Speaker 1: Hello, what address do you need the police? It is
Speaker 1: doctor Chris Webster calling from Lea and geth a hospital.
Speaker 1: I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier,
Speaker 1: that has left the building and is potentially exposed to
Speaker 1: fratal toxin from mushroom posing and I've tried several times
Speaker 1: to get a hold of her on i'm mobile phone
Speaker 1: before I get all that information.
Speaker 2: What you just heard is a recreation of a calm
Speaker 2: but quick triple zero call from a doctor who first
Speaker 2: treated some of the guests of that fateful beef Wellington lunch.
Speaker 2: It was also the phone call that led local police
Speaker 2: to Aaron Patterson's home. I'm Brook Reybert Craig, and this
Speaker 2: is the mushroom cook. I'm back at the Herald Sign
Speaker 2: headquarters in Morwell with my colleague court reporter Laura Placella.
Speaker 2: Once again.
Speaker 3: Good to be back as always.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is so today we are on day seven
Speaker 2: of Aaron Patterson's murder trial. There were two types of
Speaker 2: testimony in court today. There were family testimonies and medical testimonies.
Speaker 2: Let's begin with the medical ones and we'll play a
Speaker 2: little bit more from the recreation of the triple zero
Speaker 2: call that we heard earlier.
Speaker 1: Much room poisoning. You said there were four people that
Speaker 1: had a meal on said day and two of them
Speaker 1: are intended care at Daniel Hospital. Two have just been
Speaker 1: transferred from Daniel Hospital and Aaron presented this morning with
Speaker 1: symptoms of poisoning.
Speaker 2: So, Laura, can you explain to our listeners who called
Speaker 2: Triple zero?
Speaker 3: So what our listeners just heard both at the top
Speaker 3: of the episode and just then was the phone conversation
Speaker 3: doctor Chris Webster had with a Triple zero operator. For
Speaker 3: some context here, doctor Webster works at lean Gatha Hospital
Speaker 3: and on July thirty he was one of the on
Speaker 3: call doctors. July thirty was the day after the lethal
Speaker 3: lunch and Ian and Heather both presented here after they
Speaker 3: were driven over by their nephew, Simon Patterson.
Speaker 2: So today in court he mentioned about the Beef Wellington.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 3: Once Ian and Heather had arrived and were admitted and triaged,
Speaker 3: he spoke to them about what they had eaten, considering
Speaker 3: they were presenting with food poisoning symptoms. They mentioned they
Speaker 3: had eaten at Beef Wellington the day before, and in
Speaker 3: doctor Webster's mind, he first thought the culprit of their
Speaker 3: illness was actually the meat. They remained in hospital over
Speaker 3: the following hours and were treated by doctors at lean
Speaker 3: Gatha Hospital, But it wasn't until the following day, so
Speaker 3: July thirty one, that doctors over at dan in On
Speaker 3: Hospital communicated with these doctors at lean Gatha and said
Speaker 3: that they suspected it was mushroom poisoning.
Speaker 2: And on that day Aaron Patterson presented herself to hospital, didn't.
Speaker 3: She Yes, that's right. We did hear that today from
Speaker 3: doctor Webster. He said it was about eight oh five
Speaker 3: when Aaron arrived at the front door of the hospital
Speaker 3: and rang the doorbell, and he was the person he
Speaker 3: went over to speak to her. He told the jury
Speaker 3: that Aaron said she had gastro so he welcomed her
Speaker 3: into the hospital and started speaking to her about her symptoms,
Speaker 3: but very quickly upon her telling him her name, he
Speaker 3: realized that she was at this lunch. Doctor Webster was
Speaker 3: asked today by Crown Prosecutor Jane Warren whether he recognized
Speaker 3: her as the fifth guest, but he actually said in court, no,
Speaker 3: I recognized her as the chef of the meal. He
Speaker 3: asked her a few more questions, one of them concerning
Speaker 3: where she got the mushrooms from.
Speaker 2: And Aaron gave a very short reply back, didn't she
Speaker 2: She did?
Speaker 3: According to doctor Webster's answer, she just said Woolworth's. It
Speaker 3: was at this point that doctor Webster told Erin that
Speaker 3: he was worried she may have also been exposed to
Speaker 3: deathcap mushroom poisoning, keeping in mind that he had just
Speaker 3: heard from the doctors at Daniynong who had raised those concerns,
Speaker 3: and he really urged her to stay at hospital so
Speaker 3: she could be treated.
Speaker 2: And then essentially Aaron discharged herself from hospital against medical advice.
