1
00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,760
Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

2
00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, September nine, twenty twenty five. The Chinese government

3
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,799
Speaker 1: is fired up over a meeting between Foreign Minister Penny Wong,

4
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,280
Speaker 1: Defense Minister Richard Miles and their Japanese counterparts. Beijing has

5
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 1: accused Australia of stirring up tensions with the meeting, which

6
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,000
Speaker 1: took place just two days after President she presided over

7
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,200
Speaker 1: a military parade commemorating China's victory over Japan in World

8
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:43,400
Speaker 1: War II. Convicted, sentenced now, Aaron Patterson will appeal after

9
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,800
Speaker 1: receiving a thirty three year minimum sentence for murdering three

10
00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,560
Speaker 1: elderly people and attempting to kill a fourth. The Australian

11
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,800
Speaker 1: is revealing Patterson will seek to regain her freedom. On Monday,

12
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,520
Speaker 1: Justice Christopher Beale found Patterson also intended to murder her

13
00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,360
Speaker 1: estranged husband, Simon Patterson at the Lee and Gatha lunch,

14
00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,559
Speaker 1: but he didn't show up today. How the judge fit

15
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:19,600
Speaker 1: together Patterson's puzzle of lies and what happens now? An

16
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,720
Speaker 1: old lady begging for water, her husband's lips turning black

17
00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,400
Speaker 1: children tormented in the playground, and two men, Simon Patterson

18
00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,479
Speaker 1: and Ian Wilkinson, who escaped a mass murder, and the

19
00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,880
Speaker 1: cause of it all a remorseless liar, a violent offender

20
00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,360
Speaker 1: without pity, who intended to slaughter five people but only

21
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,560
Speaker 1: managed to kill three. Just as Christopher Beale looked down

22
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,560
Speaker 1: from the bench at Aaron Patterson in the Victorian Supreme

23
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,880
Speaker 1: Court doc on Monday and for the first time made

24
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,600
Speaker 1: sense of all the pieces of this monstrous puzzle.

25
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,000
Speaker 2: Many of your adult victims struggled not only with the

26
00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,560
Speaker 2: loss of their loved ones and the terrible way they died,

27
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,280
Speaker 2: but with the distress even guilt at their own seeming

28
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,760
Speaker 2: inability to ease the suffering of those close to them.

29
00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,720
Speaker 2: They keenly feel their limitations, and in particular the impossibility

30
00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 2: of shielding the youngest from the incessant discussion of the

31
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,120
Speaker 2: case in the media, online, in public spaces, even in

32
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:19,840
Speaker 2: the school yard.

33
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 1: These are the words of Bill, who's allowed us to

34
00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 1: broadcast this recording. Bill sentenced Patterson to a minimum of

35
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,600
Speaker 1: thirty three years imprisonment for the murders, life sentences for

36
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 1: killing her parents in law Doningale, Patterson and Gail's sister

37
00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 1: Heather Wilkinson, as well as twenty five years for the

38
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,959
Speaker 1: attempted murder of Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson.

39
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:47,200
Speaker 2: All sentences are to be served concurrently. The total effective

40
00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 2: sentence is life imprisonment and I fix a non parole

41
00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,239
Speaker 2: period of thirty three years.

42
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,799
Speaker 1: We'll never know exactly why the jury, who are the

43
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 1: judges of the facts, convicted Patterson. The jury just delivered

44
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,560
Speaker 1: one word four times guilty and then disappeared back into

45
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,320
Speaker 1: their lives. But now we know how Justice Biale, the

46
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,640
Speaker 1: judge of the law, fits together the facts. The judge

47
00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 1: found Patterson's first lie was that, contrary to the defense claims,

48
00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,960
Speaker 1: she was intimately familiar with the Eenaturalist website, where she

49
00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,560
Speaker 1: actively looked for sightings of deathcap mushrooms and then went

50
00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:31,280
Speaker 1: and foraged them. Bale believes Ian Wilkinson the only survivor

51
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,200
Speaker 1: who said Patterson served the food on four large gray

52
00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,720
Speaker 1: plates for the guests and one small orange tan plate

53
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 1: for herself.

54
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,600
Speaker 2: I found that you did this to ensure that you

55
00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,760
Speaker 2: did not mistakenly consume a poisoned meal.

