Speaker 1: Before she found herself at the center of her own
Speaker 1: murder trial, Aaron Patterson joined an online group to discuss
Speaker 1: another high profile okase, Kelly Lane. After Kelly Lane was
Speaker 1: Kelly Lane found Kelly Lane's killing. Overtime, she formed friendships
Speaker 1: with some of the women in the group. Talking about
Speaker 1: the case of Kelly Lane, she also discussed other things.
Speaker 2: I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything, mixed it into
Speaker 2: chocolate brownies yesterday. The kids had no idea so fun
Speaker 2: fact the dehydrator reduces mushroom mass by ninety percent. Do
Speaker 2: you think woolies would mind if I brought the dehydrator
Speaker 2: into their vegetable section and dry things before I buy them.
Speaker 1: Some of the conversations she had in that group were
Speaker 1: laid out in court in the first day of the
Speaker 1: second week of her murder trial. I'm Brook Crebert Craig,
Speaker 1: and this is the mushroom Cork. I'm joined once again
Speaker 1: by my colleague, court reporter Laura Placella. Laura, let's put
Speaker 1: in some contacts around what we just heard.
Speaker 3: Yes, and can I say it's great to be back
Speaker 3: with you, Brook. We had a nice relaxing weekend and
Speaker 3: we're ready to jump back into the evidence. So what
Speaker 3: our listeners heard earlier was a voice actor reading some
Speaker 3: messages that Aaron wrote in a Facebook group chat with
Speaker 3: a number of women she met years earlier, but she
Speaker 3: met these women online. She came to know them through
Speaker 3: a Facebook group about the Kelly Laane case. This was
Speaker 3: a large group at the time, it had a few
Speaker 3: thousand people in it, but over time these women formed
Speaker 3: a smaller group that they used to start talking about
Speaker 3: their lives. They spoke about the news, politics and really
Speaker 3: leaned on each other, especially during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: We heard in court today that it was essentially a
Speaker 1: place for the women to vent to each other.
Speaker 3: That's correct, and three women gave evidence today in court.
Speaker 3: Their names were Christine Hunt, Daniella Barclay, and Jenny Hay.
Speaker 3: These women were all in that smaller group chat we
Speaker 3: were referred to where Erin was a member herself, and
Speaker 3: they started to recall some of the conversations they remember
Speaker 3: Aaron having.
Speaker 1: And the jury heard today that one of the witnesses, Daniella,
Speaker 1: said that Aaron loved mushrooms and she posted photos of
Speaker 1: mushrooms in this group, and she also posted photos of
Speaker 1: a dehydrader.
Speaker 3: And the jury were actually shown some of these photos.
Speaker 3: They were screenshots provided by Daniella, and they were put
Speaker 3: up on the screen and in one of the photos
Speaker 3: you can see the dehydrader. It has six trays and
Speaker 3: on every one of those trays you can see dozens
Speaker 3: of sliced mushrooms. We also heard from another witness, Jenny,
Speaker 3: who we mentioned earlier. She said that she remembers Aarin
Speaker 3: mentioning the fact she was making mushroom soup and she
Speaker 3: was blitzing these mushrooms to make powder to put into
Speaker 3: food items for her children because they didn't like mushrooms.
Speaker 1: Now, we also heard that Aaron used different Facebook name
Speaker 1: like Aaron Pattison, Aaron Aaron, and Aaron Aaron Aaron while
Speaker 1: she was communicating to these online friends.
Speaker 3: That's correct, and all of these friends mentioned that at
Speaker 3: some point in July twenty twenty three, when they were
Speaker 3: discussing things relating to cooking, Aaron mentioned that she wanted
Speaker 3: to make a beef Wellington. One of the witnesses, Daniella,
Speaker 3: actually joked that when Aaron asked the group chat how
Speaker 3: to make this meal, she said she didn't know because
Speaker 3: she was a vegetarian herself. She said that she'd maybe
Speaker 3: make a tofu Wellington, and everyone in that group chat
Speaker 3: joked that that must taste awful. One of the other witnesses, Christine,
Speaker 3: she said she had made a beef Wellington before and
Speaker 3: gave Erin some advice about how to go about preparing
Speaker 3: that meal.
Speaker 1: Now. Christine also said in court that Aaron was well regarded.
Speaker 1: She was a really good researcher, and she was well
Speaker 1: known to be able to get information. And this kind
Speaker 1: of goes back to how these women all met. They
Speaker 1: met while discussing the Kellie Lane case and true crime
Speaker 1: more broadly, and if there was anyone in the group
Speaker 1: chat who had a question about something, Aaron was seen
Speaker 1: as someone who would be able to go search for
Speaker 1: that information and come back with an answer.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Christine also said that Aaron spoke about her relationship with
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson in these online Facebook.
Speaker 3: Groups, and just to remind everyone, Simon is Erin's estranged husband.
Speaker 3: Erin has been accused of murdering Simon's parents, Don and
Speaker 3: Gail Patterson, as well as Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and
Speaker 3: attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson.
Speaker 1: Christine said that Aaron said Simon was coercive and controlling.
