Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Friday, May two, twenty twenty five. Its election. Even
Speaker 1: the Australian is reporting today. Labor has courted Beijing backed
Speaker 1: property developers and senior figures in the Chinese Communist Party's
Speaker 1: foreign influence arm. Anthony Albanezi has refused to rule out
Speaker 1: new taxes, and the coalition released the costings of its policies,
Speaker 1: showing a deeper projected budget deficit in its first two years,
Speaker 1: but a reduced budget deficit within four years. Aaron Patterson
Speaker 1: conducted taste tests where she hid mushroom powder in muffins
Speaker 1: and fed them to her children. That was part of
Speaker 1: the evidence in an emotional day of testimony by Crown
Speaker 1: witness Simon Patterson. Aaron's husband leaded not guilty to three
Speaker 1: counts of murder and one of attempted murder for feeding
Speaker 1: death cap mushrooms to Simon's parents, aunt, and uncle, something
Speaker 1: she says was a terrible accident. Today, Simon Patterson describes
Speaker 1: the breakdown of her marriage and Erin's attempts to get
Speaker 1: him to come to the fatal lunch the day before
Speaker 1: a lunch that would kill his parents and his auntie.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson sent a text to his wife Erin Aaron
Speaker 1: Patterson had invited her husband, from whom she was separated
Speaker 1: after a rocky marriage, along with his parents Don and Gail,
Speaker 1: and aunt and uncle Heather and Ian. Aaron Patterson told
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson that she had serious health news to share
Speaker 1: and wanted to talk Frank without the presence of their
Speaker 1: two children. But Simon Patterson, who had declined an earlier
Speaker 1: invitation to lunch, decided he didn't want to go. In
Speaker 1: the early evening of July twenty eight, twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: he sent Aaron Patterson this message.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch
Speaker 2: with your mum, Dad, Heather and I and tomorrow, but
Speaker 2: I'm happy to talk about your health and implications of
Speaker 2: that at another time. If you'd like to discuss on
Speaker 2: the phone, just let me know.
Speaker 1: Five minutes later, Aaron Patterson.
Speaker 3: Replied, that's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week
Speaker 3: preparing lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in light
Speaker 3: of the issues I'm facing, and spent a small fortune
Speaker 3: on beef. I Phillips to make beef Wellington's because I
Speaker 3: wanted it to be a special meal, because I may
Speaker 3: not be able to host a lunch like this again
Speaker 3: for some time. It's important to me that you're all
Speaker 3: there tomorrow and that I can have the conversations that
Speaker 3: I need to have. I hope you'll change your mind.
Speaker 3: Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at twelve thirty.
Speaker 3: I hope to see there.
Speaker 1: That exchange was read to the jury in Aaron Patterson's
Speaker 1: Supreme Court of Victoria trial, where Simon Patterson sat in
Speaker 1: the witness box across the courtroom from his wife in
Speaker 1: the dock. Aaron Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three
Speaker 1: counts of murder for killing Don and Gail Patterson and
Speaker 1: Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. She's also pleaded not guilty to
Speaker 1: one count of attempted murder relating to Simon's uncle Ian,
Speaker 1: who became seriously ill after the lunch but survived. The
Speaker 1: Crown alleges she invited the family to her home with
Speaker 1: murderous intent and served them a meal she knew contained
Speaker 1: deadly deathcap mushrooms. Aaron Patterson's lawyer has told the jury.
Speaker 1: She didn't intend to kill anyone and it was a
Speaker 1: tragedy and a terrible accident. We've used voice actors to
Speaker 1: bring you the words spoken in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson.
Speaker 2: Erin's very intelligent. I guess some of the things that
Speaker 2: attracted me to her in the first place was definitely
Speaker 2: her intelligence. She's quite witty and can be quite funny.
Speaker 1: That was how Simon Patterson began his evidence on day
Speaker 1: two of the trial, telling the jury what made him
Speaker 1: fall in love with Erin when they met while both
Speaker 1: working at the local council. She was a qualified accountant
Speaker 1: and air traffic controller, but she was an animal lover
Speaker 1: working as an RSPCA representative at the council. He was
Speaker 1: a civil engineer. Simon Patterson described a turbulent marriage where
Speaker 1: Erin would frequently leave him, including when they were driving
Speaker 1: around Australia in a four wheel drive with their baby son.
Speaker 2: We'd sort of done the northern part of Australia right
Speaker 2: up to the top of Cape York Peninsula and then
Speaker 2: got back down to Townsville and Aaron decided or chose
Speaker 2: to fly just herself back to Perth, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: I packed everything up and the baby and I drove
Speaker 2: across Australia through the Middle straight back to Perth.
Speaker 1: When they arrived in Perth, Patterson, who Simon said had
Speaker 1: inherited two million dollars from her late grandmother, had organized
Speaker 1: a rental house for herself and the baby.
Speaker 2: I organized to stay in an on site van at
Speaker 2: a caravan park nearby. I don't know how many months,
Speaker 2: a few months. What I understood from Aaron was that
Speaker 2: she was struggling inside herself.
Speaker 1: They got back together and moved to Victoria.
