Speaker 1: I suggest that you didn't love them, correct or incorrect.
Speaker 2: That's not true.
Speaker 1: I suggest that you were angry that they took Simon's
Speaker 1: side in your argument with him in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: about the child allowance. That's not true, and that feeling
Speaker 1: towards them continued correct or incorrect, incorrect. In fact, you
Speaker 1: had two faces, a public face of appearing to have
Speaker 1: a good relationship with Don and Glee as shown to
Speaker 1: people like Simon, Anna, Tanya, Matt, Ruth Dubois, Professor Stewart,
Speaker 1: and police in your record of interview, Agree or disagree?
Speaker 2: Are you asking me to agree if I had two faces?
Speaker 1: I'm asking you, do you agree that you had a
Speaker 1: public face of appearing to have a good relationship with
Speaker 1: Don and Gail.
Speaker 2: I had a good relationship with Don and Gale.
Speaker 1: I suggest that your private face was the one you
Speaker 1: showed in your Facebook messenger use correct or incorrect, incorrect,
Speaker 1: And how you truly felt about Don and Gale was
Speaker 1: as you expressed it in your Facebook messages. No correct
Speaker 1: or incorrect, incorrect, And that is how you really felt
Speaker 1: about Simon Patterson, as expressed to your Facebook friends correct
Speaker 1: or incorrect, incorrect.
Speaker 3: Aaron Patterson faced another grilling today by Nanette Rodgers, as
Speaker 3: the Crown prosecutor questioned the accused about her estranged husband,
Speaker 3: her in laws, the only guests who survived the deadly lunch,
Speaker 3: and his late wife. It was a short session today
Speaker 3: that it ended on a tense exchange. I'm Brooke Greebert Craig,
Speaker 3: and this is the mushroom pull. I'm back with my
Speaker 3: colleague court reporter Laura plassella. We just finished day twenty
Speaker 3: eight of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I do have
Speaker 3: to apologize to our listeners. Yesterday I said it was
Speaker 3: day twenty six when it was actually day twenty seven.
Speaker 3: I think all the days emerging into one.
Speaker 4: And I didn't even realize when you said that. But
Speaker 4: on behalf of our listeners, we forgive you.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Laura. As I said at the start of the episode,
Speaker 3: today's proceedings were really about Aaron's relationships with her estranged husband,
Speaker 3: Simon Patterson, his parents Don and Gale Patterson, and his
Speaker 3: aunt and uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Let's start with
Speaker 3: what Aaron said about Simon.
Speaker 4: Erin was brought back today to some evidence that we
Speaker 4: heard in the second week of the trial from her
Speaker 4: Facebook friends. Christine Hunt. One of these friends, told the
Speaker 4: court that Aaron had painted Simon as coercive and was
Speaker 4: never happy with his commitment to things. But Erin told
Speaker 4: the court today that she did not remember telling either
Speaker 4: of those things to Miss Hunt. Doctor Rogers also brought
Speaker 4: Erin to some evidence from another one of these friends,
Speaker 4: Daniella Barkley, who said that Aaron told her Simon wasn't
Speaker 4: a very nice person. But again Aaron told the court
Speaker 4: that she didn't remember telling miss Barklay that. Doctor Rogers
Speaker 4: also asked Erin today about something else Miss Berkley said
Speaker 4: about Simon. These are their words, but not their voices.
Speaker 1: Danielle Barkley also gave evidence that you weren't happy with
Speaker 1: his cleanliness.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: You heard her say that, yes, And is that the
Speaker 1: truth that you told her that or that you posted that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is true because I had to spend two
Speaker 2: weeks cleaning his house at one point.
Speaker 4: Doctor Rogers also asked Erin today about a conversation she
Speaker 4: had with Public Health Director Ronda Stewart from mon Ash
Speaker 4: Health on July thirty one. Professor Stewart said Aaron told
Speaker 4: her the lunch wasn't unusual because she had a good
Speaker 4: relationship with her in laws and her ex husband. Aaron
Speaker 4: told the court today that she could not recall this
Speaker 4: conversation with Professor Stewart, but there was one thing she
Speaker 4: wanted to note.
Speaker 1: Now, you've got no memory of having any conversation with
Speaker 1: Professor Stewart. Is that your evidence? Yes, So you're not
Speaker 1: able to comment on whether or not you said that
Speaker 1: correct or anything.
Speaker 2: Like that correct, except I wouldn't have called Simon my
Speaker 2: ex husband because it was not and still is not.
Speaker 4: At the beginning of his evidence in the first week
Speaker 4: of the trial, Simon was asked how he knew the accused.
Speaker 4: He replied, I'm married to her, and he also confirmed
Speaker 4: to the court that they were still married.
