Latest / The Mushroom Trial: Say Grace / Erin Patterson's final words
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Nine podcasts.
- 0:03Speaker 2: In this episode, Aaron Patterson finishes her time on the
- 0:06Speaker 2: witness stand after eight days. In the final hours of
- 0:10Speaker 2: her evidence, more questions are asked about gastric bypass surgery.
- 0:14Speaker 2: With the jury told lawyers have collected more information. The
- 0:18Speaker 2: accused killer maintains she fed her children leftovers from the
- 0:21Speaker 2: fatal lunch, and she answers three final questions from the prosecution.
- 0:26Speaker 3: Victoria's mushroom mystery, the mushroom lunch that claimed three lives
- 0:31Speaker 3: an Australian family's meal is now the center of a
- 0:34Speaker 3: homicide investigation. The bizarre tragedy now grabbing global headlines. Aaron
- 0:38Speaker 3: Patterson's alleged victims died after eating a family lunch she'd
- 0:42Speaker 3: serve them at her home.
- 0:43Speaker 1: I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this
- 0:47Speaker 1: level of media and public interest.
- 0:50Speaker 2: Four of the guests of that lunch were much loved
- 0:53Speaker 2: members of this church.
- 0:54Speaker 4: Only one will ever return.
- 0:56Speaker 1: People are feeling very heavy with having lost wonderful people.
- 1:01Speaker 2: Today, Aaron Patterson remained here inside her home.
- 1:05Speaker 4: She's continued to plead her innocence in a court room
- 1:10Speaker 4: in Country Victoria.
- 1:11Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson is on trial accused of using death cap
- 1:15Speaker 2: mushrooms to kill. She's pleaded not guilty to murdering three
- 1:18Speaker 2: of her former in laws and attempting to kill a fourth,
- 1:21Speaker 2: the town's church pastor. It's up to the jurors to
- 1:24Speaker 2: decide what happened when Patterson's loved ones sat down to eat.
- 1:29Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson has been on the witness stand across eight
- 1:32Speaker 2: days now. There's been days of cross examination and also
- 1:36Speaker 2: questions with her defense barrister, initially an examination in chief
- 1:40Speaker 2: and then now we've seen all of his final questions
- 1:43Speaker 2: in the re examination as well.
- 1:45Speaker 3: It was quite a moment in the courtroom when the
- 1:48Speaker 3: judge turned to the jury and said that now completes
- 1:51Speaker 3: the evidence. As you said, eight days, the accused woman
- 1:54Speaker 3: has been in the witness box, and you could hear
- 1:57Speaker 3: a sigh from the packed court room and also from
- 2:01Speaker 3: a number of jury members when the judge revealed that
- 2:05Speaker 3: was what was happening and what was happening next. At
- 2:08Speaker 3: that time, Aaron Patterson was seated, as you said, in
- 2:10Speaker 3: the witness box. She had been a little bit teary
- 2:12Speaker 3: towards the end of her evidence, but largely had remained
- 2:16Speaker 3: pretty stoic answering pretty much every question and even gave
- 2:22Speaker 3: explanations as well as denials. There was a bit of
- 2:24Speaker 3: a mixture of both, Penny.
- 2:26Speaker 2: Yeah, and we will in this episode take you through
- 2:29Speaker 2: a number of different topics that the prosecution took Aaron
- 2:32Speaker 2: Patterson through in the last part of her cross examination,
- 2:36Speaker 2: as well as the re examination from the defense, and
- 2:38Speaker 2: will bring you what both sides have asked Aaron Patterson
- 2:42Speaker 2: in these final hours around gastric bypass surgery. But let's
- 2:46Speaker 2: start with the mushrooms from the Asian grosser. Now, Aaron
- 2:49Speaker 2: Patterson says that she bought dried mushrooms from an Asian
- 2:53Speaker 2: or Chinese grosser in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, and
- 2:56Speaker 2: that she'd added this to the beef Wellington, but became
- 3:00Speaker 2: concerned at one point that there may have been foraged
- 3:03Speaker 2: mushrooms in that dried mushroom mixture. She's been asked a
- 3:06Speaker 2: lot of questions about these particular mushrooms.
- 3:08Speaker 3: He's also been asked a lot of questions about what
- 3:11Speaker 3: she recalls telling the other witnesses in the trial about
- 3:14Speaker 3: those mushrooms and the order of events, and she recalled
- 3:17Speaker 3: that the first person that she told about the fact
- 3:20Speaker 3: that could be Asian mushrooms in the meal. Was Matthew Patterson,
- 3:23Speaker 3: her brother in law. Now Matthew at that time, the
- 3:26Speaker 3: jury were told, was at hospital with his father and
- 3:29Speaker 3: a toxicologist had come into the room and ask questions
- 3:31Speaker 3: about where the mushrooms may have come from, and that's
- 3:34Speaker 3: when Aaron Patterson says that she recounted that there was
- 3:38Speaker 3: these dried mushrooms that she'd used. And as part of
- 3:40Speaker 3: this questioning to try and narrow down on exactly what
- 3:43Speaker 3: she remembered, Penny and Nett Rogers put to the witness
- 3:46Speaker 3: that she had worked for a number of years in
- 3:49Speaker 3: that Monash City Council area and should that, according to
- 3:54Speaker 3: the prosecution, mean that you really knew that area well,
- 3:57Speaker 3: those suburbs, well, there was somewhere where you'd worked, and
- 3:59Speaker 3: she also owned a property at one point.
- 4:01Speaker 2: Yeah, And it was mentioned to Aaron Patterson that she
- 4:04Speaker 2: could name some of these particular streets that she'd shopped on,
- 4:06Speaker 2: but she said in her cross examination that she didn't
- 4:09Speaker 2: really know that this particular area well. And as she
- 4:12Speaker 2: was being taken through the evidence of a number of
- 4:15Speaker 2: different witnesses, public health officials, people that she'd had discussions
- 4:19Speaker 2: with as they were trying to find the source of
- 4:21Speaker 2: this possible poisoning. It was put to her by the
- 4:24Speaker 2: prosecution that she hadn't answered these questions, that she hadn't
- 4:28Speaker 2: always been forthcoming in her communication on phones and on
- 4:31Speaker 2: text messages and in what she was telling different people
- 4:33Speaker 2: at different times, and the Crown Prosecutor Annette Rodgers accused
- 4:37Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson of taking these authorities on a wild goose chase.
