WEBVTT - Erin Patterson's final words 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:03.520 Nine podcasts. 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.920 In this episode, Aaron Patterson finishes her time on the 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.400 witness stand after eight days. In the final hours of 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.320 her evidence, more questions are asked about gastric bypass surgery. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.239 With the jury told lawyers have collected more information. The 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.639 accused killer maintains she fed her children leftovers from the 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:25.840 fatal lunch, and she answers three final questions from the prosecution. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.080 Victoria's mushroom mystery, the mushroom lunch that claimed three lives 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.199 an Australian family's meal is now the center of a 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:38.720 homicide investigation. The bizarre tragedy now grabbing global headlines. Aaron 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.440 Patterson's alleged victims died after eating a family lunch she'd 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:43.760 serve them at her home. 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:47.599 I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.440 level of media and public interest. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.960 Four of the guests of that lunch were much loved 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.240 members of this church. 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.280 Only one will ever return. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:01.680 People are feeling very heavy with having lost wonderful people. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.280 Today, Aaron Patterson remained here inside her home. 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.560 She's continued to plead her innocence in a court room 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:11.640 in Country Victoria. 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.200 Aaron Patterson is on trial accused of using death cap 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.640 mushrooms to kill. She's pleaded not guilty to murdering three 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.360 of her former in laws and attempting to kill a fourth, 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.720 the town's church pastor. It's up to the jurors to 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.319 decide what happened when Patterson's loved ones sat down to eat. 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.680 Aaron Patterson has been on the witness stand across eight 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.080 days now. There's been days of cross examination and also 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.240 questions with her defense barrister, initially an examination in chief 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.360 and then now we've seen all of his final questions 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:44.679 in the re examination as well. 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.000 It was quite a moment in the courtroom when the 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.240 judge turned to the jury and said that now completes 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.559 the evidence. As you said, eight days, the accused woman 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.560 has been in the witness box, and you could hear 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.040 a sigh from the packed court room and also from 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.360 a number of jury members when the judge revealed that 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.080 was what was happening and what was happening next. At 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.079 that time, Aaron Patterson was seated, as you said, in 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.320 the witness box. She had been a little bit teary 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.640 towards the end of her evidence, but largely had remained 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:22.000 pretty stoic answering pretty much every question and even gave 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.680 explanations as well as denials. There was a bit of 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.200 a mixture of both, Penny. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.160 Yeah, and we will in this episode take you through 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.320 a number of different topics that the prosecution took Aaron 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.800 Patterson through in the last part of her cross examination, 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.760 as well as the re examination from the defense, and 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.079 will bring you what both sides have asked Aaron Patterson 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:46.040 in these final hours around gastric bypass surgery. But let's 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.640 start with the mushrooms from the Asian grosser. Now, Aaron 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.040 Patterson says that she bought dried mushrooms from an Asian 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.600 or Chinese grosser in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, and 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.959 that she'd added this to the beef Wellington, but became 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.080 concerned at one point that there may have been foraged 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.480 mushrooms in that dried mushroom mixture. She's been asked a 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.720 lot of questions about these particular mushrooms. 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.520 He's also been asked a lot of questions about what 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.320 she recalls telling the other witnesses in the trial about 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.639 those mushrooms and the order of events, and she recalled 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.560 that the first person that she told about the fact 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.560 that could be Asian mushrooms in the meal. Was Matthew Patterson, 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.000 her brother in law. Now Matthew at that time, the 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.200 jury were told, was at hospital with his father and 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.600 a toxicologist had come into the room and ask questions 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.560 about where the mushrooms may have come from, and that's 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.920 when Aaron Patterson says that she recounted that there was 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.840 these dried mushrooms that she'd used. And as part of 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.440 this questioning to try and narrow down on exactly what 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.560 she remembered, Penny and Nett Rogers put to the witness 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.920 that she had worked for a number of years in 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.560 that Monash City Council area and should that, according to 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.200 the prosecution, mean that you really knew that area well, 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.800 those suburbs, well, there was somewhere where you'd worked, and 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:01.440 she also owned a property at one point. 