Speaker 3: Doctor Rodgers took erin to a text she sent Simon
Speaker 3: after he pulled out of the lunch on July twenty eight.
Speaker 3: She said, that's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this
Speaker 3: week preparing lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in
Speaker 3: light of the issues I'm facing. She went on to say,
Speaker 3: I may not be able to host a lunch like
Speaker 3: this again for some time. Doctor Rogers asked Erin today
Speaker 3: why she wanted him at the table.
Speaker 1: I suggest that you wanted him to come to the
Speaker 1: lunch so that you could feed him part of the
Speaker 1: poisoned beef wellington meal.
Speaker 2: That's not true.
Speaker 1: I suggest that you prepared a poisoned beef wellington for
Speaker 1: him just in case he turned up at midday or
Speaker 1: shortly after midday on Saturday, the twenty ninth of July.
Speaker 2: No, that's not true.
Speaker 1: And when he didn't show up for lunch at some
Speaker 1: stage you threw it in your rubbish bin.
Speaker 2: I did put the pastry and mushrooms in the rubbish bin. Yes,
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 4: After a series of rapid fire questions from doctor Rogers,
Speaker 4: Aaron said she did tell Simon she wanted to discuss
Speaker 4: some medical stuff when she invited him to lunch, but
Speaker 4: she denied that she wanted advice and also denied that
Speaker 4: it was the purpose of the lunch. Earlier this week,
Speaker 4: Aaron admitted she misled her guests when she told them
Speaker 4: she may need treatment for cancer, but she testified today
Speaker 4: that she was confronting medical issues since she was planning
Speaker 4: to have gastric bypass surgery.
Speaker 3: Let's move on to the questions Doctor Rogers asked Aaron
Speaker 3: about Don and Gale at the top of the episode.
Speaker 3: Our listeners would have heard doctor Rogers suggesting to the
Speaker 3: mother of two that she had two faces, a public
Speaker 3: one and a private one.
Speaker 4: Yes, Erin was asked this today, but she in fact
Speaker 4: denied the accusation, saying that she loved and still loves
Speaker 4: Don and Gale. But Doctor Rogers disputed this, pointing her
Speaker 4: to several messages sent to her Facebook friends that our
Speaker 4: listeners have heard before. In these messages, Erin describes them
Speaker 4: as a lost cause, says they have no capacity for
Speaker 4: self reflection at all, and declares this family I swear
Speaker 4: toking God and them. Doctor Rogers suggested to Erin today
Speaker 4: that these were her true feelings about her in laws,
Speaker 4: but Erin denied this and said she was simply venting
Speaker 4: to her friends.
Speaker 3: So Erin has pleaded not guilty and has claims she
Speaker 3: may have accidentally added forage mushrooms into the beef Wellington dish,
Speaker 3: along with dried mushrooms that she purchased from an Asian grosser. Today,
Speaker 3: Doctor Rogers suggested to Erin that if she did love
Speaker 3: Don and Gale, she would have notified medical authorities about
Speaker 3: the possibility that forage mushrooms had gone into the meal.
Speaker 3: Here's the exchange that took place.
Speaker 1: You've told this jury that it was some time on
Speaker 1: thirty first of August twenty twenty three, after this conversation
Speaker 1: when Simon had asked you about did you use a
Speaker 1: dehydrator to poison my parents? Yep, that you first realized
Speaker 1: that the forage mushrooms might have been in the tupperware
Speaker 1: container and might have been used by you in the
Speaker 1: beef Wellington preparation.
Speaker 2: Correct, that that it might have been a possibility, yes, correct, And.
Speaker 1: You agreed that you told police in your record of
Speaker 1: interview that you loved Don and Gale. Correct.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: Surely if you had loved them, then you would have
Speaker 1: immediately notified the medical authorities about there being a possibility
Speaker 1: that the forage mushrooms had gone in the container with
Speaker 1: the Chinese mushrooms.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't, No, you didn't.
Speaker 1: Even though you had the realization on first of August
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: That's correct. But I'd been told that people were getting
Speaker 2: treatment for possible deaf cat mushroom poisoning, so that was
Speaker 2: already happening.
Speaker 1: But you didn't feel the need to tell any medical
Speaker 1: authorities about the possibility that the dried foraged mushrooms on
Speaker 1: your evidence that you had found had gone in the
Speaker 1: container with the Chinese mushrooms.
Speaker 2: That's correct. I did not tell anybody.
Speaker 1: On your evidence. You never once told a medical professional
Speaker 1: that foraged mushrooms were involved or might have been involved. Correct,
Speaker 1: that's correct. And you never told anyone about that matter,
Speaker 1: for example, Sally Anne Atkinson. Correct.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: So this day, this realization on Tuesday, the first I
Speaker 1: suggest that this was days before anyone had died. Correct,
Speaker 1: it was even after you were discharged from hospital on
Speaker 1: that day. You didn't tell a single person that these
Speaker 1: may have been foraged mushrooms used in the meal. Correct.