- 4:41Speaker 3: Yep yeap. She was asked whether or not this whole idea,
- 4:45Speaker 3: this whole concept of having dried mushrooms in your pantry
- 4:48Speaker 3: you'd purchased from this Asian grocer's store that you couldn't remember,
- 4:51Speaker 3: was a big fat lie? Was it true? Were you
- 4:54Speaker 3: making up this story in order to send investigators from
- 4:57Speaker 3: the Health department from the Monash City Council on this
- 5:00Speaker 3: while goosechase to find something that didn't exist, to give
- 5:02Speaker 3: you more time to figure out what you were going
- 5:05Speaker 3: to do. And it was repeatedly put to Aaron Patterson,
- 5:08Speaker 3: were a lot of these post lunch actions because you
- 5:11Speaker 3: were worried that doctors had gotten non sooner rather than later,
- 5:15Speaker 3: that deathcat mushrooms may have been involved, and she maintained no, repeatedly,
- 5:20Speaker 3: repeatedly disagreed with any suggestion that there was deliberate mushroom poisoning.
- 5:24Speaker 5: In that lunch, we'll bring you.
- 5:25Speaker 4: A bit of the evidence. Now.
- 5:26Speaker 2: This is Nannette Rodgers, sc the Crown Prosecutor, speaking with
- 5:30Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson in the cross examination, and she's talking about
- 5:34Speaker 2: a part of the evidence where Aaron Patterson says in
- 5:37Speaker 2: her police interview that she'd been very helpful to these
- 5:40Speaker 2: health authorities. And you'll also hear some references to someone
- 5:44Speaker 2: in this questioning, and that person is Sally Anne Atkinson.
- 5:47Speaker 2: She's been one of the witnesses and one of the
- 5:49Speaker 2: people working with the health authorities to try and find
- 5:52Speaker 2: the source of the Asian mushrooms.
- 5:54Speaker 3: This is voiced by actors.
- 5:55Speaker 1: I suggest that you weren't very very helpful to the
- 5:58Speaker 1: department at all.
- 6:00Speaker 5: I was trying to be that was untrue, incorrect.
- 6:03Speaker 1: In fact, you sent them on a wild goose chase
- 6:06Speaker 1: trying to locate this Asian groser correct or incorrect, incorrect.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Initially you were not very responsive to the Department of Health.
- 6:14Speaker 1: I think that's been your evidence.
- 6:17Speaker 5: No, it's not my evidence. The first time she rang me.
- 6:19Speaker 5: I answered and spoke to her for fifteen.
- 6:21Speaker 1: Minutes on one August twenty twenty three at eight thirty
- 6:25Speaker 1: three am.
- 6:26Speaker 5: Correct, But then.
- 6:28Speaker 1: You didn't respond to some of the other texts correct.
- 6:31Speaker 5: Correct. I think we've established why that was already.
- 6:34Speaker 1: And I suggest that the reason that you didn't answer
- 6:37Speaker 1: some of those texts from her was because you did
- 6:41Speaker 1: not want to be pressed for details about the Asian
- 6:43Speaker 1: grocery store. Incorrect, because that story was not true.
- 6:47Speaker 5: Incorrect.
- 6:47Speaker 1: It was a lie that you used dried mushrooms from
- 6:51Speaker 1: an Asian grosser correct or incorrect.
- 6:54Speaker 5: Incorrect.
- 6:55Speaker 1: You lied about the source of the death cap mushrooms
- 6:58Speaker 1: because you knew you were gill of having deliberately poisoned
- 7:02Speaker 1: your four lunch guests.
- 7:04Speaker 5: Incorrect.
- 7:05Speaker 2: Another part of Aaron Patterson's evidence that was gone back
- 7:08Speaker 2: and forth on as part of the cross examination was
- 7:11Speaker 2: what happened with her children around this lunch, and she
- 7:14Speaker 2: maintains that she fed her son and her daughter on
- 7:18Speaker 2: the Sunday night following the Saturday lunch the leftovers from
- 7:21Speaker 2: this meal.
- 7:22Speaker 3: The evidence the jury has heard as part of this
- 7:25Speaker 3: particular topic was that Aaron Patterson told medical personnel and
- 7:31Speaker 3: authorities that the Sunday after the lunch, the dinner time.
- 7:35Speaker 3: After the lunch, she had fed the leftovers to her children.
- 7:39Speaker 3: She'd scraped off the mushroom paste, she'd scraped off the pastry,
- 7:42Speaker 3: and fed them what meat was left. She'd also then
- 7:45Speaker 3: served up some beans and also some potato with hers
- 7:49Speaker 3: part of her examination in the final days as well,
- 7:53Speaker 3: we heard from the prosecution questions put to Patterson about
- 7:57Speaker 3: what her kids recalled of that meal. So her children,
- 8:01Speaker 3: the prosecution say, in their evidence, recalled that Aaron Patterson
- 8:04Speaker 3: shared some of those leftovers with her children but didn't
- 8:07Speaker 3: really eat a lot of them, and that her son
- 8:09Speaker 3: finished them off. But Aaron Patterson, while in the witness box,
- 8:12Speaker 3: said no, no, no, that they have a wrong recollection
- 8:16Speaker 3: of what happened. In fact, I didn't eat any of
- 8:18Speaker 3: those leftovers. I tried to eat cereal, but I wasn't
- 8:21Speaker 3: feeling very well.
- 8:22Speaker 2: She was taken to the evidence of another witness who
- 8:24Speaker 2: says Aaron Patterson told her she tried to eat some
- 8:27Speaker 2: cereal on that night, but not the dinner because she
- 8:30Speaker 2: wasn't feeling well enough.
- 8:31Speaker 4: So she disputed the children's.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Recollection of that particular dinner meal that was served. She
- 8:36Speaker 2: was also taken through her shopping in the lead up
- 8:39Speaker 2: to this meal, and it was expressed by the prosecution
- 8:44Speaker 2: that Aaron Patterson, through these shopping records, the Woolworth shopping
- 8:47Speaker 2: records that have been shown in the courtroom, went to
- 8:50Speaker 2: the shops multiple times.
- 8:51Speaker 4: To get ingredients for this meal. She agreed that.
- 8:54Speaker 2: She did, but when she was asked specifically by Annette
- 8:57Speaker 2: Rogers sc about the meat of this particular recipe, the
- 9:01Speaker 2: recipe in each's recipe was calling for that that was
- 9:04Speaker 2: supposed to be a log, and the jury was again
- 9:06Speaker 2: shown this recipe step by step up on the screens.
- 9:08Speaker 4: In the courtroom.
- 9:10Speaker 2: The net Rodgers put to Aaron Patterson, you could have
- 9:13Speaker 2: tried to get a log like this, a bigger piece
- 9:16Speaker 2: of meat from a local butcher. Aaron Patterson denied that.
