Latest / The Front / Erin Patterson’s ‘ashamed’ tears

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Erin Patterson’s ‘ashamed’ tears · 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 twenty four to twenty twenty five. Almost
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Speaker 1: three million low paid workers are getting a pay rise.
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Speaker 1: The wage bump announced by the Fair Work Commission works
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Speaker 1: out to be about thirty two dollars a week for
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Speaker 1: those on the minimum wage. A controversial so called supertax
0:30
Speaker 1: is potentially up for negotiation. The Prime Minister says he
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Speaker 1: wants to work with the Coalition on real tax reform,
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Speaker 1: and that means potential changes to the unrealized capital gains tax,
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Speaker 1: which would hit Australians with superbalances over three million dollars.
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Speaker 1: Those stories alive right now at the Australian dot com
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Speaker 1: dot a U. A weeping Aaron Patterson says she regrets
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Speaker 1: expletive ridden text messages she sent about her former in
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Speaker 1: laws who died after eating a beef Wellington she prepared
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. She's pleading not guilty to three
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Speaker 1: counts of murder and a single count of attempted murder,
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Speaker 1: and she's giving evidence in her own defense in the
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Speaker 1: Victorian Supreme Court today. What happened when Aaron Patterson was
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Speaker 1: asked about the mushroom lunch for the first time in court.
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Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson returned to the witness box in the Victorian
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Speaker 1: Supreme Court in Morewell on Tuesday, the juries hearing evidence
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Speaker 1: on three murder charges and one of attempted murder relating
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Speaker 1: to a twenty twenty three lunch where guests consumed beef
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Speaker 1: Wellington allegedly laced with deathcap mushrooms. Aaron Patterson has pleaded
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Speaker 1: not guilty. We've used voice actors throughout this episode to
1:56
Speaker 1: bring you the words spoken in court. Patterson said after
2:01
Speaker 1: her grandmother died in two thousand and six, she was
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Speaker 1: one of a number of beneficiaries of the estate. The
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Speaker 1: money enabled her to travel around the world with her
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Speaker 1: then husband, Simon Patterson, and to buy a home in
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Speaker 1: Quinnenup in country Western Australia without a mortgage. Patterson told
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Speaker 1: her senior council Colin Mandy Casey. She gave loans of
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Speaker 1: approximately four hundred thousand dollars apiece to three of Simon
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Speaker 1: Patterson's siblings, with repayments only to cover inflation, and the
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Speaker 1: money enabled her to start a secondhand bookstore in twenty thirteen.
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Speaker 1: She and Simon moved back to Victoria.
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Speaker 2: Our son was a very extroverted child, and he seemed
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Speaker 2: to struggle with the lack of siblings and contact with
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Speaker 2: cousins and living in the middle of nowhere with no
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Speaker 2: friends to play with. We'd gone back to Victoria once
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Speaker 2: or twice, and he just loved being with his cousins
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Speaker 2: and Nana and Papa, and we wanted to come back
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Speaker 2: for him. And secondly, I was trying and ended up
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Speaker 2: being pregnant with our daughter. I wanted to be near
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Speaker 2: Don and Gail when we had her.
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Speaker 1: Don and Gale Patterson were Simon Patterson's parents, who would
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Speaker 1: both die in twenty twenty three after eating Aaron Patterson's
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Speaker 1: beef Wellington.
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Speaker 3: And during that time after twenty fifteen, how was your
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Speaker 3: relationship with Donna and Gail?
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Speaker 2: It never changed. I was just their daughter in Lauren.
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Speaker 2: They continued to love me.
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Speaker 3: So does that mean that in terms of Don and Gail,
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Speaker 3: you and the children continued to see them often?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. We went to their house often for
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Speaker 2: lunch with Simon. Without Simon. They would drop in and
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Speaker 2: knock on my door, sometimes drop things off. They'd have
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Speaker 2: my son over to play and have sleepovers. They were
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Speaker 2: very involved.
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Speaker 1: Mandy asked Patterson about Heather and Ian Wilkinson, who was
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Speaker 1: the pastor at Cornborough Baptist Church.
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Speaker 2: So I'd always have a chat with them after church
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Speaker 2: if I could. Ian was very popular as the pastor
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Speaker 2: and always had a lot of people wanting to talk
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Speaker 2: to them. But Heather would always make a point of
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Speaker 2: coming to talk to me, and I saw them sometimes
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Speaker 2: at Christmas gatherings outside of the family, and I probably
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Speaker 2: didn't get to chat to Ian so much, but Heather
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Speaker 2: would always go out of her way to come and
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Speaker 2: sit with me and make sure that I had company.
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Speaker 1: She was asked about Facebook chats the jury has previously
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Speaker 1: been shown. Mandy wanted to know what was her attitude
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Speaker 1: to religion during those years or to God.