Speaker 3: That's correct. The jury were actually shown CCTV footage today
Speaker 3: of the moment Aaron walks towards the exit of the hospital.
Speaker 3: She's stopped by another doctor. This doctor was Veronica Foot,
Speaker 3: and you can see the two of them engaging in
Speaker 3: a brief conversation before some paperwork arrives for Eron to sign,
Speaker 3: which the jury was told was the discharge against medical
Speaker 3: advice form.
Speaker 2: And doctor Foot was also another witness in today's hearing.
Speaker 2: Wasn't she she was?
Speaker 3: And when the footage was played to the court today,
Speaker 3: the comment was made that Aaron discharged herself at eight ten,
Speaker 3: keeping in mind she only arrived at eight oh five,
Speaker 3: so she only spent five minutes at the hospital before leaving.
Speaker 2: Now, this is when doctor Webster makes that triple zero
Speaker 2: call that we heard earlier.
Speaker 3: That's right. It's clear from the discussion he has with
Speaker 3: the triple zero operator that he's worried for Erin's health.
Speaker 3: She's discharged herself. He doesn't know where she is, so
Speaker 3: he's asking police to find her and bring her back
Speaker 3: to the hospital so she can be treated.
Speaker 2: But Arin, on her own accord, came back to the
Speaker 2: hospital herself, didn't she.
Speaker 3: That's right. By nine point fifty am, she was back
Speaker 3: at Leaingngatha Hospital. Doctor Webster told the court that when
Speaker 3: she arrived, he decided he should call police to just
Speaker 3: explain to them that they no longer were going to
Speaker 3: find her at her home because she was back at hospital.
Speaker 3: But in the process of doing that, he realized that
Speaker 3: if they were at her house, they might have a
Speaker 3: good opportunity to find some of the leftovers from the
Speaker 3: beef Wellington lunch so they could be tested. And you
Speaker 3: would have heard us mention her before, doctor Foot she
Speaker 3: was the doctor who had that conversation with Aaron at
Speaker 3: the door before she did leave. Earlier in the morning.
Speaker 3: It was doctor Foot who received these samples of beef Wellington.
Speaker 3: They were in a brown Woolworth's bag. They arrived at
Speaker 3: the hospital and the jury was shown some CCTV footage
Speaker 3: of her putting on some gloves, fishing the leftovers out
Speaker 3: of the bag and taking photographs. This was because staff
Speaker 3: at Monash Medical Center were hoping to have a look
Speaker 3: at the mushrooms and these samples as soon as possible.
Speaker 2: And probably something that our listeners are thinking, what did
Speaker 2: the beef Wellington look like at this point?
Speaker 3: That's a good question. From the CCTV footage, we really
Speaker 3: couldn't see a lot. It was taken from quite far away,
Speaker 3: but from what we could see, it looked like doctor
Speaker 3: Foot had fished out a small brown mush out of
Speaker 3: the bag, but as well as that, a larger pastry
Speaker 3: that could have been half a beef Wellington.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now moving on to more medical evidence. The prosecution
Speaker 2: read a statement on behalf of Daniella Ramans. Now she
Speaker 2: works at the Department of Health.
Speaker 3: And I think this is the first time a statement
Speaker 3: has been read into the transcript and just to explain
Speaker 3: to our listeners, this process is very standard in trials
Speaker 3: and it just helps speed things along. Instead of calling
Speaker 3: every single person relevant to a trial to give evidence
Speaker 3: in court, if the evidence isn't in dish, a simple
Speaker 3: statement will be read out to the jury.
Speaker 2: In her statement, she said that Victoria, the state, has
Speaker 2: a mandatory reporting of cancer diagnosises and detections. So Miss
Speaker 2: Raman said she did a search of the Victorian Cancer
Speaker 2: Registry in March this year, so she was looking for
Speaker 2: entries relating to Aaron Patterson with her date of birth,
Speaker 2: but she said in her statement that no entries were found. Now,
Speaker 2: we also heard from Don and Glee's son and daughter,
Speaker 2: and Heather and Ian's daughter. All three of them gave
Speaker 2: evidence today and while the medical testimony was quite clinical,
Speaker 2: the family's evidence was a lot more personal.
Speaker 3: That's right, and I'll start with the evidence of Anna Terrington,
Speaker 3: the youngest daughter of Don and Gail. She told the
Speaker 3: jury that she spoke to her parents after the lunch
Speaker 3: and at the time they said the lunch went well,
Speaker 3: but by the Sunday they had been transferred to Danilong
Speaker 3: Hospital with quite serious symptoms.