- 9:19Speaker 2: She said that she'd looked at her local Woolworths, that
- 9:21Speaker 2: she couldn't find a bigger piece of meat, and so
- 9:23Speaker 2: that's why she got the individual stakes. And she denied
- 9:26Speaker 2: the allegation from the prosecution that she had deliberately sought
- 9:30Speaker 2: out those individual steaks so as she could make individual
- 9:34Speaker 2: meals to begin with.
- 9:35Speaker 3: And that meat and the size of the meat was
- 9:38Speaker 3: another questioning element that arose in the final hours of
- 9:42Speaker 3: Aaron Patterson's evidence about why did you cook six beef
- 9:45Speaker 3: Wallingtons and when you knew you were only having four
- 9:47Speaker 3: lunch guests. And her explanation was, she brought those I
- 9:50Speaker 3: fill at stakes in twin packs and she'd put two
- 9:52Speaker 3: of those twin packs in the freezer, and that's why
- 9:55Speaker 3: she had therefore cooked an extra beef Wllington.
- 9:58Speaker 2: The jury's also heard a lot about other ingredients in
- 10:00Speaker 2: this meal, specifically mushrooms, and Aaron Patterson agreed with the
- 10:04Speaker 2: prosecution that she had purchased in the days leading up
- 10:07Speaker 2: to the lunch around one point seventy five grams of mushrooms,
- 10:11Speaker 2: and she agreed the recipe called for about seven hundred grams.
- 10:14Speaker 2: She told the prosecutor and Nett Rodgers that she'd eaten
- 10:17Speaker 2: the extra kilo of mushrooms in those days between the
- 10:20Speaker 2: twenty third and the twenty seventh of July, and that
- 10:23Speaker 2: left her with seven hundred and fifty grams to make
- 10:25Speaker 2: the meal.
- 10:26Speaker 3: Yeah, and she said it wasn't unusual for her to
- 10:27Speaker 3: purchase large amounts of mushrooms and would in her memory,
- 10:31Speaker 3: often purchase them a couple of times a week. But
- 10:33Speaker 3: she did explain that her children didn't like mushrooms, her
- 10:36Speaker 3: daughter in particular didn't really like mushrooms. And she was
- 10:40Speaker 3: then asked questions by the prosecution about well, did you
- 10:43Speaker 3: then tell the authorities that you scraped off that mushroom pace,
- 10:47Speaker 3: that those mushrooms were used to make purely to try
- 10:50Speaker 3: and mislead them and to explain why the children weren't sick.
- 10:54Speaker 3: That's another thing she denied. She said, no, no, no, no, no.
- 10:58Speaker 3: We saw her get a little bit emotional when her
- 11:00Speaker 3: children were mentioned in different parts of questioning, But this
- 11:03Speaker 3: was a denial. She really focused quite heavily on that. No,
- 11:07Speaker 3: she did not make up this lie to try and
- 11:09Speaker 3: cover her tracks as to why her children weren't sick.
- 11:11Speaker 2: Yeah, she maintained through her evidence that she had scraped
- 11:14Speaker 2: off those mushrooms and the pastry, and that that had
- 11:16Speaker 2: gone into an outdoor been at her home that was
- 11:18Speaker 2: later collected by police and used for some testing through
- 11:22Speaker 2: the different health authorities as the patients were falling sicker
- 11:26Speaker 2: and sicker. Now, with what Aaron Patterson was being asked
- 11:30Speaker 2: around her children, eating this meal. It was put to
- 11:33Speaker 2: her a number of times that she seemed, according to
- 11:36Speaker 2: some witnesses in their evidence, reluctant to have the children
- 11:39Speaker 2: treated at hospital. Now, she maintained that she may have
- 11:42Speaker 2: been reluctant initially, but that's because she thought the children
- 11:45Speaker 2: hadn't eaten the mushrooms and there was no real risk.
- 11:48Speaker 2: But she says once she realized that there was real
- 11:51Speaker 2: concern that there could have been deathcat mushrooms in the
- 11:54Speaker 2: meal eaten by the children, even though there was no
- 11:56Speaker 2: mushrooms on the particular bit, they ate that she did
- 11:59Speaker 2: want them to be checked out at hospital.
- 12:01Speaker 3: There was a couple of hours after the jury were
- 12:04Speaker 3: told Aaron Patterson found out that there was this risk
- 12:06Speaker 3: of death cap mushroom contamination that she arranged for her
- 12:09Speaker 3: children to be collected from school and then taken to
- 12:11Speaker 3: hospital to be examined. And we know that they did
- 12:14Speaker 3: stay there overnight for observation.
- 12:16Speaker 2: And Aaron Patterson has been spoken to by the prosecution
- 12:20Speaker 2: in the cross examination about how she was feeling at
- 12:22Speaker 2: this time when she made the kids dinner on the
- 12:24Speaker 2: Sunday night, it was put to her that there was
- 12:27Speaker 2: evidence from a doctor from the Monash Medical Center that
- 12:30Speaker 2: she later ended up at, that she'd thought she had
- 12:33Speaker 2: food poisoning symptoms. Aaron Patterson disputed that she said when
- 12:36Speaker 2: she first arrived at the Lee and Gatha Hospital, which
- 12:39Speaker 2: is the first hospital she went to on the Monday
- 12:40Speaker 2: following the Sunday night, she felt that she had gastro symptoms,
- 12:44Speaker 2: So she said she didn't think she had food poisoning
- 12:47Speaker 2: and disputed that she made her children a dish when
- 12:50Speaker 2: she thought that that leftovers could have made her sick initially.
- 12:54Speaker 2: She was then taken to some evidence and some different
- 12:58Speaker 2: parts that the court has heard regarding when she found
- 13:01Speaker 2: out that Don and Gail Patterson, her in laws, were unwell,
- 13:05Speaker 2: and the court heard that she first knew on the
- 13:07Speaker 2: Sunday that they weren't well.
- 13:09Speaker 3: It was a Sunday morning. The jury heard that Aaron
- 13:12Speaker 3: Patterson found out through her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, that
- 13:15Speaker 3: Don and Gail Patterson were unwell. She maintains so that
- 13:19Speaker 3: she didn't think or know, or was informed in any way,
- 13:22Speaker 3: shape or form that they were sick from something that
- 13:24Speaker 3: had come from the meal. In her mind, it may
- 13:27Speaker 3: have just been this gastro that was going around and
- 13:31Speaker 3: at that point when she fed her children the leftovers,
- 13:33Speaker 3: she says, with the mushroom and pastry scraped off, that
- 13:36Speaker 3: she really had no idea that it could be the
- 13:38Speaker 3: meal that was making everybody sick.
- 13:40Speaker 2: Let's hear a little bit more of the evidence during
- 13:42Speaker 2: the cross examination. This is the words of Aaron Patterson
- 13:45Speaker 2: and Annette Rogers.