Speaker 2: Aeron decided to buy herself a separate house and move
Speaker 2: into it.
Speaker 1: They separated again. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers sc her words
Speaker 1: are read by a voice actor.
Speaker 4: How would you describe the relationship? Was it a bit strained?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was strained. There was tension in it. I'd
Speaker 2: organized a family counselor in Lee and Gatha. I was
Speaker 2: always keen to have a good relationship, have a good
Speaker 2: marriage and a good strong family to bring up the
Speaker 2: kids in. I think it's good to be friends with
Speaker 2: the person you're married to, and plus I like to
Speaker 2: have good relationships with anyone, especially my wife. But also
Speaker 2: partly because it was, so it's really important to me that. Sorry,
Speaker 2: can I have some tissues?
Speaker 4: Please?
Speaker 2: Do you want to break I don't, That's fine. I'm
Speaker 2: just struggling to answer the question, but I'll get there.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson said they'd retained a friendly relationship where they
Speaker 1: shared custody of their two children and shared family holidays together,
Speaker 1: both in Australia and overseas, but one day in late
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, about seven months before the fatal lunch,
Speaker 1: after he dropped off one of the children at her home,
Speaker 1: Simon recalled Aaron Patterson, saying she wanted a serious conversation.
Speaker 2: She said that she discovered that my tax returned for
Speaker 2: the previous final actual year had for the first time
Speaker 2: noted that we were separated before that. We hadn't got
Speaker 2: the government involved in the fact we were separated at
Speaker 2: all before then, and so she said that mattered, I
Speaker 2: think for the family tax benefit something of that nature,
Speaker 2: and she would be obliged to claim child sport of me,
Speaker 2: which had never happened before, and so was yeah, she
Speaker 2: pointed that out, and that was she was upset about it.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson said he hadn't intended to describe himself as separated,
Speaker 1: but it was probably a miscommunication between him and his accountant.
Speaker 1: He said. He offered to amend the tax return.
Speaker 2: Aaron rejected that as a possibility and said she wasn't
Speaker 2: happy with that. I think it was resolved by us
Speaker 2: agreeing she would apply for child.
Speaker 1: Support, But that, said Simon Patterson, was the end of
Speaker 1: their friendly relationship. The chatty banter on messages ceased. He said.
Speaker 1: He then began declining requests to pay school fees and
Speaker 1: medical bills, telling eron that should be covered by the
Speaker 1: child's caught payments.
Speaker 4: Was she happy or unhappy?
Speaker 2: Pretty sure she was very upset about that. I was
Speaker 2: sure she was very upset about.
Speaker 1: That, Simon Patterson said. After this, Aaron Patterson involved his parents,
Speaker 1: Don and Gail Patterson in the discussion about the school
Speaker 1: fees via a group chat on the messaging app Signal.
Speaker 2: I think it was pretty clear she was asking for
Speaker 2: them to be involved, That's my opinion, They responded, encouraging
Speaker 2: us to resolve it between each other.
Speaker 1: Asked about Aaron Patterson's relationship with his parents, Simon Patterson said.
Speaker 2: She got on particularly well with dad. They shared a
Speaker 2: love of knowledge in the world, and I think she
Speaker 2: liked his gentle nature. Mum and Dad were really active
Speaker 2: in maintaining a good relationship with Aaron. I think it
Speaker 2: was mutual.
Speaker 1: The morning after the lunch Sunday, July thirty, Simon Patterson
Speaker 1: got a call from his father Dawn.
Speaker 2: He told me that he and Mum had been vomiting
Speaker 2: in a diary since I think he was first light
Speaker 2: and then Mum started perhaps an hour later, and that
Speaker 2: had been continuing throughout the night fairly frequently, and so
Speaker 2: they'd called emergency services.
Speaker 1: Dom Patterson told his son Ian and Heather Wilkinson had
Speaker 1: similar symptoms. Simon Patterson said he said he then drove
Speaker 1: to the Wilkinson's home.
Speaker 2: Ian answered the door.
Speaker 4: How did he appear.
Speaker 2: Sick? He looked gray, I suppose, and stooped, Yeah, he
Speaker 2: was struggling.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: I said, how are you? He said, not good.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson said he entered the house and found Heather
Speaker 1: Wilkinson hunched over a container he described as a spew bucket.
Speaker 2: We didn't have much conversation, but she puzzled and she
Speaker 2: said I noticed Aaron served to sell for food on
Speaker 2: a colored plate which was different to the rest he
Speaker 2: took them to hospital.
Speaker 4: Did Heather say something to.
Speaker 2: You, Yeah, she did. She mentioned the color plate again,
Speaker 2: so she asked me, is Aaron short of crockery? Is
Speaker 2: that why she would have this different kind of colored plate.
Speaker 4: Did you reply to Heather's observation.
Speaker 2: I said, yes, Aaron doesn't have that many plates, and
Speaker 2: that may be the reason.
Speaker 1: When he first saw his parents in hospital, Simon Patterson
Speaker 1: observed his father seemed very ill.
Speaker 2: Dad was substantially worse than mum. He was really struggling.
Speaker 2: He was lying on the side, hunched, noticeably discolored face.
