WEBVTT - The Trial: Erin's version of events 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.920 It was the gathering that formed the center of this trial, 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:08.000 the few hours in a country house that propelled Aaron 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:13.240 Patterson to international headlines. Four weeks ago. The only guest 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.239 to survive the Mushroom lunch took to the stand and 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.760 described these hours, the discussion at the table, and the 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.840 beef Wellington dish. But today, in the witness box, it 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:26.840 was the accused who gave her version of the lunch, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.880 how she prepared the meal and what she said happened after. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.960 I'm Brooke Creeper Crane and this is the Mushroom Cook. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:42.040 It's day twenty six of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.280 I'm back with court reporter Laura Possella. Hi, Laura. 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.199 It's been another big day, hasn't it. 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.599 Yes, it has. So today Aaron took the stand for 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.360 the third day in a row. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.840 Yes, and today was the first day that we heard 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.240 her speak about the lunch in detail. It was touched 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.640 upon very briefly yesterday when she was asked a question 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.199 by her defense barrister Colin Mandy. But we spent hours 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.959 today unpacking both the events before the lunch, what happened 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:14.399 during the lunch, and the days after the lunch. Mister 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.920 Mandy brought his client through the timeline in chronological order, 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:19.399 so we'll do the same today. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.200 So let's start with how Aaron said she prepared the lunch. 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:26.039 She told the court that she went through a long 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.000 process when it came to deciding what she wanted to cook. 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.679 She had previously cooked a shepherd's pie for Don and Gale, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.679 but she said that she didn't feel like it was 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.160 special enough for this lunch. She said that her mother 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.800 would cook beef Wellington on important occasions when she was younger, 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.080 so she thought she would give it a crack herself. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.600 She had a recipe tin Eats cookbook called Dinner that 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.000 had a beef Wellington recipe inside it, so she said 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.800 she used that, but she had to make some deviations. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.840 Aaron told the jury that she couldn't find a big 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.120 meat log that the recipe called for, so she used 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:06.040 individual steaks instead. She said the different meat meant that 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.840 the quantities of mushroom and pastry would also be changed 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.440 from the original recipe. Aaron also said that she included 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:18.239 no mustard and no presciutto because Don didn't eat pork. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.080 The recipe also included a crape player, but Aaron said 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.160 that she thought it looked complicated, so she used Fillo 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:27.399 pastry instead. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.520 She began prepping the meal on the Friday, that is, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.040 July twenty eight, by salting the meat and getting the 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.959 juices out of it, and she even said she took 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.880 time to google how not to stuff up a beef Wellington. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.000 On Saturday morning, she said she woke up early to 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:47.320 get started on the mushroom duck cel. The mushroom du 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.320 cel is the mushroom paste that coats the meat, and 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.480 that involved her frying garlic and chopping up shalots. She 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.000 said she added Woolworth's mushrooms into the pan and then 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.960 she cooked it for a long time. While she was cooking, 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.600 she said she had a taste and in her opinion, 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.520 it tasted a little bit bland. So she decided to 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.360 put in some dried mushrooms that she had purchased from 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.680 an Asian grosser back in April. Eron told the court 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.640 that these dried mushrooms were being held in a container, 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.240 and mister Mandy asked her today whether or not she 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.760 believed there were any other mushrooms in that container. She 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.120 conceded that now she believes there was a possibility there 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.720 were forage mushrooms in there as well, she told the court. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.359 She chopped them up, and she sprinkled them over the 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.560 mushroom duck cells and pushed them in slightly with a 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.760 utensil she called an egg flip. Mister Mandy then asked 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.720 her more about how she prepared the beef wellington. Here 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.680 is more of their exchange. These are their words, but 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:45.640 not their voices. 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.480 Can you talk us through the rest of the process 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:49.640 of preparing the meal? 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.360 So, after doing what I needed to do with the 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:54.960 duck cell in the frypan, I used the egg flip 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.600 to transfer it out onto baking paper on an oven 0:03:57.640 --> 0:03:59.640 tray to put in the fridge for a little while. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.120 And I fried off the steaks on each side and 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.560 let them rest, And then I started doing the process 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.720 of putting the wellingtons together. Do you want me to 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:07.160 go through that? 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:08.320 Yes? Okay. 