Speaker 1: She also said that the family, as in Simon's family,
Speaker 1: was very demanding.
Speaker 3: She said she was challenged by their demands, particularly around
Speaker 3: the kids attending a faith based school. Christine also expanded
Speaker 3: on this topic of religion, telling the jury that she
Speaker 3: believed Erin was two sided when it came to her
Speaker 3: religious beliefs. Week we heard in court that Aaron was
Speaker 3: an atheist before she met Simon, and then in Simon's evidence,
Speaker 3: he speaks of Erin attending church with him in the
Speaker 3: early two thousands and having an epiphany of sorts and
Speaker 3: becoming religious after that. But according to Christine, Erin was
Speaker 3: only going to church because of Simon's family. She was
Speaker 3: saying in that group chat that they were all a
Speaker 3: part of that She didn't necessarily believe in God, and
Speaker 3: Christine said that Erin described herself as an atheist.
Speaker 1: Witness Daniella also said that Aaron said Simon wasn't a
Speaker 1: very nice person. She told the jury that Aaron wasn't
Speaker 1: happy with his cleanliness and she didn't want the kids
Speaker 1: to sleep over at Simon's house because she wasn't happy
Speaker 1: with the way that he lived. Laura, this might be
Speaker 1: the right time that we start talking about Simon's evidence.
Speaker 3: Yes, as our listeners might remember, Simon didn't finish giving
Speaker 3: evidence on Friday to return to the witness box today
Speaker 3: to complete his testimony.
Speaker 1: Now, the court was told last week that Simon said
Speaker 1: Aaron sent extremely aggressive messages. We got more detail about
Speaker 1: that today, didn't we, Laura.
Speaker 3: We did. Lead Prosecutor Nnette Rodgers asked Simon to describe
Speaker 3: the message he was referring to. This comes after a
Speaker 3: previous exchange with the defense barrister mister Mandy, where mister
Speaker 3: Mandy walked Simon through a whole host of messages, But
Speaker 3: Simon told the court that these weren't the ones he
Speaker 3: was referring to. He said that the ones that stuck
Speaker 3: in his mind as being extremely aggressive or inflammatory were
Speaker 3: ones Aaron sent in early twenty twenty three. She sent
Speaker 3: these in that signal family group chat we were talking about,
Speaker 3: But it was around the time that Simon's mum, Gail,
Speaker 3: was sick with encephalitis and was feeling quite anxious. Simon
Speaker 3: said that his mother wasn't going to read any messages
Speaker 3: in the group chat from Aaron at the time to
Speaker 3: give a little bit more contact. Simon said that him
Speaker 3: and Aaron were having a private conversation at the time,
Speaker 3: where Simon was telling Erin that their son had been
Speaker 3: very sleepy and quite exhausted whenever he was spending time
Speaker 3: with him. He messaged Erin about this again privately, but
Speaker 3: in response, Aaron went to the family group chat and,
Speaker 3: in Simon's words, started having a crack at him. He
Speaker 3: then said this to the court, it's his words, it's
Speaker 3: not his voice.
Speaker 2: If Mum had read that, I don't know what that
Speaker 2: would have done to her.
Speaker 1: He went on to say, it was.
Speaker 2: Having a crack at me and accusing me of some things.
Speaker 1: That's not the bit I objected to.
Speaker 2: It was the fact that she'd said it, especially to Mum,
Speaker 2: knowing Mum's condition and what it can do to mum.
Speaker 1: The court then heard that a few weeks later, things
Speaker 1: seemed to have smooved over. On December eighteen, Aaron sent
Speaker 1: a message to Simon saying we don't really have the
Speaker 1: kind of a relationship right now where I can ask
Speaker 1: for favors, but I don't have anywhere else to turn
Speaker 1: She went on to say that neighbors had caught her
Speaker 1: saying a tree had come down across a fence before
Speaker 1: asking Simon if he could help remove it.
Speaker 3: In response, Simon said, hey, there, I'm always your husband
Speaker 3: no matter how we're doing, so no probs with you asking.
Speaker 3: I'd be up for it, but I'm in Brisbane, so
Speaker 3: I can't today. Sorry, I'll be back tomorrow if it
Speaker 3: can wait for them.
Speaker 1: Aaron then replied and said that's very kind. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoy your time in Brisbane. I'll let you know
Speaker 1: tomorrow if I still need help. Much appreciated.
Speaker 3: After taking Simon to this exchange, mister Mandy asked whether
Speaker 3: this exchange proved that his earlier arguments with Erin about
Speaker 3: school fees and child support had abated by this time,
Speaker 3: but Simon said they had not, and he was very
Speaker 3: firm about that. And so after three days of evidence,
Speaker 3: Simon was done in the witness box. He was excused
Speaker 3: by the judge and will no longer need to give
Speaker 3: evidence in this trial.
Speaker 1: So it was another busy day in court. Laura for sure,
Speaker 1: well tomorrow or we'll hear from another key witness. To
Speaker 1: stay updated with all our latest coverage, go to The
Speaker 1: mushroomcook dot com, dot au