Speaker 2: In court, Anna told the jury that she was with
Speaker 2: her mum, Gail for long periods of time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she went to the hospital to be by her
Speaker 3: bedside her brother Simon, who is Erin's estranged husband. He
Speaker 3: was spending time with Don, their dad, and Anna said
Speaker 3: to the jury that she had to help her mother
Speaker 3: go to the bathroom several times throughout that night. Anna
Speaker 3: told the court that while she was at hospital with
Speaker 3: her mum, they spoke about the lunch. She recalled that
Speaker 3: her mom had said Aaron wanted to tell them about
Speaker 3: a medical issue, but she said her mum never told
Speaker 3: her what the medical issue was, and she didn't ask
Speaker 3: her mum either. Now let's move on to Matthew Pattison.
Speaker 3: He's the oldest son of Don and Gail, so he's
Speaker 3: Simon Pattison's brother and Anna's brother. Also.
Speaker 2: Matthew told the jury that he and Aaron had a
Speaker 2: lunch in twenty twenty one, and this is where Erin
Speaker 2: actually opened up about her relationship with Simon. So just
Speaker 2: remember we said this last week that Simon and Aaron
Speaker 2: separated in twenty fifteen. The court heard that Aaron asked
Speaker 2: Matthew for advice on how to get Simon to participate
Speaker 2: in counseling.
Speaker 3: Later on in his evidence, Matthew was asked about the
Speaker 3: days after the lunch, he was also at Danyong Hospital.
Speaker 3: He took over from Anna after she went home having
Speaker 3: spent Sunday night with their parents, and it was on
Speaker 3: Monday that the doctors asked if they knew where the
Speaker 3: mushrooms in the beef Wellington had come from, and Matthew
Speaker 3: volunteered to call erin to find out. He told the
Speaker 3: court that it was a very quick conversation. I think
Speaker 3: it was actually mentioned. It only went for one minute
Speaker 3: and thirteen seconds, and in that brief phone call he
Speaker 3: asked where she had gotten the mushrooms from. He told
Speaker 3: the court that Aaron mentioned that there were fresh mushrooms
Speaker 3: from Woolies and there were also dried mushrooms from a
Speaker 3: Chinese grocer or supermarket from the Oakley Air. After Aaron
Speaker 3: told him that information, he passed it on to the
Speaker 3: doctors at the hospital.
Speaker 2: The jury heard that both Anna and Matthew confirmed that
Speaker 2: Aaron and Simon had loaned them each hundreds of thousands
Speaker 2: of dollars to help them both purchase their homes. We
Speaker 2: heard it a little bit about this. Last week the
Speaker 2: court heard these loans were index to inflation, but no
Speaker 2: interest was charged. Now let's move on to Heather and
Speaker 2: Ian's daughter.
Speaker 3: Yes, we also heard from Ruth du Bois. She spoke
Speaker 3: about talking with her parents in the weeks before the lunch,
Speaker 3: keeping in mind that Aaron invited her guests to the
Speaker 3: lunch in early July at a church service. When Heather
Speaker 3: was explaining this to Ruth, she said that after church,
Speaker 3: Aaron had approached her in Gale and said, just the
Speaker 3: two I was looking for. She then continued on and
Speaker 3: said that she wanted to invite them to lunch. Ruth
Speaker 3: told the court that she was quite surprised to hear
Speaker 3: Aeron and had invited her parents to lunch, considering that
Speaker 3: had never happened before.
Speaker 2: So with multiple family members in court today, it was
Speaker 2: always going to be an emotional day, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, and particularly when Anna gave evidence, there
Speaker 3: was a lot of emotion in the court. When she
Speaker 3: was being questioned about the final days of her parents,
Speaker 3: she started to become tearful. She clutched her chest at
Speaker 3: one point and had to take a few pauses before
Speaker 3: giving her answers. And she also reached for a tissue
Speaker 3: to blow her nose. And last week our listeners might
Speaker 3: remember that her brother Simon also became emotional when speaking
Speaker 3: about their parents as well.
Speaker 2: Now, lastly, Laura, the dehydrata has been mentioned in court
Speaker 2: every single day. Was it raised today?
Speaker 3: Now that I think about it, I don't think it was.
Speaker 3: You're right, we have heard about it most days of
Speaker 3: the trial, so we'll have to wait and see when
Speaker 3: it pops up next.
Speaker 2: Well, the dehydrata has had a day off, it seems
Speaker 2: we'll have to wait to see when it returned. But
Speaker 2: we'll definitely be back tomorrow with our daily update and
Speaker 2: if you want more reports, features and podcast episodes, head
Speaker 2: over to the mushroomcook dot com dot au