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.520 So after frying off the steaks and letting them rest 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.720 and cool a bit, I used the egg flip again to, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.200 I guess, lift a little bit out of the oven 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:17.919 tray and put on each steak. 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:19.880 Lift a little bit of the duck cell. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.599 The duck cell that's right, Like you could lift out 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.080 a sort of you know that shaped out of the 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.520 tray and transfer it to the steak. I did that 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.800 for both. I think I did it for both sides 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.640 of the steaks, and then wrapped each one in filo 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:34.320 and then wrapped each one in puff pastry. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.240 Mister Mandy then took Aaron to messages sent the day 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.200 before the lunch where Simon told her he wouldn't be 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.280 coming because he felt too uncomfortable. Simon told the jury 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:49.440 Aaron invited him because she wanted to discuss some medical news. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.600 Alistoners have heard the messages before, but here's the exchange 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.680 between Simon and Aaron. Again. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.800 Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.400 with you, mom, Dad, Heather, and Millian tomorrow, but I'm 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.920 happy to talk to you about your health and implications 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.960 of that at another time. If you'd like to discuss 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:10.680 it on the phone, just let me know. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.040 That's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week preparing 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.760 lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in light of 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.440 the issues I'm facing, and spent a small fortune on 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.440 beef by Philip to make beef Wellington's because I wanted 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.320 it to be a special meal, as I may not 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.359 be able to host a lunch like this again for 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.200 some time. It's important to me that you're all there 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.440 tomorrow and that I can have the conversations that I 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.360 need to have. I hope you'll change your mind. Your 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.080 parents and Heather and Ian are coming at twelve thirty. 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:39.320 I hope to see you there. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.320 Mister Mandy asked Erin why she sent that message to Simon. 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:46.039 Here's what she said in court. 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:48.719 I was hurt he didn't want to come, but I 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.520 was also really anxious and stressed about this upcoming procedure 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:53.520 that I was going to have, and I just wanted 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.239 to know that it would be sorted and I wouldn't 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.080 have to worry about whether I would have help with 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:58.919 the kids or not. So I just wanted him to 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:00.400 come so I could talk to with about that. 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.520 Aaron said that apart from the small fortune claim and 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.560 the fact she wanted it to be a special meal, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.040 the rest of the message was exaggerated. Here is more 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:10.799 of what she said. 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.240 I just really wanted him to come so I could 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.839 talk about the medical stuff and not worry about it anymore. 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:18.480 I didn't mean to do any of that. I shouldn't 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.040 have done any of that, but that's what I was 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:20.840 thinking at the time. 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.720 What did you want him to feel when he read 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:24.520 that message? 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:26.800 I guess I wanted him to feel a little bit 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.320 bad about canceling at the last minute, after he would 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.000 have known. I'd done a lot of preparation. 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.520 And when you say I've spent many hours this week 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.160 preparing lunch for tomorrow, was that true. 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.320 I didn't do any preparing other than shopping and researching 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.480 the recipe. So I guess the answer to your question 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.440 is no, it wasn't true. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.720 Mister Mandy then went on to ask questions about the 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.120 day of the lunch on July twenty nine. Aaron said 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.400 she had planned for the dishes to be ready by 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.240 twelve thirty pm, when her guests were due to arrive. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.320 Aaron told the jury Heather brought a fruit platter and 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.200 Gale brought an orange cake. 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.800 She explained that she served five dishes, with the sixth 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.359 beef Wellington put into the fridge on the tray it 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.480 was cooked on. She said she told the guests to 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.560 grab a plate before she grabbed the last one herself 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.320 and joined them at the table. She said today that 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.880 she didn't remember what plate she used, as the jury 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.560 has previously heard Erin said, the Wilkinsons ate all of 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.200 their meals, don ate all of his as well as 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.800 Gail's leftovers, as she didn't finish hers. And then Aaron 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.680 said she ate between a quarter and a third of 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.720 her own meal because she was eating slowly and talking 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.760 a lot. Aaron said she had a health issue she 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.920 wanted to discuss with her guests. Here is what she 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:46.240 said about that conversation. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.400 So it was right at the end of the meal, 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.120 and I mentioned that I'd had a maybe not scare 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.960 is the right word, but I'd had an issue a 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.320 year or two earlier where I thought I had ovarian 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.760 cancer and had various scans about and related to that. 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.640 And then I'm not proud of this, but I led 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.280 them to believe that I might be needing some treatment 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.560 in regards to that in the next few weeks or months. 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.480 And can you remember what you said about that in 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:13.360 any more detail? 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.040 Not specifically. I do remember I referred to upcoming treatment 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.280 because primarily in my mind, I was thinking I might 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.520 need help with getting the kids to and from the bus. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.240 Or activities, and I might need to explain why I 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.320 was going out to hospital for a day or two. 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.400 So that was really the focus of what I was 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:31.080 talking about. 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:32.800 Did you mislead them? 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:33.400 I did. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.160 Aaron told the court that the upcoming treatment she had 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.120 referred to was actually the plan she had to have 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.680 gastric bypass surgery, but she was too ashamed to tell 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:48.439 her guests. Here is another exchange between her and mister Mandy. 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.400 And why didn't you tell them the truth about what 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:52.439 you were intending. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.360 I was really embarrassed. I was ashamed of the fact 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.520 that I didn't have control over my body or what 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.320 I ate. I was ashamed of that and embarrassed. I 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.920 didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:05.880 to them. 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.960 After the guest had left, Aaron told the jury she 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.440 ate a piece of orange cake before eating another, then another. 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.480 In the end, she said she ate two thirds of 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.319 that cake. She told the jury that she felt sick 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.120 and overfull and went to the toilet and brought it 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.800 back up again. On Tuesday, Aaron told the jury that 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.880 she had struggled with binge eating and bolimia for most 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:29.240 of her life. 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.319 Aaron told the court that she felt better later that afternoon, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:37.640 but started experiencing diarrhea from about ten pm. She didn't 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.160 sleep very much that night, she said, and the next 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.679 morning she went downstairs to speak with her children before 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.000 making herself a herbal tea. The court heard that she 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.840 decided they wouldn't be going to church that day, but 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.679 that afternoon, she said, she decided to still drive her 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.840 son to his flying lesson in Taiab. She said she 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.040 still felt nauseous and had diarrhea, but her symptoms weren't 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.160 as bad as they were night before. Here's what she 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.960 said today in court about the journey to the flying lesson. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.320 So, maybe about half an hour into the trip, I 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.679 felt like I needed to go to the toilet. So 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.439 he pulled over on a stretch of the road where 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.240 there's quite a bit of bush along the way. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:16.319 Do you remember where that was? 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.360 It's before the South Gibson Highway meets the Bass Highway, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.800 somewhere around the Noyora turnoffish somewhere around there. 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:25.880 And what happened? You pulled over? 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.120 Yes, So, and I went off into the bush and 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:30.280 went to the toilet. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.000 What kind of going into the toilet was it? 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:33.520 So? 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.560 I had diarrhea and what happened after that? 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.640 So I cleaned myself up a little bit with tissues 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.040 and put them in a dog Pooh bag and put 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.400 it in my handbag and we hit the road again. 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.240 There's evidence that on the way at three twenty pm 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.439 you stopped at the BP in calder Meat and the 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.000 internal footage shows you going into the bathrooms. Why did 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:56.200 you go into the bathrooms? 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.960 I put the dog Pooh bag with the soiled tissues 0:10:58.960 --> 0:10:59.480 in the bin. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.520 And when you came out of the bathroom you purchased 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:03.760 some things I did. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.640 Aaron said. Her diary continued and that she didn't want 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.439 to cook anything for the kids, so she gave them 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:15.199 leftovers of that beef Wellington meal that were in the fridge. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.079 She said she removed the pastry and mushrooms from the 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.600 leftover in Wellington, splitting it onto two plates, which were 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.400 served with potatoes and beans. She said her children ate 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:26.160 both meals. 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.839 Mister Mandy then brought erin to the events of July 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:34.000 thirty one. The monday. Erin recalled that she still woke 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.760 up feeling unwell, so she decided she would go to 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.560 lean Gatha Hospital to get some saline. The jury has 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.840 previously heard that Erin arrived at the hospital around eight 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.600 am and was greeted by doctor Chris Webster at the entrance. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.400 Erin told the court that she told doctor Webster that 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.040 she wasn't an urgent patient. She said she just had 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.000 gastro and he asked for her name. When she told 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.839 him her name was Erin Patterson, she said that doctor 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.120 Webster said words to the effect of we were expecting you. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.599 Erin told the court that she remembered feeling quite unsettled 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.880 because when she said her name, it was clear that 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.360 doctor Webster knew who she was. He told her that 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.720 they were concerned that she had been exposed to death 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.240 cap mushrooms and asked her where she had bought the 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.040 mushrooms from. Aaron said that she was shocked and confused. 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.720 She didn't understand how death caps could be in the meal. 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.719 Earlier today, mister Mandy asked Arin more questions about her 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:34.480 foraging for mushrooms. She denied ever foraging for mushrooms in 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:38.600 Locke and Outram, those being the two areas where doctor 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.240 Tom May and Christine McKenzie spotted death cap mushrooms and 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:48.200 posted their locations to citizen science website by Naturalist. She 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.240 also denied ever seeing their posts. 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.120 As the jury has previously heard, Aaron left the hospital 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:59.000 after only being there for five minutes. She discharged herself 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.640 against medical and she said she left to go feed 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:07.680 her animals and organize her daughter's ballet items. The court heard. 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:12.960 Hospital records showed that Erin returned at nine forty eight am. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.760 She record telling doctor Webster that her children had eden 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.440 leftovers of that meal on Sunday night. 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.560 Erin said that the doctors at the hospital wanted the 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.040 children to come there themselves because they were concerned the 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.200 toxins from the death caps had seeped into the meat, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.400 despite the fact that Erin said she had scraped them off, 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.880 They said it was better to be safe than sorry. 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.120 Erin was taken by ambulance to Monash Medical Center, where 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.160 eventually she was joined by Simon and their two children. 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.840 The next day, on August one, the four of them 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.480 were still at the hospital. Erin recounted a conversation that 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.920 she had with Simon and the children, where they explained 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.240 to the children that there were concerns over the lunch 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.760 that she had cooked. Erin told the court today that 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.199 that led to a discussion about mushrooms and her dehydrader. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.080 More broadly, they spoke about how their daughter doesn't like 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.040 mushrooms and how Erin had used the dehydrader to be 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.080 able to dry mushrooms, chop them up into small pieces, 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.959 and put them into food for her to eat. Aaron 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.120 said that after that conversation, the children had left the room, 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:23.360 leaving her and Simon. She spoke more today about what 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:24.840 was said between the two of them. 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.640 Did you and Simon have any conversation? 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.720 Yeah, So during that conversation with the children about the 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.800 taste tests, and we're discussed in that conversation that I 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.640 dried the mushrooms and I don't remember if it was 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.240 Simon or I that initiated it, but there was a 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.760 conversation about how I had used a dehydrated to do that, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.160 and he said to me, is that how you poisoned 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:47.960 my parents using that dehydrader? 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:49.680 And what was your response? 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:51.120 I said, of course not. 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.960 Did that comment by Simon cause you to reflect on 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:56.640 what might have been in the meal? 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.720 It caused me to do a lot of thinking about 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.840 a lot of things. Yeah, it caused me to reflect 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:04.800 a lot on what might have happened. 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.240 Okay, well, can you explain to us what crossed your 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.040 mind then and what you were thinking about? 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.520 So it got me thinking about all the times that 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:15.720 i'd used it, and I. 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.040 Had used the dehydrator that's right. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.880 And how I had dried foraged mushrooms in a weeks earlier, 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.840 and I was starting to think, what if they'd gone 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.080 in the container with the Chinese mushrooms? 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.560 How did that make you feel scared? 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.760 Responsible, really worried because child protection were involved, and Simon 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.040 seemed to be of the mind that maybe this was intentional, 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.800 and I just I just got really scared. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.200 Aaron told the court that around this time she also 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.200 thought it was a possibility that the dried mushrooms from 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.440 the Asian grosser were behind the guest's illnesses. 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.680 Let's move on to the next day, August two, Laura, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:54.640 what did Aaron do? 