56
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,160
Speaker 1: Patterson lied about that she invented a medical condition in

57
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,960
Speaker 1: order to lure Simon and his family to the lunch.

58
00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,960
Speaker 2: I am satisfied that by the sixteenth of July twenty three,

59
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 2: when you unusually invited Simon, his parents, and his aunt

60
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 2: and uncle to a lunch without the children to discuss

61
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,880
Speaker 2: your nonexistent medical issues, you did so with the intention

62
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 2: of killing them all.

63
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,200
Speaker 1: Bale said the intense public interest in Patterson's crimes meant

64
00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,120
Speaker 1: she could be targeted by other prisoners during her incarceration,

65
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,800
Speaker 1: so against the Crown's wishes, he said, a non parole

66
00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,599
Speaker 1: period as an act of clemency. That means she'll be

67
00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,479
Speaker 1: in her eighties before she can apply for early release.

68
00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 2: You maintain your innocence. In other words, there is no

69
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,680
Speaker 2: evidence of remorse. You showed no pity for your victims.

70
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,520
Speaker 2: Instead of informing those treating the Pattersons and Wilkinsons that

71
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,640
Speaker 2: you had used forage mushrooms, which you could have done

72
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,719
Speaker 2: without having to admit that you had deliberately poisoned their meals,

73
00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:57,039
Speaker 2: you repeatedly denied foraging, insisting that the mushrooms for the

74
00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,960
Speaker 2: beef Wellingtons were sourced solely from war Worth and an

75
00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,800
Speaker 2: Asian grocery. We will never know whether revealing the use

76
00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,840
Speaker 2: of foraged mushrooms would have made a difference. I am

77
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,160
Speaker 2: satisfied that your vague story about the Asian grocery was

78
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,560
Speaker 2: a lie. When you realized that the lie would not

79
00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:21,040
Speaker 2: work because death cap mushrooms cannot be cultivated commercially, and

80
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,560
Speaker 2: there were no other reports of people falling ill from

81
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,600
Speaker 2: mushrooms purchased at Asian groceries, you changed.

82
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,480
Speaker 1: Tech as police closed. In searching Patterson's home in early

83
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,600
Speaker 1: August twenty twenty three, Bill said she disposed of her

84
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 1: main phone and misled officers by handing over what he

85
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,200
Speaker 1: called a dummy phone. With that neat phrase, the judge

86
00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,240
Speaker 1: squashed Patterson's elaborate series of lies about why her various

87
00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,880
Speaker 1: Samsung handsets and SIM cards had swapped and changed and

88
00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,000
Speaker 1: appeared and reappeared over the time of her offending. Patterson

89
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,599
Speaker 1: told Detective Leading Senior Constable Simon Eppingstall in her record

90
00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,080
Speaker 1: of interview that she fed leftovers from the lunch to

91
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,880
Speaker 1: her children for dinner the next day. This is the

92
00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:05,480
Speaker 1: audio of her police interview.

93
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,679
Speaker 3: Well, what are those leftovers that you directed them to

94
00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:11,920
Speaker 3: the lunch?

95
00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,560
Speaker 2: Okay, so you helped them getting that?

96
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 4: So good to be because my kids they come up too.

97
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, but.

98
00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:26,520
Speaker 4: Tell us stuck that was left over. I went straight

99
00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:26,920
Speaker 4: in the bin.

100
00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: Bill said that was untrue, and that the symptoms Patterson

101
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,880
Speaker 1: exhibited in the days following the lunch were also fake.

102
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,440
Speaker 2: You falsely made out that you had fed your children

103
00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,080
Speaker 2: leftover beef Wellington's with the pastry and mushrooms scraped off.

104
00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,640
Speaker 2: You feigned illness, You're disposed of the dehydrator soon after

105
00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,880
Speaker 2: you were released from a hospital. You maintained the vague

106
00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,800
Speaker 2: story about sourcing dried mushrooms at an Asian grocery and

107
00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,719
Speaker 2: had the gall to tell police in your recorded police

108
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,599
Speaker 2: interview that you had been very very helpful to the

109
00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,799
Speaker 2: health department in its investigation of the incident.

