Speaker 1: In the days following the deadly mushroom lunch, passwords were
Speaker 1: put in place around hospitals and specialist divisions of Victoria.
Speaker 1: Police were briefed they knew the storm that was about
Speaker 1: to descend upon that.
Speaker 2: Three people are dead and one man is fighting for
Speaker 2: his life this morning after a suspected mushroom poison A
Speaker 2: suspected mushroom poisoning inside where victims are from is a
Speaker 2: really small town, just five thousand people.
Speaker 1: In another day of his testimony, Stephen Eppingstaal took to
Speaker 1: the stand to talk about dealing with the media a Noki,
Speaker 1: your phone, diet books, subway footage and Facebook messages. I'm
Speaker 1: Brook Greenbert Craig, and this is the mushroom cook. It's
Speaker 1: day twenty two of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and once
Speaker 1: again I'm joined by my colleague, court reporter Laura Pistol.
Speaker 2: I can't believe we're nearing the end of week five.
Speaker 1: Yes, we are. So it was quite a bitsy day
Speaker 1: in court today. Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall returned
Speaker 1: to the sten and gave evidence.
Speaker 2: His cross examination continued and defense barrister Colin Mandy really
Speaker 2: took him through a number of topics, some of which
Speaker 2: we flagged at the top of the episode.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the media coverage.
Speaker 2: This was a topic Constable epping Stall was asked about
Speaker 2: very early on today. Mister Mandy asked him whether or
Speaker 2: not he agreed that there was significant media interest in
Speaker 2: this case from very early on in the investigation. He agreed,
Speaker 2: and he explained to the court that he briefed the
Speaker 2: Victoria Police media unit and holding lines were prepared. He
Speaker 2: also told the court that passwords were put in place
Speaker 2: at the hospitals where the guests were being treated. He
Speaker 2: said by August five, a week after the lunch, the
Speaker 2: media were well and truly reporting on this case.
Speaker 1: The jury heard that a media release was issued on
Speaker 1: August six, confirming the homicide squad were investigating three deaths.
Speaker 1: Constable epping Stall said a press conference was held on
Speaker 1: all August seven with Detective Inspector Dean Thomas. Mister Mandy
Speaker 1: then asked him whether the media were camped outside Aaron's
Speaker 1: property and lean Gatha, including inside her property, and he replied, yes,
Speaker 1: they did go into her property, but.
Speaker 2: That's all that was really said about the media and
Speaker 2: mister Mandy moved on to a different topic.
Speaker 1: Yes, let's talk about the search warrant that was done
Speaker 1: at Aaron's home on August five. We touched on this
Speaker 1: in yesterday's episode, So Laura, can you tell us what
Speaker 1: more we heard about it in court today.
Speaker 2: So mister Mandy really used this part of today's cross
Speaker 2: examination to try to pick holes in the police investigation.
Speaker 2: The court heard today that Erin was not given any
Speaker 2: notice of the search warrant. On August five, police arrived
Speaker 2: at her house, told her what the warrant was in
Speaker 2: connection to, and began their search. Mister Mandy asked Constable
Speaker 2: Eppingstall about Erin's wabouts during the search, and he said
Speaker 2: for the majority of the time she remained with him
Speaker 2: unless she needed to go to the bathroom when one
Speaker 2: of his female colleagues would take over. He told the
Speaker 2: court that Erin was allowed to retain her phone because
Speaker 2: she needed to make some arrangements in relation to her children.
Speaker 2: He also explained that at one point Erin was given
Speaker 2: permission to contact a lawyer from a room at the
Speaker 2: front of her house with the door closed. Mister Mandy
Speaker 2: asked whether or not this was for a period of
Speaker 2: fourteen minutes, and Constable Eppingstall replied that it was his
Speaker 2: recollection that it was about twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: He was then specifically asked questions about a Nochi your phone.
Speaker 1: Constable Eppingstall said he had a conversation with Erin about
Speaker 1: that device during her record of interview. He confirmed it
Speaker 1: was not located and therefore not seized.
