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Mushroom cook Erin Patterson on why ‘sarcastic’ husband was wrong · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, June eleven, twenty twenty five. Tasmanians are off
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  Speaker 1: to the voting booths just over a year after the
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  Speaker 1: last election. That's after Premier Jeremy Rockliffe lost the confidence
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  Speaker 1: of Parliament to other members of the governing Liberal Party
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: were willing to step up as premier to avoid an election,
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  Speaker 1: but the party room decided to send voters back to
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  Speaker 1: the ballot box. That story's live now at the Australian
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: dot com dot You accused mushroom murderer Aaron Patterson says
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: her husband Simon was sarcastic and wrong about his recollections
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of the days after the fatal lunch which killed his
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  Speaker 1: parents and aunt. Today we take you inside the Victorian
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court to hear voice actors re enact Patterson's cross examination.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutor Nanette Rogers sc Did Aaron Patterson have bolimia? Did
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: she have diarrhea? The mushroom trial has taken a distinctly
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: forensic tone, as the cross examination of Aaron Patterson sees
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rodgers sc grilling Patterson, a fifty year
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  Speaker 1: old mother of two, about exactly how she managed to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: survive a lunch that resulted in the deaths of three
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  Speaker 1: elderly relatives and another spending weeks in hospital. Patterson has
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one
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  Speaker 1: of attempted murder over the lunch in July twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: In her examination in chief, led by her senior barrister,
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  Speaker 1: Colin Mandy sc Aaron, Patterson last week told the jury
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  Speaker 1: that after consuming beef Wellington, she vomited. She said at
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the time this was because she had bolimia. Here's what
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Patterson told the court last Wednesday. We've used voice actors
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: throughout this episode to bring you the words spoken in court.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Patterson said that after her lunch guests left, she got
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: stuck into the orange cake Gail Patterson, one of the guests,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: had brought.
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  Speaker 2: I had a piece of cake, and then another piece
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  Speaker 2: of cake, and then another. How many pieces of cake
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  Speaker 2: did you have?
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  Speaker 1: All of it? How much had been left?
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  Speaker 2: Probably a good two thirds.
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  Speaker 3: Of it was left. And what happened after you ate
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: the cake?
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  Speaker 2: I felt sick, I felt overfull, So I went to
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  Speaker 2: the toilets and brought it back up again.
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  Speaker 1: Here's how that went. On Tuesday, ten June, in cross
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: examination by Nanette Rogers.
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  Speaker 3: Your evidence to this jury is that sometime that afternoon,
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: on the twenty ninth of July, that you cause yourself
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to vomit. Correct?
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  Speaker 2: Correct?
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  Speaker 3: Is it your evidence that the vomit was partly constituted
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: by the beef Wellington? Correct?
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  Speaker 2: I have no idea what was in the vomit at all? Well,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: it's how could I it's vomit unless you can see
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a bean or a piece of corn.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you didn't have corn at the lunch.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: That was an example.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest that you did not tell a single medical
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: person that you had vomited after the lunch on the
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: afternoon of twenty nine July.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: That's true.
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  Speaker 2: I did not do that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: I suggest that that is something you would have told
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  Speaker 3: them if it were true. Correct or incorrect?
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  Speaker 2: Incorrect?
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Do you say it's incorrect because of your embarrassment?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I say it's incorrect because it's what happened.
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  Speaker 1: Roger's probed Patterson's accounts around the time of the lunch
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that she had eaten about half of her portion, as
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: opposed to in her evidence in chief when she said
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: she'd eaten a small amount, maybe a quarter or a third.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: I also suggest that for the first time, you've told
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: the jury that you vomited after the lunch.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Correct, That is the first time I told the jury.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest you're trying to minimize how much you ate.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest that what you've told the jury about only
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: eating a quarter or a third and about vomiting are
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  Speaker 3: all lies. No, you're trying to make it sound like
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  Speaker 3: the lunch guests say more than you did. Correct or incorrect. No,
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  Speaker 3: And you're lying about throwing up or vomiting to try
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  Speaker 3: and account for why you didn't get seriously ill. Correct.
