything from these people.

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Speaker 1: Just as Bill then ran through the way the defense

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Speaker 1: characterize Patterson's motive not to kill.

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Speaker 2: The defense said, because they're good people. Why on earth

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Speaker 2: would anyone want to kill them? Why would Aaron Patterson

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Speaker 2: want to kill them? Because of a brief period of

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Speaker 2: tension which didn't have anything to do with the Wilkinsons.

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Speaker 2: Don and Gaie were her children's only grandparents. The prosecution

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Speaker 2: has to prove intention. Motive can be important for proof

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Speaker 2: of intention. It's usually fundamental to proof of the intention.

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Speaker 2: In the absence of a motive, intention to kill or

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Speaker 2: cause really serious injury is very unlikely. If they can't

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Speaker 2: prove a motive, you might think the prosecution falls short

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Speaker 2: of proving intention. As a matter of logic and common sense.

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Speaker 1: The judge said the defense had outlined all the good

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Speaker 1: things in Patterson's life at the.

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Speaker 2: Time, big beautiful new house, newly landscaped garden, effectively sole

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Speaker 2: custody of her two children, comfortable financially, looking forward to

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Speaker 2: returning to study. If she carried out a murder, she

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Speaker 2: would inevitably attract suspicion. Focus would be on the cook

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Speaker 2: very quickly.

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Speaker 1: He reminded the jury the defense had take an issue

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Speaker 1: with the Crown's suggestion. Patison might have thought, would all

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Speaker 1: be mistaken for food poisoning? Pretty rare.

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Speaker 2: To get four people dying from a case of food poisoning,

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Speaker 2: an investigation was inevitable. A careful murderer would know the

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Speaker 2: spotlight would be on her as soon as these people

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Speaker 2: were hospitalized. She had good reason not to harm them.

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Speaker 2: She will lose the people who support her and her children,

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Speaker 2: and she'll lose her children.

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Speaker 1: The jury in the murder trial of Aaron Patterson will

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Speaker 1: continue their deliberations on Tuesday, and you'll hear it right

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Speaker 1: here on the front when the verdict is in. Our

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Speaker 1: subscribers at the Australian dot com dot Au have been

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Speaker 1: following every twist and turn, and they'll be reading and

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Speaker 1: watching the best analysis of this and all the big stories.

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Speaker 1: Join us at the Australian dot com dot Au