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Speaker 2: It remained how it had been since two thousand and five.
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Speaker 2: I was and am a Christian.
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Speaker 3: Did you ever tell Christine Hunt that you were an atheist?
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Speaker 1: No, I didn't know, Patterson said she would have only
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Speaker 1: said that she was previously an atheist. Patterson described the
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Speaker 1: sale of various properties and the purchase of a family
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Speaker 1: home in Lee and Gatha, which was put into both
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Speaker 1: her and Simon Patterson's names.
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Speaker 2: Well, from my perspective, it was I always I thought
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Speaker 2: we would bring the family back together. That was what
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Speaker 2: I wanted, and I did that because I wanted some
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Speaker 2: way to demonstrate to Simon that that's what I really
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Speaker 2: believed and wanted. It was something tangible to say I
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Speaker 2: see a future for us.
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Speaker 1: Mandy asked about Patterson's health records over the years, including
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Speaker 1: a GP visit in twenty twenty one when she feared
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Speaker 1: she had ovarian cancer.
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Speaker 2: I'd been having for a few months by then, a
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Speaker 2: multitude of symptoms. I felt very fatigued. I had ongoing
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Speaker 2: abdominal pain. I had chronic headaches. I put on a
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Speaker 2: lot of weight in quite a short period of time,
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Speaker 2: and had like my feet and my hands seemed to
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Speaker 2: retain a lot of fluid.
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Speaker 3: Now the notes indicate this, Aaron worried about ovarian cancer,
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Speaker 3: has been googling her symptoms. That's right, yep, is that
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Speaker 3: what you'd been doing? I had yeap, I consulted doctor Google.
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Speaker 1: Patterson said she'd struggled to get any health professional to
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Speaker 1: listen to her. Her concerns about her baby daughter too, So.
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Speaker 2: Right from when she was born, I thought there was
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Speaker 2: something wrong. She cried a lot, but not normal crying.
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Speaker 2: I'd already had one baby by then, and I knew
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Speaker 2: what to expect. She cried a lot for long durations
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Speaker 2: that I thought demonstrated pain, and I took her to
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Speaker 2: a lot of doctors and even the hospital, and what
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Speaker 2: they communicated to me was I was an over anxious
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Speaker 2: mother and she would just relax and she's just a
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Speaker 2: normal baby.
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Speaker 1: She said. With both her daughter and son, they turned
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Speaker 1: out to have medical issues that doctors hadn't been able
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Speaker 1: to diagnose. Patterson said it all undermined her faith in medicos.
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Speaker 1: She requested a brain MRI, and when that came back negative,
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Speaker 1: asked for a spinal MRI. She googled ovarian cancer, brain tumors,
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Speaker 1: ovarian cancer that metastasized to the brain and lungs, heart conditions, lupus,
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Speaker 1: and multiple sclerosis.
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Speaker 2: The train just kept going. I think I wasted a
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Speaker 2: lot of time, not just my time, but medical people's
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Speaker 2: time through all my doctor googling. It's hard to justify it,
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Speaker 2: but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that, like,
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Speaker 2: I just lost so much faith in the medical system
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Speaker 2: that I decided that anything to do with my health
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Speaker 2: or the children's health. I'm going to have to solve
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Speaker 2: that problem myself. But there's a reason why doctors have
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Speaker 2: medical training to enable them to navigate their way through
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Speaker 2: it so that every headache is not a brain tumor.
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Speaker 1: Mandy turned to Patterson's relationship with her husband, Simon and
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Speaker 1: how it deteriorated in twenty twenty two during a dispute
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Speaker 1: about child support payments.
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Speaker 2: I'd been preparing to do my tax return, and as
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Speaker 2: we always did, I asked Simon for his income to
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Speaker 2: put down on my tax return and wanted to give
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Speaker 2: him mine. It arose out of the discussions that he'd
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Speaker 2: put himself down as single on the tax return, so
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Speaker 2: that wasn't necessary anymore. She said.
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Speaker 1: She wanted to claim the family tax bear, and to
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Speaker 1: do that had to put in a child support application
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Speaker 1: to cent a link. She said Simon Patterson seemed agreeable
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Speaker 1: to that. In October of twenty twenty two, Patterson became
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Speaker 1: upset about finding out on a Friday that the following
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Speaker 1: day would be a seventieth birthday lunch for her mother
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Speaker 1: in law, Gail Patterson.
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Speaker 2: I felt hurt because I thought I'd been left off
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Speaker 2: the invite list, and I was also annoyed with myself
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Speaker 2: because I'd forgotten that it was a big birthday coming
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Speaker 2: up for Gail. But yeah, I was hurt.