Speaker 2: During this part of the cross examination, Constable Eppingstall was
Speaker 2: asked about a number of devices and whether or not
Speaker 2: they were seized. He confirmed again today in that another
Speaker 2: phone that has been referred to in this case that
Speaker 2: has been called Phone A, was also never located by police.
Speaker 2: To refresh our listener's memories, this is the phone that
Speaker 2: police say Erin used in the lead up to the
Speaker 2: lunch with a SIM card that she had been using
Speaker 2: for a number of years. Constable Eppingstall told the court
Speaker 2: yesterday that phone record showed that this simcard was taken
Speaker 2: out of Phone A on August five at one forty
Speaker 2: five pm, that is the time of the search warrant,
Speaker 2: and placed into another phone, that being a Nokia. It
Speaker 2: was at this point that Constable epping stare was taken
Speaker 2: to a photo that was captured during the search warrant
Speaker 2: by police. It was a photo of an ottoman in
Speaker 2: Aaron's house that was covered in charging chords and what
Speaker 2: appeared to be devices. Mister Mandy pointed to one of
Speaker 2: these devices on the ottoman and asked Constable epping Stall,
Speaker 2: can I suggest that is Phone A in a case?
Speaker 2: But Constable Eppingstall said he did not agree, saying that
Speaker 2: if that device was a phone, it would have been
Speaker 2: seized by police.
Speaker 1: And just to summarize what Laura said, Phone A and
Speaker 1: the Nokia phone were both not located or seized by police.
Speaker 2: Mister Mandy had more questions for Constable epping Stall about
Speaker 2: items not seized from Erin's home. He showed Constable epping
Speaker 2: Stall a photo, again taken during the search warrant from
Speaker 2: the study, which he also called the Lego room. Mister
Speaker 2: Mandy claimed that two laptops could be seen in that photo,
Speaker 2: but Constable epping Stall replied, if their laptops, this is
Speaker 2: the first I'm learning of these items, reiterating to mister
Speaker 2: Mandy that during the search he was with Erin and
Speaker 2: was not looking for items himself, leaving that to his colleagues.
Speaker 1: Now, let's move on to Erin's bank records.
Speaker 2: This was a very brief exchange, but mister Mandy quizzed
Speaker 2: Constable epping Stall about how many months of Erin's bank
Speaker 2: records police had obtained. The court heard they had obtained
Speaker 2: records from July one, twenty twenty three, through to August four.
Speaker 2: Mister Mandy asked Constable Epping's no other periods of time.
Speaker 2: He replied, no, and I can't explain why we didn't
Speaker 2: go back further. Some of her bank records were then
Speaker 2: shown to the court, specifically in relation to the troops
Speaker 2: she made to a BP in Coldermeaede and a Doughnut van.
Speaker 2: Later that same day.
Speaker 1: On the topic of records, Constable epping Stall was questioned
Speaker 1: about the analysis of Aaron's phone records conducted by digital
Speaker 1: forensics expert doctor Matthew Serell.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's been a while since we've spoken
Speaker 2: about doctor Cerel's evidence, and today we got back into
Speaker 2: the nitty gritties of it. Earlier in the trial, doctor
Speaker 2: Soerell told the jury that he was provided years of
Speaker 2: call charge records from a phone belonging to Erin, as
Speaker 2: well as about twenty days of what are called event
Speaker 2: based Monitoring records or EBM. For sure, these EBM records
Speaker 2: provide very granular detail, he said. And today Constable epping
Speaker 2: Stall was asked why police only obtained days of these
Speaker 2: records to give to doctor Serrell, and in response, Constable
Speaker 2: epping Stall spoke quite a lot about how costly these
Speaker 2: records actually are to obtain, and he said to the jury,
Speaker 2: to get EBMs for a year we would be talking
Speaker 2: well into six figures. And my boss isn't real keen
Speaker 2: when I spend too much money. That comment from him
Speaker 2: definitely prompted some laughs from the courtroom, and he went
Speaker 2: on to say that the police have to be really
Speaker 2: selective and targeted when it comes to these EBM records.
