Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Thursday May twenty nine, twenty twenty five. We'd all
Speaker 1: better hope there's no war anytime soon. Australian forces are
Speaker 1: badly depleted of munitions, missiles and long range weapons. The
Speaker 1: Australians reporting today. Experts say the government needs to spend
Speaker 1: a lot more to ensure we can defend ourselves until
Speaker 1: nuclear submarines come online in the twenty thirties. What was
Speaker 1: going on with Aaron Patterson's multiple mobile phones? The Mushroom
Speaker 1: trial jury has heard allegations she swapped SIM cards between
Speaker 1: mobile phones and remotely reset a phone after it was
Speaker 1: seized by police. The jury also heard about a phone
Speaker 1: police have been unable to find. That's today's story. We've
Speaker 1: used voice actors throughout this episode to bring you the
Speaker 1: words aired in court. In the trial of the King
Speaker 1: versus Aaron Patterson, the crown case is that the Victorian
Speaker 1: mother of two invented a story of having cancer as
Speaker 1: a pretext for hosting a family lunch without including her children.
Speaker 1: They say it was all part of her plan to
Speaker 1: use death cap mushrooms to deliberately poison elderly relatives Don
Speaker 1: and Gaal Patterson and Ian and Heather Wilkinson after a
Speaker 1: lunch on July twenty nine, twenty twenty three, Donal, Gale
Speaker 1: Patterson and Heather Wilkinson died. Ian Wilkinson recovered from his
Speaker 1: serious illness. Now, Aaron Patterson is pleading not guilty to
Speaker 1: three counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Her
Speaker 1: defense is that the poisoning was a tragedy and a
Speaker 1: terrible accident, and that after the lunch she panicked, such
Speaker 1: was her horror at the deaths her beef Wellington lunch
Speaker 1: had caused. On Wednesday, the triple murder trial of Aaron
Speaker 1: Patterson heard about a diary kept by her mother in law,
Speaker 1: Gail Patterson, with notes of upcoming appointments and reminders. After
Speaker 1: a lunch with Aaron Patterson in June twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: Gail Patterson wrote this.
Speaker 2: June twenty eighth, twenty twenty three erin Saint Vincent's arm lump.
Speaker 1: In court, prosecutor Jane Warren was questioning lead detective Stephen Eppingstall,
Speaker 1: who had obtained all Aaron Patterson's medical records.
Speaker 3: Did you make any inquiries as to whether or not
Speaker 3: Mss Patterson had any appointments or had attended Saint Vincent's
Speaker 3: on that date twenty eighth of June twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: There are no records in a Medicare record indicating that
Speaker 4: she'd had an appointment in Saint Vincent's, and when we
Speaker 4: contacted the Saint Vincent's hospital, they had no record of it.
Speaker 1: On June twenty eight, Gail Patterson sent Aaron Patterson a
Speaker 1: text hi erin just wondering how you got your appointment today?
Speaker 1: Love Gaale and Don. Aaron Patterson replied the next day,
Speaker 1: according to Detective Eppingstall.
Speaker 5: Hi, Gail. Sorry, I had taken my daughter to see
Speaker 5: a movie last night. We saw The Little Mermaid. The
Speaker 5: appointment went ok. Thanks for asking. I had a needle
Speaker 5: biopsy taken of the lump and I'm returning for an
Speaker 5: MIRI next week and we'll know more after the results
Speaker 5: of those two things.
Speaker 3: Did you review the records and identify any appointments that
Speaker 3: Miss Patterson had on the twenty eighth of June.
Speaker 4: No, there were no appointments at all that day.
Speaker 2: Gail Patterson replied, that's a test of patience, isn't it
Speaker 2: praying you'll know God's peace. We're just ready to relax.
Speaker 2: Nice to have the fire warming us in this cold weather.
Speaker 4: XO.
Speaker 2: A week later, Hi Erin, how did you get on
Speaker 2: yesterday with your medical tests? Love Don and Gail.
Speaker 5: Thanks for your message and Gale, there's a bit to
Speaker 5: digest with everything that's come out of it all. I
Speaker 5: might talk more about it with you both when I
Speaker 5: see you in person, Love Erin.
