Speaker 1: This week, one of Australia's most anticipated trials is set
Speaker 1: to start. Aaron Patterson is accused of murdering her former
Speaker 1: husband's family at a Saturday lunch. Police allege she served
Speaker 1: them at beef Wellington mill laced with death cap mushrooms.
Speaker 1: Now she will face trial. I'm Brook Greebert Craig and
Speaker 1: this is the Mushroom cook. So I'm here with my
Speaker 1: colleague court reporter Laura Pliscella. At the moment, we're in Morewell.
Speaker 1: We're in our makeshift Herald sign office. How are you feeling.
Speaker 2: It's great to be here, Brook, and I think that's
Speaker 2: a very apt description of our current situation. Most trials
Speaker 2: in Victoria are held in Melbourne at the Supreme Court Building,
Speaker 2: but this trial will be heard in Morewell. So. Morewell
Speaker 2: is a regional town. It's about an hour and a
Speaker 2: half's drive southeast of Melbourne and I think there's about
Speaker 2: fifteen thousand people who live here. We've been here for
Speaker 2: the last day or so settling in. We'll be here
Speaker 2: every day covering this trial until it's over, so we'll
Speaker 2: get to know more Well quite well, what have you
Speaker 2: thought of the town's sover.
Speaker 1: So It's been quite busy with all the media descending
Speaker 1: down here over the last couple of days. Even we
Speaker 1: went into the coffee store today and it was packed
Speaker 1: with journos, photographers, cameramen, lawyers, police officers. Everyone was in
Speaker 1: this one cafe. It had good coffee, I will say that, yeah,
Speaker 1: and good toasties as well. So yeah, more Weell is
Speaker 1: going to be the place to be over the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. So can you tell the listeners what
Speaker 1: Erin has been charged with? Yes?
Speaker 2: So, Erin has been charged with three counts of murder
Speaker 2: and one count of attempted murder. So these charges follow
Speaker 2: a lunch that Erin hosted at her home in Leo
Speaker 2: and Gatha in July twenty twenty three. Her former in
Speaker 2: laws Don and Gail Patterson were at this lunch, as
Speaker 2: well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Police alleged that Erin
Speaker 2: cooked a beef well to meal a lace with death
Speaker 2: cap mushrooms. Don, Gail, and Heather died in hospital days
Speaker 2: after that lunch, but Ian survived. But I think it's
Speaker 2: really important to note at this point Brook, especially for
Speaker 2: our listeners, that Erin has pleaded not guilty to all
Speaker 2: of the charges, which is why her trial is about
Speaker 2: to get underway.
Speaker 1: What happens at the beginning of a trial.
Speaker 2: So any trial begins with the impanelment of the jury.
Speaker 2: After a jury has been selected, then the opening addresses
Speaker 2: get underway. We'll talk more about all of those processes
Speaker 2: in our episodes to come, but the openings are essentially
Speaker 2: the summaries of the cases from the prosecution and defense sides.
Speaker 1: So what are you going to be doing down here?
Speaker 2: So I'm a court reported by trade, so every day
Speaker 2: I'll be at court reporting the evidence that the jury
Speaker 2: is hearing. In Australia, trials aren't live streams, so the
Speaker 2: public can't just chuck in a URL into their browser
Speaker 2: and watch the proceedings. So if they want to follow
Speaker 2: along and listen to the evidence and understand it for themselves,
Speaker 2: they will turn to media organizations and their coverage. Every day,
Speaker 2: I'll be at court following along, listening in to all
Speaker 2: of the evidence. We'll be running live blogs on our
Speaker 2: Herald Sun website and they'll also be coverage in our newspaper.
Speaker 2: But most days of the trial, you and I will
Speaker 2: jump into our makeshift podcast booth and we'll record an
Speaker 2: episode for our listeners to make sure they're also up
Speaker 2: to date with all of the evidence that has been
Speaker 2: heard by the jury.
Speaker 1: For all the details, go to the mushroomcook dot com
Speaker 1: dot au for all our coverage, live blogs, and podcast
Speaker 1: episodes