- 13:46Speaker 1: I suggest that you told well over a dozen people,
- 13:49Speaker 1: including your son and daughter, health professionals, child protection workers, police,
- 13:55Speaker 1: and a friend, that you had fed your children the
- 13:59Speaker 1: same meal that you had served at lunch on twenty
- 14:02Speaker 1: nine July twenty twenty three.
- 14:04Speaker 5: Oh, I was pretty clear. It was the meal minus
- 14:07Speaker 5: the mushrooms and pastries, so not the same.
- 14:09Speaker 1: But yes, But isn't it the fact that on Sunday
- 14:12Speaker 1: thirty July you found out that at least Don and
- 14:15Speaker 1: Gail were unwell.
- 14:17Speaker 5: Yes, I did find out about that.
- 14:19Speaker 1: So why did you proceed to feed the same meal
- 14:22Speaker 1: to your children when you knew or suspected that the
- 14:26Speaker 1: meal that you'd served had made them ill?
- 14:28Speaker 5: I didn't. I didn't know suspect that.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Your son gave evidence in his recorded interview that you
- 14:33Speaker 1: told him that Gail and Don were not well. Do
- 14:36Speaker 1: you remember the evidence? I do you told that to him?
- 14:40Speaker 5: I'm sure I did.
- 14:41Speaker 1: Yeah, on the Sunday night.
- 14:42Speaker 5: I don't know when on the Sunday or I don't
- 14:45Speaker 5: know when I told him that, but I did tell him.
- 14:47Speaker 2: The accused woman has also been taken through whether she
- 14:51Speaker 2: deliberately sought out deathcap mushrooms. That's been a key part
- 14:54Speaker 2: of all of the evidence in this trial. In her questioning,
- 14:57Speaker 2: and she's told the court that she did not del
- 15:00Speaker 2: liberately seek out mushrooms in either of the Gippsland towns
- 15:03Speaker 2: of Locke and Outram, where there's been evidence that there
- 15:06Speaker 2: were posts on the Iron Naturalist site about sightings of
- 15:10Speaker 2: mushrooms in these locations.
- 15:12Speaker 3: We know from the evidence of one of the other witnesses,
- 15:16Speaker 3: a cell tower expert. He maintains that he could see
- 15:20Speaker 3: on the data that the phone connected to Aaron Patterson
- 15:23Speaker 3: pinned in those particular areas on certain days. Aaron Patterson
- 15:27Speaker 3: maintains that that is not true. Maybe she passed through
- 15:31Speaker 3: the areas or or whatnot, but there was in no
- 15:34Speaker 3: way she had any memory of deliberately driving to those
- 15:37Speaker 3: two locations after posts were made on the Our Naturalist
- 15:42Speaker 3: showing where deathcap mushrooms were growing. Yeah.
- 15:44Speaker 2: When she was asked about doctor Tom May's post regarding
- 15:47Speaker 2: the deathcap mushrooms he'd cited at Outram, she told the court, Well,
- 15:51Speaker 2: she said disagree when she was asked a question about
- 15:54Speaker 2: seeing that particular post and then heading to that area.
- 15:56Speaker 2: And we'll hear a little bit more about what she
- 15:59Speaker 2: was asked regards adding another post in Locke and what
- 16:02Speaker 2: she did after. The prosecution says she visited that particular area.
- 16:07Speaker 5: This is voiced by actors.
- 16:08Speaker 1: I suggest that you read the Christine McKenzie post that
- 16:12Speaker 1: she'd posted on I Naturalist on eighteen April. Agree or disagree?
- 16:17Speaker 5: Disagree?
- 16:17Speaker 1: I suggest you drove to Locke from your house at
- 16:20Speaker 1: Leanngatha to specifically find death cap mushrooms on twenty eight April.
- 16:26Speaker 5: Disagree, and I.
- 16:27Speaker 1: Suggest that you found some Agree or disagree?
- 16:30Speaker 5: Disagree, And I.
- 16:31Speaker 1: Suggest that within two hours of finding those death cap
- 16:35Speaker 1: mushrooms you drove to the Hartley Wells Better Home Living
- 16:39Speaker 1: in Leengatha and bought yourself a dehydrator at twelve seventeen PM.
- 16:44Speaker 5: I did buy that that day, yes, And.
- 16:47Speaker 1: The purpose of buying the dehydrator was to dehydrate death
- 16:51Speaker 1: cap mushrooms. Agree or disagree?
- 16:54Speaker 2: Disagree now, Aaron Patterson told the court, Yes, as you heard,
- 16:58Speaker 2: she did buy a dehydrature and it was on that
- 17:00Speaker 2: particular day in April twenty twenty three.
- 17:03Speaker 4: She agreed it was in some part to preserve wild.
- 17:06Speaker 2: Mushrooms, to use them at different parts of the year,
- 17:08Speaker 2: and also to preserve other foods.
- 17:10Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So she really disputed any accusation that
- 17:13Speaker 3: it was purchased purely to dry death cap mushrooms and
- 17:17Speaker 3: then feed them to her lunch guests. And she was
- 17:19Speaker 3: also then asked a few questions about her foraging and
- 17:23Speaker 3: whether or not there could have been deathcap mushrooms in
- 17:25Speaker 3: what she'd foraged, And she was explaining to the jury
- 17:28Speaker 3: that there's only a couple of months of the year
- 17:30Speaker 3: that you can forage mushrooms. She said, this is autumn.
- 17:33Speaker 3: And she said, so it's that March April may period
- 17:36Speaker 3: here in Victoria, Australia that you can purchase that you
- 17:41Speaker 3: can forage for these types of mushrooms, she told the jury.
- 17:43Speaker 3: So she would have only been possibly able to do
- 17:46Speaker 3: it a handful of times.
- 17:48Speaker 2: Yeah, And she told the jury previously in some of
- 17:51Speaker 2: her evidence which she was taken to by the Crown Prosecutor,
- 17:54Speaker 2: that when she developed these interest in mushrooms around the
- 17:57Speaker 2: COVID lockdowns of twenty twenty, that her children were with
- 18:00Speaker 2: her on some of these walks and times where they
- 18:03Speaker 2: saw these particular mushrooms out growing in the wild.
- 18:06Speaker 4: Now she disputed the.
- 18:08Speaker 2: Evidence of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson. He told the
- 18:12Speaker 2: court that he had never and it's come through other
- 18:14Speaker 2: witnesses evidence that he had and all the time he'd
- 18:17Speaker 2: known her, never known her.
- 18:19Speaker 4: To forage or pick wild mushrooms.