110
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:08,320
Speaker 4: So you understand where we Yeah, I do functually understand

111
00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,280
Speaker 4: to that, Like, I've never been in a situation like

112
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:18,760
Speaker 4: this before, and I've been very very helpful of the

113
00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 4: Health Department through the lake because I wanted to help

114
00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,480
Speaker 4: that sign of things as much as possible, because I

115
00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,520
Speaker 4: do want to know what happened, So I've given them

116
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,400
Speaker 4: as much information as.

117
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,200
Speaker 1: At the center of all the conversations about Patterson is

118
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:40,040
Speaker 1: one huge question why the judge didn't explicitly outline a reason,

119
00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,640
Speaker 1: although his summary began with one crucial moment in late

120
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,520
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, when she came into dispute with Simon

121
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 1: Patterson about child support payments. When he listed himself as

122
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,560
Speaker 1: separated on his tax return, she called him a gas

123
00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,080
Speaker 1: lighting deadbeat and his parents a lost cause. This family,

124
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,920
Speaker 1: I swear to fucking God, told her online friends. The

125
00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,720
Speaker 1: source of Patterson's cold rage was money and control, and

126
00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:09,080
Speaker 1: her primary intended victim was her husband, who was pulling

127
00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 1: away from her grasp. Patterson wasn't allowed to speak on Monday,

128
00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:16,240
Speaker 1: the judge did all the talking.

129
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,680
Speaker 2: Not only did you cut short three lives and cause

130
00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,680
Speaker 2: lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson's health, thereby devastating the extended

131
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 2: Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your

132
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:35,600
Speaker 2: own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents. Your

133
00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:40,000
Speaker 2: lunch guests undoubtedly belonged to that company of people among

134
00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:41,040
Speaker 2: us who do good.

135
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,880
Speaker 1: Before releasing Patterson back to the Dame Phyllis Frost Center,

136
00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:51,800
Speaker 1: Beale offered some advice.

137
00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,760
Speaker 2: At your plea hearing. Ian Wilkinson memorably read his victim

138
00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 2: impact statement to the court, amongst other things. He humbly

139
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:06,600
Speaker 2: expressed his great admiration and love for his wife, Heather,

140
00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:14,280
Speaker 2: and his concern for others, even you. He offered you

141
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,160
Speaker 2: forgiveness for what you did to him. That offer of

142
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:24,320
Speaker 2: forgiveness presents you with an opportunity. You would do well

143
00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 2: to embrace it in the manner he suggests.

144
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,640
Speaker 1: Outside court, pastor Ian Wilkinson addressed the media for the

145
00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:34,800
Speaker 1: first and possibly the last time.

146
00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,720
Speaker 3: We're thankful that when things go wrong there are good

147
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,959
Speaker 3: people and services and systems available to help us recover.

148
00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,040
Speaker 3: I'd like to encourage all those involved to keep turning

149
00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:56,480
Speaker 3: up and serving others. Our lives and the life of

150
00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:02,000
Speaker 3: our community depends on the kindness of others. That's all

151
00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:06,240
Speaker 3: I wish to say for now. Please respect our privacy

152
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:11,240
Speaker 3: as we continue to grieve and heal. Thank you for listening.

153
00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:13,800
Speaker 3: I hope you all have a great day.

154
00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 1: Coming up. So what now for Aaron Patterson? I spoke

155
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,520
Speaker 1: to The Australian's Legal Affairs editor Elie Dudley about this

156
00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:45,400
Speaker 1: end of the road. Maybe for Aaron Patterson the.

157
00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,360
Speaker 5: Sentencing was always going to be about, not about whether

158
00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:50,000
Speaker 5: she was going to spend life in prison. That was

159
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,520
Speaker 5: already sort of a given. The prosecutors had said that

160
00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 5: she deserves life in prison, and even the defense lawyers.

161
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,600
Speaker 5: Aaron's lawyers had said that she deserves life in prison.

162
00:10:57,679 --> 00:10:59,760
Speaker 5: The question was whether or not she was ever going

163
00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,840
Speaker 5: to be released from prison seeing the sun again. So

164
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,440
Speaker 5: she was granted that thirty three year non parole period today.

165
00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,959
Speaker 5: So if she does ever leave prison, she'll be eighty

166
00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:10,440
Speaker 5: one years old. Yeah.