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  Speaker 2: I wish that was true, but it's not.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson attended the Lean Gather Hospital on the Monday after
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  Speaker 1: the lunch, telling them she had gastro and needed some fluids.
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  Speaker 1: She wasn't as seriously ill as her lunch guests, and
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  Speaker 1: when the medical staff told her she'd need to go
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  Speaker 1: to Melbourne for treatment, Patterson left the hospital saying she
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: had to pack her daughter's ballet bag and feed her animals.
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  Speaker 3: I want to suggest to you that you were stressed
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  Speaker 3: when you're at the hospit all on this first presentation
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  Speaker 3: correct or incorrect.
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  Speaker 2: I probably was very stressed, Yes.
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  Speaker 3: And I suggest that the reason you were stressed was
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: because doctors suspected death cap mushroom poisoning for the lunch
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  Speaker 3: guests correct or incorrect.
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  Speaker 2: That definitely was a cause of anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest that you were shocked that the doctors were
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  Speaker 3: onto death cap mushrooms so quickly.
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't put it like that.
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  Speaker 3: How would you put it?
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  Speaker 2: I was anxious at the idea that we might have
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: eaten those things.
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  Speaker 3: I'm suggesting that you were shocked that the doctors were
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  Speaker 3: on to death cap mushrooms so quickly correct or incorrect, incorrect,
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  Speaker 3: and you were worried that you're going to get caught
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  Speaker 3: correct or incorrect, incorrect, And further that you weren't prepared
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  Speaker 3: to answer questions about why death cap mushrooms are in
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: the meal correct or incorrect.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think anyone ever tried to ask me that question,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: so I'm not sure what you're referring to.
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  Speaker 3: When you left the hospital, you did not make any
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: attempt to collect your children correct or incorrect.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Correct.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: They had no efforts to have them collected after you
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  Speaker 3: left the hospital shortly after eight o five am. Correct
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  Speaker 3: or incorrect?
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  Speaker 2: I did eventually, That's why they went to the hospital.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Patterson said she'd be back shortly, but the jury has
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: heard she returned more than nineteen minutes later. Rogers wanted
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to know why she would leave, even though doctors had
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: told her they suspected the other patients had suffered death
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  Speaker 1: cap mushroom poisoning.
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  Speaker 3: Now, I suggest that you knew that your life was
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: not threatened at this point. Agree or disagree.
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say I knew. I didn't think it was.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest that your behavior at leaving Lee and Gatha
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  Speaker 3: Hospital a few minutes after you'd presented there was because
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: you knew that you had not consumed death cap mushrooms.
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  Speaker 3: Agree or disagree.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't think any of us had, But it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: why I was leaving.
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  Speaker 3: No, I suggest that you also left when confronted by
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: the fact that medical staff had identified death cap mushrooms
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  Speaker 3: as a reason for the illnesses.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's not why I left.
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  Speaker 3: I said, Yes, you panicked and absconded because you knew
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: that your use of death cat mushrooms in the meal
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  Speaker 3: had been uncovered. Agree or disagree?
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Disagree?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Patterson recalled Dr Chris Webster telling her her two children
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: needed to be taken to a medical facility, but she
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: was reluctant to worry the children.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Did he make it clear that your children's lives were
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: at risk?
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  Speaker 2: He said, they can be scared and alive or dead.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: That's what he said.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Did he make it clear that your children's lives were
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: at risk?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I guess he made it clear that he thought they
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: might be at risk.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: In the face of that on your evidence, you were
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: reluctant to tell the children.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I was trying to make sense of what was going
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: on and what doctor Webster was saying to me, and
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I thought they can be scared and alive or dead.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I thought that was a pretty bizarre thing to say.
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  Speaker 2: And it wasn't just what he said, but he was
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: yelling it at me as what I thought. I've since
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: discovered that's his inside voice, but at the time I
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  Speaker 2: thought he was yelling at me. So yeah, it was
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  Speaker 2: all making me quite anxious.
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  Speaker 3: You were reluctant I suggest to have your children medically assessed.
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  Speaker 3: Correct or incorrect?