- 18:20Speaker 2: And she sort of said, well, how would he necessarily
- 18:24Speaker 2: know that? And she was taken through a number of
- 18:26Speaker 2: different questions that maybe she not necessarily had told that
- 18:29Speaker 2: to Simon Patterson.
- 18:30Speaker 4: She didn't think that she had.
- 18:31Speaker 3: She explained that in their signal chat groups, Penny, there
- 18:35Speaker 3: was many, many, many messages that were sent between the
- 18:37Speaker 3: family and also her and Simon Patterson, and she was
- 18:40Speaker 3: asked why in none of those was there any mention
- 18:42Speaker 3: of her foraging mushrooms, And she explained that that wasn't
- 18:45Speaker 3: really a topic of conversation, cooking and recipes and meals,
- 18:49Speaker 3: wasn't something that her and Simon really talked about. It
- 18:51Speaker 3: wasn't something that they enjoyed talking about, and that was
- 18:54Speaker 3: her explanation of why there was nothing to be found
- 18:57Speaker 3: there by the prosecution.
- 18:58Speaker 2: Yeah, she said that there was six thousand pages of messages,
- 19:02Speaker 2: is what her defense barrister put to her in reexamination,
- 19:04Speaker 2: and she said that they very rarely ever spoke, particularly
- 19:07Speaker 2: about the meals they were preparing for themselves. She's also
- 19:09Speaker 2: disputed some more of Simon Patterson's evidence regarding a conversation
- 19:14Speaker 2: that she says they had at the Monash Medical.
- 19:17Speaker 4: Center where she alleges he said to.
- 19:19Speaker 2: Her is that how you poisoned my parents or what
- 19:22Speaker 2: you used to poison my parents being the dehydrator, and
- 19:25Speaker 2: he disputes that he ever said that. Now, Aaron Patterson
- 19:28Speaker 2: maintained that he did say that, and that that is
- 19:31Speaker 2: what led to her starting to think about forage mushrooms
- 19:34Speaker 2: and then panicking in regards to that dehydrator. Now, going
- 19:38Speaker 2: back to her children, as you mentioned before, she's disputed
- 19:41Speaker 2: some of their evidence around what they had for dinner
- 19:43Speaker 2: that night. She's also now disputed some of the evidence
- 19:46Speaker 2: of her son, who said on the Sunday morning when
- 19:49Speaker 2: she wasn't feeling well, she was having a coffee at
- 19:51Speaker 2: the dining room table. She says that was a herbal tea,
- 19:54Speaker 2: but that she basically thinks her son has misinterpreted this
- 19:57Speaker 2: because ninety nine percent of the time she would have
- 19:59Speaker 2: been having a coffee and he couldn't necessarily see what
- 20:01Speaker 2: was in that particular mug. But going back to her
- 20:05Speaker 2: children and what she says was this habit of foraging
- 20:08Speaker 2: that she had from twenty twenty. She was really pressed
- 20:12Speaker 2: by the prosecution on why her children didn't give evidence
- 20:16Speaker 2: that they had seen her collecting mushrooms anywhere before.
- 20:20Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 20:20Speaker 3: So during the trial, as we've already mentioned in earlier episodes,
- 20:24Speaker 3: a video recorded evidence for the children were played to
- 20:27Speaker 3: the jury, and that's what Aaron Patterson was asked further
- 20:30Speaker 3: questions about in the last few days of her testimony,
- 20:33Speaker 3: and it was around whether or not she had foraged
- 20:36Speaker 3: with her children, where they'd foraged, how often this may
- 20:40Speaker 3: have occurred, and Aaron Patterson told the jury she recalled
- 20:43Speaker 3: that her children were with her at times when she
- 20:45Speaker 3: would pick and forage wild mushrooms and believed telling the
- 20:50Speaker 3: jury that her children may have been mistaken or may
- 20:53Speaker 3: not have remembered that those things occurred.
- 20:55Speaker 2: Here's a little bit more of the evidence as the
- 20:57Speaker 2: jury heard it. It's voiced by actors playing at Rogers
- 21:00Speaker 2: and also Aaron Patterson.
- 21:02Speaker 1: I suggest that your children never knew you to pick
- 21:05Speaker 1: wild mushrooms. Do you agree or disagree?
- 21:08Speaker 5: Disagree?
- 21:09Speaker 1: That's because you did not go foraging for non toxic mushrooms.
- 21:14Speaker 1: Agree or disagree, Ah, incorrect. This is a story you
- 21:18Speaker 1: have made up for this jury.
- 21:20Speaker 5: Agree or disagree, disagree.
- 21:23Speaker 2: One of the final topics that the Crown prosecutor covered
- 21:26Speaker 2: off in the cross examination was the topic of phones
- 21:29Speaker 2: and various elements about phones. The jury has heard about
- 21:33Speaker 2: a number of different mobile devices that Aaron Patterson used
- 21:36Speaker 2: at different times, and she was asked around some factory resets,
- 21:41Speaker 2: and she says there's a particular phone which is referred
- 21:44Speaker 2: to as Phone B.
- 21:45Speaker 4: She says that she reset.
- 21:47Speaker 2: That mobile phone on the fifth of August, agreeing that
- 21:50Speaker 2: was well at the same day that police came to
- 21:52Speaker 2: search her home, and that she then reset it on
- 21:55Speaker 2: the sixth of August after it had been taken by police.
- 21:58Speaker 2: That she did that remotely, but she did dispute when
- 22:02Speaker 2: the prosecution put to her, did you reset this mobile
- 22:05Speaker 2: phone while you were given some time to have some
- 22:07Speaker 2: privacy and call a lawyer.
- 22:09Speaker 4: During this police raid, and she said no, she didn't.
- 22:12Speaker 2: She disputed the time that she had called the lawyer
- 22:14Speaker 2: compared to what time the factory reset was being shown
- 22:18Speaker 2: in the data and said no, that that wasn't during
- 22:20Speaker 2: that particular time.
- 22:22Speaker 3: Yeah, this is incredibly technical evidence at times, and there's
- 22:25Speaker 3: a number of different phones and simcards that have been mentioned,
- 22:28Speaker 3: so to try and break down the timeline and simplify
- 22:31Speaker 3: it a little bit, Aaron Patterson agreed that she purchased
- 22:34Speaker 3: phone as Sam Sung in February twenty twenty three and
- 22:38Speaker 3: use that for a number of months leading up to
- 22:40Speaker 3: quite close to the lunch. She told the jury that
- 22:43Speaker 3: at that point the phone wasn't quite cutting it, and
- 22:45Speaker 3: she decided that she wanted to use a different phone,
- 22:49Speaker 3: and it was at this point and around the time
- 22:50Speaker 3: of the lunch she said she also decided to get
- 22:52Speaker 3: a new phone number because of some accusations that she
- 22:55Speaker 3: says Simon Patterson was making and for her own safety.