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.120 By this stage, she's back at her home in Leengatha 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:02.320 after being discharged from one as medical center, and she admitted, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.240 as her legal team has done before, that she dumped 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.680 her dehydrata at the local tip. Mister Mandy asked her 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:10.880 about this today. 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:12.360 Why did you do that? 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.000 Child protection were coming to my house that afternoon, and 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.320 I was, I was scared of the conversation that might 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.840 flow about the meal and the dehydrator, And I was, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.200 and I just was. I was scared of that, that 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.120 they would blame me for it, blame you for for 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.520 making everyone sick, And I was scared they'd remove the children. 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.240 Did you tell anyone that you had come to the 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.640 realization that death cap mushrooms might have been in the meal? 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:39.120 No, I didn't. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.400 Did you tell anyone that foraged mushrooms might have been 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.200 in the meal? No, you had been told that the 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.520 suspicion was that death cap mushrooms had been in the meal. Yes, 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.840 What did that make you think about weather or what 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:55.520 might have been in the dehydrator? 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.440 Well, I thought there might be evidence of that, evidence 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.240 of any forage mushrooms in there. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.880 Aaron went on to tell the jury that two days later, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:09.800 on August four, she told child protection workout Katrina Cripps 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.879 that she was concerned about Simon. 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.159 Erin said she told Miss Cripps that she wanted to 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.400 change her phone number. She said she was becoming concerned 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.919 about Simon's behavior and his allegations, and that meant she 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.600 was feeling concerned for her security, she wanted to make 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:25.840 sure he couldn't contact her. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.760 Mister Mandy then asked Aaron about the phone she handed 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.880 to police the next day on August five, when they 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.320 searched her Lee and Gatha home. Laura, what did she 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:37.880 say about that phone? 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.239 Our listeners were probably hoping we would never have to 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.320 touch on Phone A and Phone B again, but it 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.680 was touched upon again today by mister Mandy, who first 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.520 asked her about this phone. You've spoken about, Brooke, the 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.800 one she handed to police, and this one has been 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.640 dubbed Phone B. The jury has previously heard that multiple 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.240 factory resets were conducted on this phone in twenty twenty three. 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.560 Erin explained today that the first one, on February twelve, 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.840 was because her son had damaged his phone, so she 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.359 gave him Phone B to use and she had bought 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.520 a new one. He needed to conduct that factory reset, 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:14.840 so he was able to use the phone for himself, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.320 but the court heard he stopped using Phone B after 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.720 he took it to a school camp and it got 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.960 covered in mud which got stuck inside the charging port. 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.640 Erin told the court that the phone was drying out. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.960 At her house, almost forgotten about until August when she 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.679 had this conversation with Miss Cripps about wanting to have 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.199 a new phone number. She told the court that she 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.840 conducted a second factory reset on August two so she 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.040 could wipe her son's information off this phone and set 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.080 it up for herself. She explained to the court that 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.800 by this time the mud had dried out and Phone 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.199 B could be charged again, but she went on to 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.040 say that she reset the phone again on August five, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.359 the day of the search, because she panicked and didn't 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.879 want police to find photos of mushrooms and the dehydrata 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.919 that she believed were in her Google Photos app. She 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.359 eventually handed this phone to police, but Erin admitted that 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.120 she reset the phone the next day, on August six. 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.480 She said this was out of panic, saying that she 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.560 tried to see if she could log into her Google 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.639 account remotely and conduct the reset that way, and she 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.399 said to the court that it worked and Laura. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.840 Phone A was also mentioned today, wasn't it? 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.880 That's right? So Phone A was the phone that Erin 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.880 was using before she set up Phone B. After having 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.840 that conversation with Miss Cripps, she told the court that 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.119 on August five, when police were searching her home, Phone 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.359 A was sitting on a window sill near a charging station. 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.040 When she returned home that afternoon after her record of interview, 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.200 she said she was handed a property seizure record by 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.720 detectives which stated that two devices had been taken, and 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.920 she said this left her confused. She told the court 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.960