Speaker 2: Speaking was an effort and taking the energy to speak
Speaker 2: was an effort, and his voice was strained. He wasn't
Speaker 2: right inside.
Speaker 1: Simon told the jury Don Patterson told him that at
Speaker 1: the lunch Aaron Patterson had told him she had cancer.
Speaker 2: He said, they'd found cancer, I think ovarian cancer in erin,
Speaker 2: so she was expecting to have I think chemo and
Speaker 2: potentially surgery. Mum said that she talked about the question
Speaker 2: of how to break the news to the kids, and
Speaker 2: that she believed we should talk about that with the
Speaker 2: kids together.
Speaker 4: And did your father agree with that strategy?
Speaker 2: They were both really strong on us working our marriage
Speaker 2: out together, and everything out together.
Speaker 1: The previous night, Aaron Patterson had told her husband she
Speaker 1: had diarrhea symptoms. The jury heard she.
Speaker 2: Wanted to go to hospital, or thought she should go
Speaker 2: to hospital perhaps, but again she was worried that if
Speaker 2: she drove herself theare she was worried she might poo
Speaker 2: her pants driving.
Speaker 4: So did she ask you something?
Speaker 2: She asked me to come and take her to the hospital.
Speaker 1: When he saw his wife later at the local medical center,
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson said she didn't seem to be rushing to
Speaker 1: the toilet frequently. He brought their children to hospital and
Speaker 1: they spent time in the same room as Aaron Patterson.
Speaker 1: Simon Patterson said during their time at the hospital, the
Speaker 1: family discussed the fact the daughter didn't like mushrooms. Simon
Speaker 1: Patterson said Aaron Patterson told him and the children that
Speaker 1: she'd been dehydrating mushrooms and pulverizing them, then putting the
Speaker 1: powder in muffins for the children.
Speaker 2: She said she did a blind taste test with our
Speaker 2: daughter by adding powdered dehydrated mushroom to food, and they
Speaker 2: all found it interesting that our daughter did like the muffins.
Speaker 5: With mushrooms.
Speaker 1: Coming up. Aaron Patterson's lawyer cross examines her husband. Aaron
Speaker 1: Patterson's lawyer, Colin Mandy sc Cross examined Simon Patterson. He
Speaker 1: asked Simon Patterson to agree their relationship had been cordial
Speaker 1: over the years, and Patterson agreed. The couple and their
Speaker 1: children had taken many holidays together even after separation.
Speaker 5: Would you agree with this proposition that Erin was very
Speaker 5: generous with that money she received from her grand Yes,
Speaker 5: especially to you and your siblings.
Speaker 1: Yes, he agreed. They used some of her inheritance to
Speaker 1: make loans of up to three hundred thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: two of Simon's siblings.
Speaker 5: And you'd agree with this proposition that, consistent with all
Speaker 5: of that, money has never really been a significant factor,
Speaker 5: motivating factor in Aeron's life decisions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think both of us I don't think money was.
Speaker 2: Money's not been the most important motivation to either Erin
Speaker 2: or me in our decisions.
Speaker 1: Mandy asked about Aaron Patterson's religious faith.
Speaker 2: When I met Erin, she was an atheist.
Speaker 1: Mandy brought up a day when the couple attended the
Speaker 1: current Borough Baptist Church. Mandy asked if Ian Wilkinson, one
Speaker 1: of the guests at the lunch, was the pastor delivering
Speaker 1: the sermon that day, Patterson said he couldn't recall.
Speaker 5: Do you recall that Aaron was moved by the sermon?
Speaker 2: I think I know what you're referring to. Yeah, Aaron
Speaker 2: was moved during the service. I think it was I
Speaker 2: think during the communion. She quickly walked, stepped up and left,
Speaker 2: left the church building and went outside.
Speaker 5: And was she upset?
Speaker 2: She looked upset. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Was there discussion with her afterwards about why that was
Speaker 5: and was it because she was moved by the sermon?
Speaker 2: Oh, she was moved my memory of it, she was
Speaker 2: actually moved by what was happening during the communion part
Speaker 2: of the service, not the sermon, but.
Speaker 5: By a religious or spiritual aspect of what was happening.
Speaker 3: On that day.
Speaker 1: Yes, the pair owned multiple properties, and Simon Patterson said
Speaker 1: he was puzzled about why Aaron Patterson added his name
Speaker 1: to the title on some of those properties.
Speaker 2: It made me wonder about whether she was using me
Speaker 2: for my expertise and contacts to build her house, or
Speaker 2: whether she genuinely thought this was, you know, a move
Speaker 2: towards living together as a family again.
Speaker 1: Colin Mandy asked Simon Patterson to agree that Erin's self
Speaker 1: image wasn't great after she'd gained a lot of weight.
Speaker 5: Do you accept she wasn't happy with the way she looked.
Speaker 2: Aaron is not particularly happy with how she is, including
Speaker 2: probably most aspects. I don't think she has high self esteem.
Speaker 1: The trial continues. Our reporters John Ferguson and Ellie Dudley
Speaker 1: are in court and you can read their reporting all
Speaker 1: day at the Australian dot com dot au.