- 22:59Speaker 3: The prosecut you should know, alleged that she changed her
- 23:02Speaker 3: phone around the time of the lunch soon after the lunch,
- 23:06Speaker 3: because she knew that there would be things on that
- 23:08Speaker 3: searches internet searches, perhaps researching deathcap mushrooms. Aaron Patterson strongly
- 23:13Speaker 3: denied this, and she strongly denied that she therefore changed
- 23:16Speaker 3: her SIM card for the same reason. She said she
- 23:19Speaker 3: handed over the phone and the SIM card that she
- 23:22Speaker 3: thought police wanted. She said that they didn't clarify with
- 23:25Speaker 3: her exactly what they wanted, and she felt like she
- 23:28Speaker 3: was doing the right thing. We do know that Phone A,
- 23:31Speaker 3: this Samsung that was purchased in February twenty twenty three,
- 23:34Speaker 3: has never been found, and it is Phone B another
- 23:37Speaker 3: Samsung that was handed to police. Now, those factory resets,
- 23:42Speaker 3: Penny that you just mentioned occurred as well. She was
- 23:44Speaker 3: asked about three of those in particular right towards the
- 23:47Speaker 3: end of her evidence, and she agreed that she performed
- 23:51Speaker 3: those factory resets, But she says for a variety of
- 23:53Speaker 3: different reasons. One was because she was purely changing over
- 23:57Speaker 3: her handsets and in the process of changing over her
- 24:00Speaker 3: phone number as well and resigning up to accounts and
- 24:03Speaker 3: downloading apps and a like. But the final two resets,
- 24:07Speaker 3: she said, yes, what were for different reasons, and that
- 24:10Speaker 3: third one, the jury is heard was because she thought
- 24:13Speaker 3: the police may have been silly enough to leave it on.
- 24:16Speaker 2: Yeah, she said that final reset as part of her evidence.
- 24:18Speaker 2: She wanted to see if it was still connected.
- 24:20Speaker 3: To a network.
- 24:21Speaker 2: And we'll go now to some of the evidence as
- 24:24Speaker 2: it was heard by the jury. Here's a little bit
- 24:27Speaker 2: of what the court heard from Crown Prosecutor Andette Rodgers
- 24:30Speaker 2: and Aaron Patterson regarding what happened with these phones.
- 24:33Speaker 1: You told police your phone number ended in eight three five.
- 24:37Speaker 5: I did.
- 24:37Speaker 1: That was the phone number of phone B it was.
- 24:41Speaker 1: I suggest that that was a lie to the extent
- 24:44Speaker 1: that that was not your usual phone number. Agree or disagree.
- 24:48Speaker 5: I wasn't asked if it was my usual phone number.
- 24:51Speaker 1: Your usual phone number was the one ending in seven
- 24:55Speaker 1: eight three, correct.
- 24:56Speaker 5: It wasn't until until that day, Yeah, the day before
- 25:00Speaker 5: when I was changing all my numbers.
- 25:02Speaker 1: After you factory reset this phone on to August, and
- 25:06Speaker 1: I suggest it was to August. You only used it
- 25:09Speaker 1: to make three phone calls.
- 25:11Speaker 5: I don't know how many it was.
- 25:12Speaker 1: Those three phone calls all occurred between around two pm
- 25:17Speaker 1: on five August, when you were given privacy to contact
- 25:21Speaker 1: a lawyer. Yep, you were happy to provide police with
- 25:24Speaker 1: this phone phone b Yeah, happy to tell them that
- 25:28Speaker 1: this phone number was your number eight three five correct.
- 25:31Speaker 1: And I suggest you did that because you knew there
- 25:35Speaker 1: was no data on this phone correct or incorrect.
- 25:39Speaker 5: No, I did it because they asked for my phone
- 25:41Speaker 5: and I gave it to them.
- 25:42Speaker 4: It came to this point in the questioning, at the very.
- 25:45Speaker 2: End of all of these questions that were asked about
- 25:47Speaker 2: the different phones and devices, Nanette Rogers said to the court,
- 25:51Speaker 2: I'm nearly at the end, and basically that people would
- 25:53Speaker 2: be pleased to hear that, which got sort of a
- 25:56Speaker 2: bit of a chuckle and a reaction in the courtroom,
- 25:58Speaker 2: including from the judge's.
- 26:00Speaker 3: She turned to the jury and Aaron Patterson and the
- 26:02Speaker 3: judges she was mentioning this and that they may be
- 26:05Speaker 3: quite relieved that she was getting towards the end of
- 26:07Speaker 3: her evidences have been long days, Penny. The jury are
- 26:10Speaker 3: given multiple breaks during the day, as are sitting at
- 26:13Speaker 3: the bar table. But there was a little bit of
- 26:15Speaker 3: humor in there right at the end of the day.
- 26:17Speaker 2: And then things felt like they changed to being far
- 26:20Speaker 2: more serious again. When Nanette Rogers said, now I'm going
- 26:25Speaker 2: to ask you three final questions. She signposted it that way,
- 26:29Speaker 2: and then she turned to the accused woman in the
- 26:31Speaker 2: witness box, and this is what she asked.
- 26:34Speaker 1: I suggest that you deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms in
- 26:38Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Agree or disagree, disagree. I suggest you
- 26:43Speaker 1: deliberately included them in the Beef Wellington's You served to
- 26:47Speaker 1: Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Ian Wilkinson, and Heather Wilkinson agree
- 26:53Speaker 1: or disagree, disagree, and you did so intending to kill them.
- 26:58Speaker 1: Agree or disagree, disagree? Thank you. I have no further questions.
- 27:03Speaker 2: Now we'll be back after this with some more of
- 27:05Speaker 2: what both the prosecution and the defense put to Aaron
- 27:08Speaker 2: Patterson in these final hours regarding gastric bypass surgery. Now,
- 27:13Speaker 2: in the final days of evidence, the listeners have already
- 27:16Speaker 2: heard this that there's been multiple questions by the Crown
- 27:19Speaker 2: prosecutor regarding plans Aaron Patterson said she had for a
- 27:23Speaker 2: gastric bypass or gastric sleeve weight loss surgery. Now she
- 27:27Speaker 2: conceded in an earlier part of her evidence that maybe
- 27:30Speaker 2: it was actually liposuction or a different kind of surgery
- 27:33Speaker 2: because it was brought to her by the prosecutor that
- 27:36Speaker 2: this Enrich clinic she'd named in Melbourne didn't actually offer
- 27:40Speaker 2: gastric bypass surgery. And Aaron Patterson said when she was
- 27:44Speaker 2: initially bought that evidence that she was really quite puzzled
- 27:47Speaker 2: because she didn't remember the suburb being the same as.