Speaker 1: Gale Patterson's diary showed another entry for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: Ahead, Saturday, twenty ninth July twenty twenty three, Lunch of
Speaker 2: erons with Heather and Ian.
Speaker 1: In court, Jane Warren asked.
Speaker 3: Did you find in the medical records that you're reviewed
Speaker 3: any medical appointments for the accused on the sixth of
Speaker 3: July twenty twenty three. No, did you identify any medical
Speaker 3: appointments for the accused in June of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: Yes, there was an appointment at Mount Waverley GP, and
Speaker 4: that was in relation to a complain of rib soreness
Speaker 4: after it purported for a couple of weeks earlier.
Speaker 1: In cross examination on Wednesday afternoon, Council for Aaron Patterson
Speaker 1: colin Mandy sc asked Stephen Eppingstaol about medical records that
Speaker 1: showed Patterson had expressed concerns to a doctor about ovarian
Speaker 1: cancer in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 6: She has a family history of ovarian cancer, both paternal
Speaker 6: and maternal.
Speaker 4: That's self reported, sir.
Speaker 6: But I'm asking you about the records.
Speaker 4: The record says that that's.
Speaker 6: What you're going on, Detective. Aren't you when you're relying
Speaker 6: on the medical records, you're relying on the accuracy of
Speaker 6: what's within them.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: Mandy asked Eppingstall to agree. There were more signs Aaron
Speaker 1: Patterson was concerned about her health, tendering signal messages sent
Speaker 1: by Aaron Patterson to her ex husband Simon Patterson in
Speaker 1: January twenty twenty two while she was on holiday with
Speaker 1: their children in Tasmania. In the messages, Aaron Patterson said
Speaker 1: she feared she had right side heart failure.
Speaker 5: It feels like my heart is working overtime to deliver
Speaker 5: oxygen to my body.
Speaker 1: Mandy also asked epping Stall to agree that when she
Speaker 1: was admitted to Lee and Gather Hospital after the fatal lunch,
Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson listed Gail Patterson and as her emergency contact,
Speaker 1: and Simon Patterson as her next of kin. Evingstall agreed
Speaker 1: this was so coming up. The jury hears about Aaron
Speaker 1: Patterson's multiple mobile phones. The prosecution alleges Aaron Patterson had
Speaker 1: three phones, two Samsungs and one Nokia. Police say she
Speaker 1: initially used one phone, a Samsung Galaxy they call Phone A.
Speaker 1: In January twenty twenty three, According to the Crown, she
Speaker 1: started using the SIM card for that original phone, with
Speaker 1: a number ending in seven eighty three, in another phone too,
Speaker 1: So the Crown says Patterson was switching that main SYM
Speaker 1: between Phone A and another Samsung Galaxy, Phone B. After
Speaker 1: the fatal mushroom lunch, police showed up at Patterson's house
Speaker 1: on August five, twenty twenty three. During this search, according
Speaker 1: to the police, Patterson took her main SIM out of
Speaker 1: Phone A and put it into the Nokia. The jury's
Speaker 1: been told that when police asked for her phone, she
Speaker 1: gave them Phone B, the other Samsung Galaxy, which had
Speaker 1: another SIM in it. Police said this SIM came from
Speaker 1: a Samsung tablet, which Patterson also owned. The Crown has
Speaker 1: told the jury Patterson did factory resets four times on
Speaker 1: the Samsung Phone B throughout twenty twenty three, including once
Speaker 1: after it was seized by the cops when it was
Speaker 1: sitting in a locker at one Thaggy Police station. So
Speaker 1: Phone B was handed over to the police. The main
Speaker 1: SIM was in use inside the Nokia So where's Phone
Speaker 1: A her original Samsung Galaxy handset? Good question. The Crown
Speaker 1: has told the jury that phone has never been located
Speaker 1: by police, even though they searched her house looking for
Speaker 1: it on November two, twenty twenty three. Police say the
Speaker 1: original SIM for the number ending in seven eighty three
Speaker 1: was never located either. On that day, November two, Patterson
Speaker 1: was arrested and formally charged. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Speaker 1: The trial continues in the Victorian Supreme Court, sitting at
Speaker 1: Morewell in the Latrobe Valley. You can follow the live
Speaker 1: coverage by our reporters Ellie Dudley and John Ferguson at
Speaker 1: the Australian dot Com dot a U