Speaker 1: The jury also found out how Constable epping Stall found
Speaker 1: out about I Naturalist, and this was after a conversation
Speaker 1: with doctor Tom May when they were just generally speaking
Speaker 1: about death cap mushrooms. Doctor May went on to tell
Speaker 1: him that he had actually cited death caps in Outrim
Speaker 1: in May twenty twenty three, and he posted this sighting
Speaker 1: to the citizen website I Naturalists.
Speaker 2: There have been several clips of CCTV footage tended in
Speaker 2: this trial and today Constable epping Stall was quizzed about
Speaker 2: another one.
Speaker 1: Yes, he was asked about CCTV footage obtained from a
Speaker 1: subway store in leen Gatha on the night of that
Speaker 1: deadly lunch. He told the court on Tuesday, the footage
Speaker 1: shows Aeron dropping off her son at seven twenty two
Speaker 1: pm and picking him up eleven minutes later. But in
Speaker 1: court today three images were shown to the jury. The
Speaker 1: first one was of Erin's son, the second one was
Speaker 1: the still of a boy from inside subway, and the
Speaker 1: third image was of another photo of Eron's son. Mister
Speaker 1: Mandy suggested to Constable epping Stool that that boy depicted
Speaker 1: inside subway in the second photo was not Eron's son.
Speaker 1: He replied, I believe it to be him, but it's
Speaker 1: a matter for the jury.
Speaker 2: And that was really all that was said about the
Speaker 2: subway before mister Mandy took Constable epping Stall to another topic.
Speaker 1: Yes, more messages were shown to the jury between Aaron
Speaker 1: and her online friends. The jury heard there were around
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty six pages of messages from this
Speaker 1: group chat that had been extracted by police.
Speaker 2: To jog our listener's memories. These are the messages that
Speaker 2: Erin was having with these online friends that concerned her
Speaker 2: estranged husband, Simon and his parents Don Gale, in the
Speaker 2: context of the child support dispute that she was having
Speaker 2: with him. The jury has previously been shown quite a
Speaker 2: number of these, but today mister Mandy tended more of
Speaker 2: those messages. This is what Aaron writes in one exchange.
Speaker 2: It's her words, it's not her voice. I suspect the
Speaker 2: best thing I can do is just forget about all
Speaker 2: of them and live my life. Simon is probably loving
Speaker 2: how upset I am about all of this. In response,
Speaker 2: one of her friends replies, I'm so sorry, Erin. It's
Speaker 2: so funny hard when you're not believed or understood. I
Speaker 2: went through similar with my ex in laws. Mister Mandy
Speaker 2: asked Constable Eppingstall whether he agreed that there was an
Speaker 2: enormous amount of context surrounding these messages. Mister Mandy also
Speaker 2: on to suggest that this was a group chat where
Speaker 2: a number of the participants were talking in similar ways,
Speaker 2: venting to each other about their lives, and Constable Eppingstall
Speaker 2: said that was a fair assessment.
Speaker 1: Lastly, the purchasing of diet books were briefly mentioned in
Speaker 1: court today. Once again we didn't get a whole lot
Speaker 1: of context about it.
Speaker 2: Mister Mandy mentioned today that Erin's weight was recorded when
Speaker 2: she was admitted to Lea and Gatha Hospital on July
Speaker 2: thirty one. After that, he told the court that police
Speaker 2: had obtained Erin's receipts from the online bookstore book Topia.
Speaker 2: He then asked Constable epping Stare whether he agreed that
Speaker 2: a large number of the books Erin had purchased related
Speaker 2: to diets. He said that was correct. At the end
Speaker 2: of the day today, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury
Speaker 2: that there was an issue that needed sorting out before
Speaker 2: mister Mandy could continue the rest of his cross examination
Speaker 2: with Constable epping Stall, so it's expected that he will
Speaker 2: return to the witness box tomorrow.
Speaker 1: To stay updated on the case, go to the mushroomcook
Speaker 1: dot com dot au MHM