- 27:49Speaker 4: Where she'd booked.
- 27:50Speaker 2: But she agreed she had booked an appointment, it was
- 27:53Speaker 2: for a pre surgery consultation and that had been canceled.
- 27:56Speaker 2: Now as part of her cross examination, she was taken
- 27:59Speaker 2: to her her medical records. These have been collected from
- 28:03Speaker 2: three GP clinics, is what the jury has been told
- 28:06Speaker 2: by the lead detective as part of this investigation covering
- 28:09Speaker 2: the period of twenty twenty three. And Aaron Patterson agreed
- 28:12Speaker 2: there was nothing in those GP records that referred her
- 28:15Speaker 2: for weight loss surgery or specifically mentioned weight loss surgery.
- 28:18Speaker 3: And we got to this point, Penny, because Aaron Patterson
- 28:21Speaker 3: was being asked about her cancer and whether or not
- 28:25Speaker 3: she had cancer, and why she was allowing potentionally other
- 28:29Speaker 3: family members to think that she had a serious illness
- 28:31Speaker 3: such as cancer or may need some upcoming medical procedures
- 28:35Speaker 3: connected to that serious illness. Now, she told the jury
- 28:38Speaker 3: in her evidence that she had been wanting to get
- 28:41Speaker 3: weight loss surgery, but she was embarrassed and didn't want
- 28:44Speaker 3: her family to know. So she'd gone out and researched
- 28:46Speaker 3: this clinic, and in her evidence she named the clinic,
- 28:49Speaker 3: and that then saw the prosecution bring in a new statement.
- 28:54Speaker 3: And so Aaron Patterson was given this new statement and
- 28:56Speaker 3: told to go away and read it over the lunch
- 28:58Speaker 3: break and come back and be asked further questions about this.
- 29:01Speaker 3: Now we heard that this was a statement, a police
- 29:03Speaker 3: statement from somebody that was working at this Enrich clinic
- 29:07Speaker 3: talking about the fact that they don't offer bypass or
- 29:10Speaker 3: gastric bypass related surgeries. They don't currently offer liposuction, and
- 29:15Speaker 3: they really only offer cosmetic procedures for skin, nails, and hair.
- 29:20Speaker 3: And it was at that point that Aaron Patterson agreed
- 29:22Speaker 3: that yes, she must have been confused or mistaken and
- 29:25Speaker 3: that they didn't offer this gastric bypass related surgery.
- 29:29Speaker 4: Here's a little bit of that evidence as.
- 29:31Speaker 2: The jury heard it between Nnette Rogers sc and also
- 29:35Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson.
- 29:36Speaker 1: Now that you've had a chance to see and read
- 29:38Speaker 1: that material. Firstly, do you accept that the Enrich Clinic
- 29:42Speaker 1: does not offer, and has never offered, gastric bypass surgery?
- 29:46Speaker 5: Yes.
- 29:47Speaker 1: Secondly, do you accept that the Enriched Clinic does not offer,
- 29:51Speaker 1: and has never offered pre surgery assessments relating to gastric
- 29:55Speaker 1: bypass surgery?
- 29:57Speaker 6: I do.
- 29:57Speaker 1: And thirdly, do you accept that the in Rich Clinic
- 30:01Speaker 1: only conducts examinations and procedures relating to the skin and
- 30:05Speaker 1: its appendages such as hair and nails.
- 30:08Speaker 5: I do.
- 30:10Speaker 2: When we saw Colin Mandy sc get up for his
- 30:12Speaker 2: re examination, which happens after we heard a little bit
- 30:16Speaker 2: earlier in this episode, Nanette Rogers say that she had
- 30:19Speaker 2: no further questions. He immediately spoke about the gastric bypass
- 30:24Speaker 2: surgery and the plans for that, And in that Colin
- 30:27Speaker 2: Mandy told the jury that his instructors, the lawyers that
- 30:31Speaker 2: help him, had gone and as part of this got
- 30:34Speaker 2: a little bit more information.
- 30:36Speaker 3: Yeah, they did a web search, is what the jury
- 30:38Speaker 3: were told. And in that web search he explained that
- 30:42Speaker 3: liposuction was available back in twenty twenty three, when Aaron
- 30:46Speaker 3: Patterson would have made that appointment. She says she made
- 30:48Speaker 3: the appointment for the thirteenth of September twenty twenty three,
- 30:51Speaker 3: but actually ended up canceling it a couple of days before.
- 30:54Speaker 3: But yeah, so they don't offer liposuction surgery at the moment,
- 30:57Speaker 3: but they did back in that twenty twenty three periods.
- 31:01Speaker 3: So that was the clarification that Colin Mandy was seeking
- 31:03Speaker 3: to make.
- 31:03Speaker 2: Yeah, and he also took Aaron Patterson and the jury
- 31:07Speaker 2: through some other elements from that website where it said
- 31:10Speaker 2: that these particular clinic had moved suburbs from Armadale in
- 31:14Speaker 2: Melbourne to South Yarra in Melbourne, and he's brought that
- 31:17Speaker 2: to Aaron Patterson. He also took her through some of
- 31:20Speaker 2: her phone records. It's saying he says that this showed
- 31:23Speaker 2: she'd made the clinic, that the appointment at the clinic,
- 31:25Speaker 2: and then also that she received a text message warning
- 31:27Speaker 2: her that there was in the forty eight hour period
- 31:30Speaker 2: if you want to cancel, you need to do it
- 31:32Speaker 2: now or you'll be charged. And she agreed she did
- 31:34Speaker 2: cancel that. Now here's a little bit of this evidence
- 31:37Speaker 2: that was put to Aaron Patterson by Colin Mandy, her barrister.
- 31:40Speaker 4: It's voiced by actors.
- 31:42Speaker 6: It says live persuction with doctor Michael Rich. As of
- 31:46Speaker 6: thirtieth of the sixth, twenty twenty four, doctor Rich will
- 31:50Speaker 6: not be offering life persuction as a treatment option to
- 31:53Speaker 6: our patients.
- 31:54Speaker 5: Yep, I see that.
- 31:55Speaker 6: What was your understanding about what was being offered by
- 31:58Speaker 6: Enriched Clinic as of July twenty twenty.
- 32:00Speaker 5: Well, I understood them to be offering life persuction, and
- 32:03Speaker 5: I also believe they offered the full range of weight
- 32:06Speaker 5: loss surgery treatments like the bypass and the sleeve. I
- 32:09Speaker 5: think they're two different types of things.
- 32:11Speaker 6: But yeah, why did you cancel the appointment?
- 32:16Speaker 5: It was a difficult time. It was a very difficult time.