Speaker 3: Correct Erin was also asked about her relationship with Ian
Speaker 3: and Heather. I think our listeners should know that Ian
Speaker 3: was sitting in court today listening to all of the evidence,
Speaker 3: just as he has been doing throughout the whole trial.
Speaker 3: He sat in the back row, listening intently, with his
Speaker 3: arms crossed, and at times he closed his eyes.
Speaker 4: The jury has previously heard Ian describe his relationship with
Speaker 4: Erin as amicable, but he said they were more like acquaintances.
Speaker 4: Erin agreed today that she did not socialize much with
Speaker 4: Ian outside of church. She said she spoke more with Heather,
Speaker 4: but she also agreed they were not close. Here is
Speaker 4: more of her exchange with doctor Rogers.
Speaker 1: But I want to ask you this, why is it
Speaker 1: that you invited Ian and Heather to the lunch on
Speaker 1: the twenty ninth of July.
Speaker 2: There were a few reasons. Well, Ian had been my
Speaker 2: pastor for years and years, and I would see and
Speaker 2: speak with Ian and heathern a lot after church, and
Speaker 2: I really liked them, and I wanted to have a
Speaker 2: stronger relationship with them. When I had invited Don and
Speaker 2: Gale for lunch in June, Gail had said that what
Speaker 2: I had done to the garden was really nice and
Speaker 2: Heather would love to see it. And I thought, oh,
Speaker 2: that's the great opportunity to invite Heather and Ian the
Speaker 2: next time I have Don and Gale for lunch, and
Speaker 2: I did that. I just wanted I just wanted to
Speaker 2: say thank you to them for being good to me
Speaker 2: over the years. Heather helped me a lot. When my
Speaker 2: daughter was little and I started taking her to playgroup
Speaker 2: at Cornborough Baptist and I was shy and didn't really
Speaker 2: know many people, and Heather would with me through those
Speaker 2: playgroup times and was really kind to me, and I
Speaker 2: wanted to wanted to say thank you to her.
Speaker 4: Erin grabbed a tissue as doctor Rogers continued.
Speaker 1: Did you invite Ian and Heather to lunch to ensure
Speaker 1: that Don and Gail would also attend?
Speaker 2: I didn't need to do anything. I just needed to
Speaker 2: invite Don and Gale and they'd come because they loved me.
Speaker 1: Did you ask Ian and Heather in an attempt by
Speaker 1: you to get Simon to attend as well?
Speaker 3: No, as always on a Friday. Court finished at one
Speaker 3: pm today, before Justice Christopher Bill dismissed the jury for
Speaker 3: the day, Doctor Rogers suggested that Aaron had access the
Speaker 3: citizen website I Naturalist.
Speaker 4: She took erin to the computer records that we've previously
Speaker 4: spoken about that shows that a computer in Aaron's house
Speaker 4: accessed a map about death caps on May twenty eight,
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two. Aaron told the court today that she
Speaker 4: didn't have a specific memory of this day all that search,
Speaker 4: but said that it could have been possible that she
Speaker 4: did visit this website. She said at some point, she
Speaker 4: remembers wanting to find out if death caps grew in
Speaker 4: South Gippsland, and then subsequently finding out that they did not.
Speaker 4: Earlier this week, Aaron told the court that when she
Speaker 4: found out mushrooms were growing on her property and that
Speaker 4: they were probably toxic to dogs, she went online to
Speaker 4: see if death caps grew in her area. In the
Speaker 4: final exchange of the day, Doctor Rogers asked Erin, I
Speaker 4: suggest you had an interest in death cap mushrooms on
Speaker 4: May twenty eight, twenty twenty two. Agree or disagree. Erin
Speaker 4: replied to Doctor Rogers by saying, it depends what you
Speaker 4: mean by an interest. Rogers replied, well, it's a very
Speaker 4: straightforward question, miss Patterson. But it was at that point
Speaker 4: that Justice Bill interjected and said that's all the evidence
Speaker 4: the jury would hear today.
Speaker 3: And error will return to the stand on Tuesday, as
Speaker 3: Monday is a public holiday and the jury gets a
Speaker 3: day off.
Speaker 4: I think all of us have been looking forward to
Speaker 4: this long weekend, and Justice Beer wished them a good break,
Speaker 4: but did remind them not to discuss the case with
Speaker 4: anyone in their lives.
Speaker 3: And on that note, stay tuned for our subscriber only
Speaker 3: episode with veteran crime reporter Anthony Dowsley. They will be
Speaker 3: dropping on Sunday,