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.960 Yeah, And it was mentioned to Aaron Patterson that she 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.760 could name some of these particular streets that she'd shopped on, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.800 but she said in her cross examination that she didn't 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.520 really know that this particular area well. And as she 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.120 was being taken through the evidence of a number of 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.360 different witnesses, public health officials, people that she'd had discussions 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.920 with as they were trying to find the source of 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.599 this possible poisoning. It was put to her by the 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.200 prosecution that she hadn't answered these questions, that she hadn't 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.240 always been forthcoming in her communication on phones and on 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.880 text messages and in what she was telling different people 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.839 at different times, and the Crown Prosecutor Annette Rodgers accused 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.839 Aaron Patterson of taking these authorities on a wild goose chase. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.279 Yep yeap. She was asked whether or not this whole idea, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.239 this whole concept of having dried mushrooms in your pantry 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.960 you'd purchased from this Asian grocer's store that you couldn't remember, 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.440 was a big fat lie? Was it true? Were you 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.680 making up this story in order to send investigators from 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.880 the Health department from the Monash City Council on this 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.840 while goosechase to find something that didn't exist, to give 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.559 you more time to figure out what you were going 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.120 to do. And it was repeatedly put to Aaron Patterson, 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.320 were a lot of these post lunch actions because you 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.760 were worried that doctors had gotten non sooner rather than later, 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.720 that deathcat mushrooms may have been involved, and she maintained no, repeatedly, 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:24.159 repeatedly disagreed with any suggestion that there was deliberate mushroom poisoning. 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:25.600 In that lunch, we'll bring you. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:26.600 A bit of the evidence. Now. 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.200 This is Nannette Rodgers, sc the Crown Prosecutor, speaking with 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.400 Aaron Patterson in the cross examination, and she's talking about 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.720 a part of the evidence where Aaron Patterson says in 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.560 her police interview that she'd been very helpful to these 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.400 health authorities. And you'll also hear some references to someone 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.599 in this questioning, and that person is Sally Anne Atkinson. 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:49.880 She's been one of the witnesses and one of the 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.480 people working with the health authorities to try and find 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:54.159 the source of the Asian mushrooms. 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:55.320 This is voiced by actors. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.680 I suggest that you weren't very very helpful to the 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:00.200 department at all. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.480 I was trying to be that was untrue, incorrect. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.360 In fact, you sent them on a wild goose chase 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:11.120 trying to locate this Asian groser correct or incorrect, incorrect. 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.640 Initially you were not very responsive to the Department of Health. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:16.600 I think that's been your evidence. 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.720 No, it's not my evidence. The first time she rang me. 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.840 I answered and spoke to her for fifteen. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.599 Minutes on one August twenty twenty three at eight thirty 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:26.640 three am. 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.560 Correct, But then. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.320 You didn't respond to some of the other texts correct. 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.760 Correct. I think we've established why that was already. 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.679 And I suggest that the reason that you didn't answer 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.320 some of those texts from her was because you did 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.719 not want to be pressed for details about the Asian 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.919 grocery store. Incorrect, because that story was not true. 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:47.680 Incorrect. 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.000 It was a lie that you used dried mushrooms from 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.800 an Asian grosser correct or incorrect. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:54.720 Incorrect. 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.080 You lied about the source of the death cap mushrooms 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.480 because you knew you were gill of having deliberately poisoned 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.520 your four lunch guests. 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:05.240 Incorrect. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.560 Another part of Aaron Patterson's evidence that was gone back 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.680 and forth on as part of the cross examination was 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.600 what happened with her children around this lunch, and she 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.200 maintains that she fed her son and her daughter on 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.480 the Sunday night following the Saturday lunch the leftovers from 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:21.920 this meal. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.280 The evidence the jury has heard as part of this 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:31.800 particular topic was that Aaron Patterson told medical personnel and 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.119 authorities that the Sunday after the lunch, the dinner time. 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.240 After the lunch, she had fed the leftovers to her children. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:42.800 She'd scraped off the mushroom paste, she'd scraped off the pastry, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.240 and fed them what meat was left. She'd also then 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.960 served up some beans and also some potato with hers 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:53.080 part of her examination in the final days as well, 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.840 we heard from the prosecution questions put to Patterson about 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.000 what her kids recalled of that meal. So her children, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.480 the prosecution say, in their evidence, recalled that Aaron Patterson 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.160 shared some of those leftovers with her children but didn't 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:08.800 really eat a lot of them, and that her son 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.600 finished them off. But Aaron Patterson, while in the witness box, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.120 said no, no, no, that they have a wrong recollection 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:18.800 of what happened. In fact, I didn't eat any of 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.120 those leftovers. I tried to eat cereal, but I wasn't 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:21.920 feeling very well. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.160 She was taken to the evidence of another witness who 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.360 says Aaron Patterson told her she tried to eat some 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.960 cereal on that night, but not the dinner because she 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.080 wasn't feeling well enough. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.520 So she disputed the children's. 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.840 Recollection of that particular dinner meal that was served. She 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.839 was also taken through her shopping in the lead up 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.040 to this meal, and it was expressed by the prosecution 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.680 that Aaron Patterson, through these shopping records, the Woolworth shopping 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.080 records that have been shown in the courtroom, went to 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.040 the shops multiple times. 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.480 To get ingredients for this meal. She agreed that. 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.360 She did, but when she was asked specifically by Annette 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.360 Rogers sc about the meat of this particular recipe, the 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.040 recipe in each's recipe was calling for that that was 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.200 supposed to be a log, and the jury was again 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.320 shown this recipe step by step up on the screens. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:09.600 In the courtroom. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.600 The net Rodgers put to Aaron Patterson, you could have 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.240 tried to get a log like this, a bigger piece 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.440 of meat from a local butcher. Aaron Patterson denied that. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.640 She said that she'd looked at her local Woolworths, that 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:23.760 she couldn't find a bigger piece of meat, and so 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.320 that's why she got the individual stakes. And she denied 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.880 the allegation from the prosecution that she had deliberately sought 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.319 out those individual steaks so as she could make individual 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:35.679 meals to begin with. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.040 And that meat and the size of the meat was 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:42.080 another questioning element that arose in the final hours of 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.320 Aaron Patterson's evidence about why did you cook six beef 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.760 Wallingtons and when you knew you were only having four 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.240 lunch guests. And her explanation was, she brought those I 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.920 fill at stakes in twin packs and she'd put two 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.680 of those twin packs in the freezer, and that's why 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.000 she had therefore cooked an extra beef Wllington. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.640 The jury's also heard a lot about other ingredients in 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.680 this meal, specifically mushrooms, and Aaron Patterson agreed with the 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.400 prosecution that she had purchased in the days leading up 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.480 to the lunch around one point seventy five grams of mushrooms, 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.600 and she agreed the recipe called for about seven hundred grams. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.480 She told the prosecutor and Nett Rodgers that she'd eaten 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.960 the extra kilo of mushrooms in those days between the 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.240 twenty third and the twenty seventh of July, and that 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.520 left her with seven hundred and fifty grams to make 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:25.880 the meal. 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:27.760 Yeah, and she said it wasn't unusual for her to 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.600 purchase large amounts of mushrooms and would in her memory, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:33.640 often purchase them a couple of times a week. But 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.680 she did explain that her children didn't like mushrooms, her 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.000 daughter in particular didn't really like mushrooms. And she was 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.880 then asked questions by the prosecution about well, did you 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.760 then tell the authorities that you scraped off that mushroom pace, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.840 that those mushrooms were used to make purely to try 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.679 and mislead them and to explain why the children weren't sick. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.760 That's another thing she denied. She said, no, no, no, no, no. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.280 We saw her get a little bit emotional when her 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.320 children were mentioned in different parts of questioning, But this 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.920 was a denial. She really focused quite heavily on that. No, 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:08.960 she did not make up this lie to try and 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.280 cover her tracks as to why her children weren't sick. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.520 Yeah, she maintained through her evidence that she had scraped 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.640 off those mushrooms and the pastry, and that that had 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.640 gone into an outdoor been at her home that was 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.280 later collected by police and used for some testing through 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:26.080 the different health authorities as the patients were falling sicker 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:30.040 and sicker. Now, with what Aaron Patterson was being asked 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.120 around her children, eating this meal. It was put to 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.080 her a number of times that she seemed, according to 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.920 some witnesses in their evidence, reluctant to have the children 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.720 treated at hospital. Now, she maintained that she may have 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.560 been reluctant initially, but that's because she thought the children 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.120 hadn't eaten the mushrooms and there was no real risk. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.000 But she says once she realized that there was real 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.160 concern that there could have been deathcat mushrooms in the 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.440 meal eaten by the children, even though there was no 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.680 mushrooms on the particular bit, they ate that she did 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:01.439 want them to be checked out at hospital. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.240 There was a couple of hours after the jury were 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.680 told Aaron Patterson found out that there was this risk 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.400 of death cap mushroom contamination that she arranged for her 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.720 children to be collected from school and then taken to 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.200 hospital to be examined. And we know that they did 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.080 stay there overnight for observation. 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.800 And Aaron Patterson has been spoken to by the prosecution 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.800 in the cross examination about how she was feeling at 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.640 this time when she made the kids dinner on the 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.200 Sunday night, it was put to her that there was 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.679 evidence from a doctor from the Monash Medical Center that 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.240 she later ended up at, that she'd thought she had 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.680 food poisoning symptoms. Aaron Patterson disputed that she said when 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.040 she first arrived at the Lee and Gatha Hospital, which 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:40.880 is the first hospital she went to on the Monday 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.600 following the Sunday night, she felt that she had gastro symptoms, 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.120 So she said she didn't think she had food poisoning 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.680 and disputed that she made her children a dish when 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.400 she thought that that leftovers could have made her sick initially. 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.640 She was then taken to some evidence and some different 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.640 parts that the court has heard regarding when she found 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.960 out that Don and Gail Patterson, her in laws, were unwell, 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.400 and the court heard that she first knew on the 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:09.040 Sunday that they weren't well. 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.120 It was a Sunday morning. The jury heard that Aaron 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.200 Patterson found out through her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, that 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.000 Don and Gail Patterson were unwell. She maintains so that 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.679 she didn't think or know, or was informed in any way, 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.760 shape or form that they were sick from something that 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.719 had come from the meal. In her mind, it may 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.840 have just been this gastro that was going around and 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.880 at that point when she fed her children the leftovers, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.840 she says, with the mushroom and pastry scraped off, that 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:38.920 she really had no idea that it could be the 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:40.480 meal that was making everybody sick. 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.600 Let's hear a little bit more of the evidence during 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.480 the cross examination. This is the words of Aaron Patterson 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:46.480 and Annette Rogers. 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.720 I suggest that you told well over a dozen people, 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:55.640 including your son and daughter, health professionals, child protection workers, police, 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.520 and a friend, that you had fed your children the 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.800 same meal that you had served at lunch on twenty 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:04.480 nine July twenty twenty three. 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.000 Oh, I was pretty clear. It was the meal minus 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.079 the mushrooms and pastries, so not the same. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.280 But yes, But isn't it the fact that on Sunday 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.720 thirty July you found out that at least Don and 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:16.840 Gail were unwell. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:18.600 Yes, I did find out about that. 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.200 So why did you proceed to feed the same meal 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.120 to your children when you knew or suspected that the 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.440 meal that you'd served had made them ill? 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:30.640 I didn't. I didn't know suspect that. 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.360 Your son gave evidence in his recorded interview that you 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.600 told him that Gail and Don were not well. Do 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.080 you remember the evidence? I do you told that to him? 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:40.960 I'm sure I did. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:42.360 Yeah, on the Sunday night. 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.600 I don't know when on the Sunday or I don't 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.560 know when I told him that, but I did tell him. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.240 The accused woman has also been taken through whether she 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.680 deliberately sought out deathcap mushrooms. That's been a key part 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.600 of all of the evidence in this trial. In her questioning, 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.920 and she's told the court that she did not del 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.200 liberately seek out mushrooms in either of the Gippsland towns 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.840 of Locke and Outram, where there's been evidence that there 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.720 were posts on the Iron Naturalist site about sightings of 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:12.400 mushrooms in these locations. 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.680 We know from the evidence of one of the other witnesses, 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:20.160 a cell tower expert. He maintains that he could see 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.080 on the data that the phone connected to Aaron Patterson 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.720 pinned in those particular areas on certain days. Aaron Patterson 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.080 maintains that that is not true. Maybe she passed through 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.960 the areas or or whatnot, but there was in no 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.600 way she had any memory of deliberately driving to those 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.760 two locations after posts were made on the Our Naturalist 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.400 showing where deathcap mushrooms were growing. Yeah. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.200 When she was asked about doctor Tom May's post regarding 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:51.440 the deathcap mushrooms he'd cited at Outram, she told the court, Well, 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.760 she said disagree when she was asked a question about 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.880 seeing that particular post and then heading to that area. 