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Speaker 1: In November twenty twenty two, another dispute, Patterson asked Simon
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Speaker 1: to pay for an anesthetist bill for their son. The
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Speaker 1: jury was shown a text message exchange between Simon and
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Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson.
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Speaker 2: The Department of Human Services instructed me not to pay
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Speaker 2: you anything for the kids from now on, So I
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Speaker 2: cannot pay that. I'm afraid it's not paying me'sying he's anthetist.
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Speaker 1: On December five, it flared up again during a discussion
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Speaker 1: about their son's pocket money.
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Speaker 2: You can cancel your pocket money transfers into the Department
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Speaker 2: of Human Services told you not to pay for anything
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Speaker 2: for the kids anymore.
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Speaker 1: In court, Aaron Patterson said.
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Speaker 2: It looks like I was being a little bit petty
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Speaker 2: in that response. By the last sentence, I was clearly
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Speaker 2: using his words back to him. I was being a
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Speaker 2: bit petty.
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Speaker 1: She tried to involve Don and Gail Patterson in mediation
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Speaker 1: about how the children's school fees would be paid.
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Speaker 2: Overwritingly, they thought that Simon and I should set all
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Speaker 2: the issue together, but they didn't want to become like
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Speaker 2: official mediators.
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Speaker 1: Patterson said she vented in frustration on a Facebook group
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Speaker 1: with women she'd been speaking to online since twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: This family, I swear to fucking God, I'm sick of
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Speaker 2: this shit, so fuck it. Nobody listens to me at
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Speaker 2: least so I know they're a lost cause.
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Speaker 1: In court, Patterson said she was stressed and believed this
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Speaker 1: was a private chat.
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Speaker 2: I wish I'd never said it. I feel very I
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Speaker 2: feel ashamed for saying it, and I wish the family
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Speaker 2: didn't have to hear that I said that. They didn't
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Speaker 2: deserve it.
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Speaker 3: Why did you write that to your Facebook friends?
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Speaker 2: I needed to vent. I needed to get my frustration
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Speaker 2: off my chest. And the choice was either to go
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Speaker 2: into the paddic and tell it to the sheep or
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Speaker 2: vent to these women. But I regret the language that
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Speaker 2: I used, but I knew that they would rally around me.
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Speaker 2: I probably played up the emotion a little bit to
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Speaker 2: get that support.
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Speaker 3: And did you mean those things?
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Speaker 2: No? I didn't. I was really frustrated with Simon, but
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Speaker 2: it wasn't don in Gale's fault. It wasn't the family's fault.
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Speaker 2: It wasn't even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part
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Speaker 2: in the issue too.
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Speaker 3: Did you understand that then?
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Speaker 2: I think at the time I thought I was right
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Speaker 2: and he was wrong. But I reflected on it a
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Speaker 2: lot in New Zealand and I realized that I was
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Speaker 2: wrong to try and involve Donn Gale and I should
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Speaker 2: have approached it differently with Simon.
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Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson told the jury she'd battled her weight and
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Speaker 1: self esteem since adolescence.
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Speaker 2: When I was a kid, my mum would weigh us
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Speaker 2: every week to make sure we weren't putting on too
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Speaker 2: much weight, and so I went to the extreme of
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Speaker 2: barely eating. Then through my adulthood going the other way
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Speaker 2: and binging. I suppose, for one of a better word.
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Speaker 2: I never had a good relationship with food, a healthy relationship.
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Speaker 1: She said she would throw up after binge eating something
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Speaker 1: she did in secret while the children were.
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Speaker 3: At school, and who knew about it?
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Speaker 2: Nobody? Nobody, everybody now, but nobody knew then.
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Speaker 1: Patterson said she'd picked and cooked mushrooms since first noticing
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Speaker 1: their proliferation in the local area on family walks during
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty.
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Speaker 3: Had you always liked eating mushrooms. Yeah, I had why.
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Speaker 2: They taste good and they're very healthy.
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Speaker 3: In terms of varieties of mushrooms, did you eat different varieties?
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Speaker 2: I did. I'd buy all the different types that woolies
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Speaker 2: would sell. We'd have local farmers markets and I'd get
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Speaker 2: different sorts there from grocers up in Melbourne. Yeah, I
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Speaker 2: tried all of them. I'd use them in curries or
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Speaker 2: pasta dishes or soup, spaghetti.
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Speaker 3: And what did you like about the more exotic mushrooms?
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Speaker 2: They just taste more interesting, more flavor.
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Speaker 1: She said she found field and horse mushrooms in the
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Speaker 1: paddocks on her own property, and also foraged in places
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Speaker 1: like the local botanic gardens and rail trail. She said
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Speaker 1: there was one type of mushroom growing in her back
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Speaker 1: paddock that she wasn't able to identify, so she didn't
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Speaker 1: eat those. And she said her children sometimes helped her
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Speaker 1: to pick mushrooms when they.