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  Speaker 2: Incorrect? I wanted to understand what the concerns were and
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  Speaker 2: why he thought they might be at risk. I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to understand it first.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Coming up, Patterson says her sarcastic husband is wrong. On Wednesday,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson took issue with some of the evidence given
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: by her husband, Simon Patterson. Nanette Rogers asked if she
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: recalled Simon Patterson's evidence that his wife told him that
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  Speaker 1: when she went home to feed the animals, she'd laid
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: down on the floor and fallen as sleep.
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  Speaker 3: Do you deny saying that you fell asleep for about
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: forty five minutes? To Simon Patterson, yeah, I do. Is
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: your evidence that you lay down for a bit when
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: you got home for a while? What time did you
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: lie down?
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  Speaker 2: No idea?
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  Speaker 3: How long did you lie down for?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: That's untrue, isn't it. No, it's untrue that you lay down. No,
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  Speaker 3: surely that's the last thing you would do in these circumstances.
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  Speaker 2: Might be the last thing you'd do. But it was
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  Speaker 2: something I did.
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  Speaker 3: After you'd been told by medical staff that you had
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: potentially ingested a life threatening poison. Isn't the last thing
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  Speaker 3: that you would do is to lie down in those circumstances.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't tell me it was life threatening.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson agreed she was away from the hospital for an
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  Speaker 1: hour and forty minutes.
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  Speaker 3: I suggest that in this period of time, you were
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: trying to work out how to manage the situation that
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you now found yourself in correct or incorrect, incorrect. You
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  Speaker 3: had not expected doctors to detect the death cap mushroom
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  Speaker 3: poisoning so quickly correct or incorrect incorrect. You thought it
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  Speaker 3: would be treated, I suggest as just a case of
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: food poisoning correct or incorrect, incorrect. Once you were told
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  Speaker 3: that the medical staff had detected death cap mushrooms or
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  Speaker 3: suspected it, you had to think quickly correct or incorrect,
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  Speaker 3: incorrect to try and explain why you were not sick
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  Speaker 3: correct incorrect, to try and cover your tracks correct or incorrect, incorrect.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what you spent the one hour and forty
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: minutes doing while you're away from the hospital. Agree or disagree?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: What are you saying I was doing.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Thinking about ways to cover your tracks.
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  Speaker 2: Oh okay, you're saying I spent an hour and a
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: half thinking. Is that what you're suggesting. I'm sure I
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: did some thinking at that time, but it was not
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  Speaker 2: about covering my tracks.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Patterson was asked about Simon Patterson's evidence earlier in the trial.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: He said that when they spoke on the phone that morning,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Aaron said she was in ten to pick up the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: children from their school on Philip Island, ninety minutes drive away,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: to bring them to hospital. Simon Patterson told the jury,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: but when he said he was glad Erin was feeling
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: healthy enough to make the drive to pick up the kids,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson had paused before agreeing Simon should go and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: get them instead.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I suggest that you pause because you realize that if
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: you insisted on going to pick up the children, that
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: that would undermine your being unwell. No, disagree.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if I paused or not, so
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I can't really agree with what you're saying. But the
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: only thing I remember out of that interaction was when
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: he said, you know, I'm glad to hear you well
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: enough to drive to the school. I remember he said
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: it in a really sarcastic tone that put me off
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: a bit.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: So it might be that you paused. It may be
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: because of his supposed sarcasm. Is that your evidence?
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I do remember the sarcasm. It was really off putting
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to me.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, are you making this up as you go along?
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: Miss Patterson?
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Nolsone was asked about why her blood tests when she
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was at Monash Medical Center seemed within or close to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the normal range.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I suggest that you were not seriously unwell because you
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: did not consume even a minute amount of deathcap mushrooms
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: at the lunch. What do you say?
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I have no idea.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: If I did or I didn't, you were not suffering
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: from deathcap mushroom poisoning. Correct or incorrect.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I have no idea.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: You deliberately tried to make it seem like you were
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: correct or incorrect incorrect. You did that because you knew
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: you had not eaten deathcap mushrooms correct or incorrect incorrect,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: and you knew how suspicious it would look if you
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: did not seem sick like your guests correct or incorrect, incorrect.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: The trial continues and you can follow our coverage live
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot au and right here
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: on the front