- 32:19Speaker 6: And do you accept now from this material that you
- 32:22Speaker 6: were mistaken about the fact that Enriched Clinic offered gastric
- 32:27Speaker 6: bypass surgery?
- 32:28Speaker 5: Yes, I was obviously mistaken. Yes.
- 32:31Speaker 4: Now was more of the re examination.
- 32:33Speaker 2: It was only around half an hour that Colin Mandy
- 32:35Speaker 2: spoke with his client at the very end of her
- 32:38Speaker 2: evidence in front of the jury. He asked her a
- 32:40Speaker 2: multiple questions sort of on a few different topics, and
- 32:44Speaker 2: those included per potassium levels and the questions that she
- 32:49Speaker 2: had asked. She says of medical staff when she was
- 32:52Speaker 2: feeling unwell on the thirty first of July, a few
- 32:55Speaker 2: days after the lunch. Now, she told the jury that
- 32:58Speaker 2: she had been tested for potassium around that time and
- 33:01Speaker 2: that it was about two point six or a higher level,
- 33:04Speaker 2: and that come the morning when she was talking with
- 33:06Speaker 2: a toxicologist, that had come right back down, and she'd
- 33:08Speaker 2: had two potassium supplements overnight in relation to those. She
- 33:12Speaker 2: also was asked by her barrister about what's been called
- 33:15Speaker 2: some of the cooler Master evidence. This is a computer
- 33:18Speaker 2: that she says came from her son's room that was
- 33:21Speaker 2: examined by police, and she explained that when she was
- 33:25Speaker 2: being asked questions earlier by the prosecution, and she insinuated
- 33:29Speaker 2: that maybe she had been using the computer at that time,
- 33:32Speaker 2: maybe it was her children. She said she didn't really
- 33:34Speaker 2: have an exact memory of that time, that she still
- 33:37Speaker 2: didn't of seeing these I Naturalist posts or making particular purchases,
- 33:40Speaker 2: but she accepts that she definitely could have been her.
- 33:43Speaker 2: That she just answered in that way because she didn't
- 33:45Speaker 2: have that exact memory. And then she also was taken
- 33:49Speaker 2: to two other elements involving her children, and this is
- 33:51Speaker 2: where she became a little bit teary. On one occasion,
- 33:55Speaker 2: the defense asked her a little bit about a ballet
- 33:58Speaker 2: lesson that she said her daughter had that she says
- 34:01Speaker 2: she needed to go pack her bag for when she
- 34:03Speaker 2: left the Lee and Gatha Hospital the first time, and
- 34:06Speaker 2: she said that yes, she did definitely have this rehearsal booked,
- 34:10Speaker 2: and her barrister took her through that it had to
- 34:13Speaker 2: be canceled and have a look at these text messages
- 34:15Speaker 2: that she says with her estranged husband canceling those, and
- 34:18Speaker 2: that's when she became a little bit teary speaking about
- 34:20Speaker 2: her daughter. And then she was taken to tie ab
- 34:24Speaker 2: An area in Gippsland to the airport there the day
- 34:27Speaker 2: after the lunch for her son to have a flying lesson,
- 34:29Speaker 2: and again this is where she became a little bit teary,
- 34:32Speaker 2: and in her words, she said that she didn't want
- 34:35Speaker 2: to cancel on him because he was really passionate about
- 34:38Speaker 2: this and he'd had a lot of canceled.
- 34:40Speaker 4: Lessons and that she didn't want to disappoint him.
- 34:42Speaker 2: But then it got again errand to a different point
- 34:45Speaker 2: where things became much more serious and we heard some
- 34:48Speaker 2: final things from the defense barrister.
- 34:51Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 34:51Speaker 3: The judge turned at this point to Colin Mandy and says,
- 34:55Speaker 3: does the defense close its case? Is this where we're
- 34:58Speaker 3: at now? And Colin Mandy agreed, and here's some of
- 35:02Speaker 3: the words that.
- 35:02Speaker 6: The jury heard, and that closes your case. It does
- 35:06Speaker 6: your honor all right, Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's the
- 35:09Speaker 6: completion of the evidence in this case.
- 35:12Speaker 2: Now, the jury has been told at the completion of
- 35:15Speaker 2: this part of the trial, the completion of Aaron Patterson's evidence,
- 35:18Speaker 2: that there needs to be some legal discussions, that there's
- 35:21Speaker 2: some legal responsibilities that the judge has in the way,
- 35:24Speaker 2: that he will give some directions later on to the jury,
- 35:28Speaker 2: and that they don't need to be present for that,
- 35:30Speaker 2: and he didn't want them to wait around. So they
- 35:32Speaker 2: were told that they can go home for the day.
- 35:34Speaker 3: Yeah, they were sent home earlier. There was a few
- 35:36Speaker 3: smiles on that some of the juror's faces. Has been
- 35:40Speaker 3: a long week and a few of them looked like
- 35:42Speaker 3: they couldn't get up to get out soon enough. They
- 35:45Speaker 3: have been told, though, what will happen next is that
- 35:49Speaker 3: once these legal discussions have concluded, that they'll descend into
- 35:54Speaker 3: what it called final closing submissions. The prosecution will go first.
- 35:58Speaker 3: They're expected to take a couple of days where they
- 36:00Speaker 3: sum up their case. Then the defense will take a
- 36:02Speaker 3: couple of days, potentially one or two days to sum
- 36:05Speaker 3: up their case before we may have another day off,
- 36:08Speaker 3: and then the judge will give the jury what's called
- 36:11Speaker 3: his charge, his instructions before they go out to do
- 36:13Speaker 3: final deliberations.
- 36:15Speaker 2: The jury was told to keep an eye on their phones,
- 36:18Speaker 2: and they now have been told that they will not
- 36:20Speaker 2: be sitting on the Friday, the final day of this
- 36:23Speaker 2: particular week that we're recording, and that they're going to
- 36:25Speaker 2: have a long weekend, so we'll bring you another episode
- 36:28Speaker 2: when the jury.
- 36:29Speaker 4: Is back in the courtroom.
- 36:31Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode of Say Grace.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Please press the follow button in your app to get
- 36:36Speaker 2: our next episodes as soon as we publish.
- 36:38Speaker 3: For more reporting on the case, check out the Age
- 36:41Speaker 3: and nine News in your browser or app store.
- 36:43Speaker 2: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land
- 36:45Speaker 2: that this podcast was recorded on and wherever you're listening
- 36:48Speaker 2: to it now.
- 36:49Speaker 4: Say Grace is created and hosted by me Penelope.
- 36:52Speaker 3: Lesh and me Aaron Pearson.
- 36:54Speaker 2: This podcast is produced by Genevieve Rule