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Speaker 3: Were out and about.
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Speaker 2: When I got to a point where I was confident
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Speaker 2: about what I thought they were, I cut a bit
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Speaker 2: off one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some
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Speaker 2: butter ate it and then saw what happened. And what
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Speaker 2: happened they tasted good and I didn't get sick.
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Speaker 3: And thereafter? What did you do with the mushrooms that
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Speaker 3: you found on that property?
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Speaker 2: So? If I saw mushrooms, the same mushrooms growing, I
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Speaker 2: would usually pick them and eat them and sometimes put
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Speaker 2: them in meals. We all ate.
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Speaker 3: You said you put them in meals? We all ate?
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Speaker 3: Does that mean you and the children?
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Speaker 2: Yep?
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Speaker 3: How did you put them in the children's meals? What
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Speaker 3: did you do?
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Speaker 2: I chopped them up very very small so they couldn't
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Speaker 2: pick them out.
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Speaker 1: Coming up, Pattison is asked for the first time in
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Speaker 1: court about the fatal lunch. For the first time in
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Speaker 1: this trial, Aaron Patterson was asked directly on Tuesday afternoon
14:00
Speaker 1: about the fatal mushroom lunch.
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Speaker 3: In terms of the meal that you cooked for the lunch,
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Speaker 3: which is the subject of this trial. Do you accept
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Speaker 3: that there must have been deathcap mushrooms in that meal? Yes?
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Speaker 2: I do.
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Speaker 3: And speaking globally, do you remember where the mushrooms that
14:15
Speaker 3: went into that meal came from? So all of the
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Speaker 3: mushrooms that went into that meal.
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Speaker 2: Right, So the vast majority came from the local Woolworths
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Speaker 2: in Leongatha, and there were some from the grocer in Melbourne.
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Speaker 3: So there's been evidence that you told people that you
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Speaker 3: bought some mushrooms from an Asian groser in April. That's right.
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Speaker 3: Do you remember that event? Is that an event clear
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Speaker 3: in your mind.
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Speaker 2: Not the specific purchase of them. No, it's not clear.
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Speaker 1: Patterson said she remembered going to an Asian grocer in
14:48
Speaker 1: the April school holidays when she and the children were
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Speaker 1: staying at Mount Waverley, but that she had also done
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Speaker 1: so on previous occasions.
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Speaker 2: There was Shitaki Poccini. I think an Oki was one
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Speaker 2: of them. Sometimes the bags might say something like wild
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Speaker 2: mushroom mix or forest mushroom like they wouldn't be specific
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Speaker 2: about the types of them.
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Speaker 1: Patterson said she bought a dehydrator in twenty twenty three
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Speaker 1: to better preserve mushrooms, and would dehydrate specimens, including button
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Speaker 1: mushrooms she brought from Woolworths, then store them in a
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Speaker 1: plastic container in her pantry. The jury heard she made
15:23
Speaker 1: a social media post that said.
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Speaker 2: So fun fact, dehydrator reduces mushroom mass by ninety percent.
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Speaker 1: Colin Mandy took her back to the mushrooms she bought
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Speaker 1: from an Asian grocer in April twenty twenty three.
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Speaker 2: I remember that I was going to use them the
15:41
Speaker 2: day that I bought them, but they were very pungent.
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Speaker 2: I didn't think that would be a great smell for
15:46
Speaker 2: what I was making, so I just put them in
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Speaker 2: a container and put them in the pantry at that point.
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Speaker 3: And what happened to that container in the pantry?
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Speaker 2: So I took the container back home to Gibson Street
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Speaker 2: when we went home.
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Speaker 1: Gibson Street is Aaron Padda since home in LeeAnne Gatha,
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Speaker 1: where the fatal lunch would be held. Three months later.
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Speaker 1: She said those mushrooms were still in the container in
16:07
Speaker 1: the pantry when she later dehydrated mushrooms in May and June.
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Speaker 3: Do you have a memory of putting wild mushrooms that
16:14
Speaker 3: you dehydrated in May or June of twenty twenty three
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Speaker 3: into a container which already contained other dried mushrooms.
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Speaker 2: Yes, I did do that.
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Speaker 1: At that point, Justice Christopher Beale called an end to
16:26
Speaker 1: the day. Aaron Patterson will return to the witness box
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Speaker 1: on Wednesday, June four at ten thirty am. You can
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Speaker 1: follow proceedings live reported by our colleagues Ellie Dudley and
16:44
Speaker 1: John Ferguson from the courtroom. By joining our subscribers at
16:48
Speaker 1: Theaustralian dot com dot au