167
00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,520
Speaker 1: Colin Mandy sc Aaron Patterson's defense barrister has really done

168
00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,640
Speaker 1: a sterling job throughout this trial in having material excluded

169
00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:21,000
Speaker 1: that was prejudicial to her, and in sentence city submissions

170
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,840
Speaker 1: he did it again. He elicited a lot of evidence,

171
00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,960
Speaker 1: particularly from a senior official of Victoria's Corrections department, about

172
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,480
Speaker 1: just how tough Aaron Patterson is doing it in jail.

173
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 1: That she is in a cell by herself, where she

174
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,760
Speaker 1: has just a tiny concrete yard. She can communicate with

175
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 1: one other prisoner who's her next door neighbor, but that

176
00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,880
Speaker 1: person has a terrorism offense and has also been convicted

177
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,040
Speaker 1: of assaulting other people in prison, So she's alone. She's

178
00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,240
Speaker 1: doing this time tough. And that's the central part of

179
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:51,760
Speaker 1: what the judge found is a reason for what he

180
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 1: described as clemency. That she's essentially going to serve the

181
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:56,920
Speaker 1: rest of this sentence in solitary confinement.

182
00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,320
Speaker 5: Yeah, and he said that that solitary confinement should a

183
00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,560
Speaker 5: weighty consideration. But he said that the non parole period

184
00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,640
Speaker 5: should not be read as a detraction from how serious

185
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,880
Speaker 5: the offending was of Aaron Patterson. So this non parole period, Claire,

186
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,440
Speaker 5: what would Aaron have to do in order to see

187
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:14,120
Speaker 5: sunlight again?

188
00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:16,600
Speaker 1: Well, demonstrate remorse, for a start, which is something she

189
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,679
Speaker 1: has never done. He said too, that that because she's

190
00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,320
Speaker 1: a violent offender, and it was quite stark hearing that

191
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,320
Speaker 1: phrase applied to her. The main reason for her incarceration

192
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,280
Speaker 1: is protection of the general public. Something that Christopher Beale

193
00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,000
Speaker 1: said was that she intended to kill Simon Patterson as well.

194
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,160
Speaker 1: That was a remarkable moment, wasn't it. Yeah.

195
00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,200
Speaker 5: He tracked us through those text messages that you'll remember

196
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,920
Speaker 5: from the trial, the text messages where Simon said to her,

197
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,040
Speaker 5: I just feel too uncomfortable to attend, and she said, well,

198
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,720
Speaker 5: I've spent a small fortune on beef, please come to

199
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,199
Speaker 5: this lunch. And then on top of that, we also

200
00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,280
Speaker 5: know about the attempted murder charges that were laid against

201
00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,640
Speaker 5: Aaron Patterson in relation to Simon Patterson.

202
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,520
Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson is now intending to appeal, which means she'll

203
00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,439
Speaker 1: need to set out grounds for White. She believes her

204
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:09,240
Speaker 1: case deserves another look that could take years. In the meantime,

205
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,800
Speaker 1: she's back in prison alongside some of the country's most

206
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,079
Speaker 1: dangerous offenders.

207
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:17,400
Speaker 5: There are still a whole heap of unanswered questions, and

208
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,920
Speaker 5: we got answers to some of those questions today. We

209
00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,440
Speaker 5: heard from Justice Bielee that he believed Ian Wilkinson's version

210
00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,720
Speaker 5: of events that Aaron Patterson did serve beef Wellington's on

211
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,280
Speaker 5: different colored plates for her guests versus the tinier tan

212
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,000
Speaker 5: colored plate that she served her own meal on. He

213
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,640
Speaker 5: accepted Ian Wilkinson's version of events in relation to Aaron

214
00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,559
Speaker 5: Patterson telling her guests that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

215
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,200
Speaker 5: When Aaron Patterson was giving evidence during trial, she said

216
00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,480
Speaker 5: that she never said that she had a diagnosis of cancer.

217
00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:46,400
Speaker 5: She said she might have alluded to it or said

218
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:47,920
Speaker 5: that she was unwell when she wasn't.

219
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,480
Speaker 1: You can read all our coverage of this story right

220
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,000
Speaker 1: now at The Australian Dot com dot a yu