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.080 And we'll hear a little bit more about what she 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.680 was asked regards adding another post in Locke and what 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:07.120 she did after. The prosecution says she visited that particular area. 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:08.320 This is voiced by actors. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.360 I suggest that you read the Christine McKenzie post that 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:16.840 she'd posted on I Naturalist on eighteen April. Agree or disagree? 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:17.640 Disagree? 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.520 I suggest you drove to Locke from your house at 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:25.760 Leanngatha to specifically find death cap mushrooms on twenty eight April. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:27.160 Disagree, and I. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.320 Suggest that you found some Agree or disagree? 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:31.720 Disagree, And I. 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.240 Suggest that within two hours of finding those death cap 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.680 mushrooms you drove to the Hartley Wells Better Home Living 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:44.480 in Leengatha and bought yourself a dehydrator at twelve seventeen PM. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.120 I did buy that that day, yes, And. 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.520 The purpose of buying the dehydrator was to dehydrate death 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.960 cap mushrooms. Agree or disagree? 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:58.200 Disagree now, Aaron Patterson told the court, Yes, as you heard, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.880 she did buy a dehydrature and it was on that 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.080 particular day in April twenty twenty three. 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.960 She agreed it was in some part to preserve wild. 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:08.680 Mushrooms, to use them at different parts of the year, 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:10.560 and also to preserve other foods. 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.560 Yeah, that's right. So she really disputed any accusation that 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:17.439 it was purchased purely to dry death cap mushrooms and 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.800 then feed them to her lunch guests. And she was 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.399 also then asked a few questions about her foraging and 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.399 whether or not there could have been deathcap mushrooms in 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.560 what she'd foraged, And she was explaining to the jury 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:30.560 that there's only a couple of months of the year 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.480 that you can forage mushrooms. She said, this is autumn. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.840 And she said, so it's that March April may period 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.199 here in Victoria, Australia that you can purchase that you 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.760 can forage for these types of mushrooms, she told the jury. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.399 So she would have only been possibly able to do 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:47.760 it a handful of times. 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.280 Yeah, And she told the jury previously in some of 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.120 her evidence which she was taken to by the Crown Prosecutor, 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.040 that when she developed these interest in mushrooms around the 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.400 COVID lockdowns of twenty twenty, that her children were with 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.200 her on some of these walks and times where they 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.560 saw these particular mushrooms out growing in the wild. 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:08.720 Now she disputed the. 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.199 Evidence of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson. He told the 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.840 court that he had never and it's come through other 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.800 witnesses evidence that he had and all the time he'd 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:19.119 known her, never known her. 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:20.960 To forage or pick wild mushrooms. 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.760 And she sort of said, well, how would he necessarily 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:26.560 know that? And she was taken through a number of 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.479 different questions that maybe she not necessarily had told that 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:30.320 to Simon Patterson. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:31.399 She didn't think that she had. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.359 She explained that in their signal chat groups, Penny, there 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.879 was many, many, many messages that were sent between the 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:39.960 family and also her and Simon Patterson, and she was 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.160 asked why in none of those was there any mention 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.160 of her foraging mushrooms, And she explained that that wasn't 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.000 really a topic of conversation, cooking and recipes and meals, 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.680 wasn't something that her and Simon really talked about. It 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.760 wasn't something that they enjoyed talking about, and that was 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.520 her explanation of why there was nothing to be found 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:58.600 there by the prosecution. 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.040 Yeah, she said that there was six thousand pages of messages, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.400 is what her defense barrister put to her in reexamination, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.120 and she said that they very rarely ever spoke, particularly 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.920 about the meals they were preparing for themselves. She's also 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.680 disputed some more of Simon Patterson's evidence regarding a conversation 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.320 that she says they had at the Monash Medical. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.560 Center where she alleges he said to. 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.080 Her is that how you poisoned my parents or what 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.439 you used to poison my parents being the dehydrator, and 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.400 he disputes that he ever said that. Now, Aaron Patterson 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.359 maintained that he did say that, and that that is 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.560 what led to her starting to think about forage mushrooms 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:38.480 and then panicking in regards to that dehydrator. Now, going 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.520 back to her children, as you mentioned before, she's disputed 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:43.680 some of their evidence around what they had for dinner 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.600