Latest / The Front / Erin Patterson behind bars: autism, terrorists and crochet

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Erin Patterson behind bars: autism, terrorists and crochet · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, August twenty six, twenty twenty five. A big
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: scoop on the Orcus Defense packed from our US correspondent
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  Speaker 1: Joe Kelly. Australia is being urged to pivot towards developing
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: drone warfare technology, long range strike weapons and integrated air
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: defense systems with Britain and the US. Pillar two of
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  Speaker 1: Orcus was supposed to focus on areas like AI and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: quantum computing, but Joe's revealing a call to shake everything up.
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  Speaker 1: The judge in Aaron Patterson's murder case says the fatal
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  Speaker 1: mushroom lunch was horrendous, offending and now he's deciding whether
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  Speaker 1: Patterson will ever see daylight again. Today a sentencing hearing
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  Speaker 1: where Patterson's lawyers say she's doing it tough in prison
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  Speaker 1: and should be eligible for parole a time in the future,
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  Speaker 1: despite showing no remorse for her crimes. The Dame Phyllis
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  Speaker 1: Frost Center in Melbourne is one of Australia's toughest prisons,
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  Speaker 1: where inmates include convicted Islamic State terrorist Momina Schoma, drug dealers,
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  Speaker 1: violent offenders and mushroom murderer Aaron Patterson. It's constantly in
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  Speaker 1: the news because of staff shortages and rampant self harm incidents.
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  Speaker 1: Prisoners are frequently locked down in their cells because there
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  Speaker 1: aren't enough guards. Patterson is in her cell twenty two
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  Speaker 1: hours per day and has taken refuge in crochet and books,
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  Speaker 1: although her constant request to visit the library or get
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  Speaker 1: some change of scenery go nowhere. That's the picture painted
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  Speaker 1: in the Victorian Supreme Court where Justice Christopher Beale is
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  Speaker 1: hearing submissions on sentence from the Crown, which wants life imprisonment,
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  Speaker 1: and defense, which wants to emphasize Patterson is having a
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  Speaker 1: hard time giving evidence. On Monday was Jennifer Hosking, an
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  Speaker 1: assistant commissioner with Corrections Victoria. She said Patterson had access
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  Speaker 1: to a small mesh fenced yard outside her solitary cell,
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  Speaker 1: which adjoins her next door neighbor's yard. Patterson would also
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  Speaker 1: be allowed to communicate by intercom with other prisoners if
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  Speaker 1: she requested approval, but Patterson doesn't know who else is
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  Speaker 1: in the unit, so can't apply to talk to anyone.
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  Speaker 1: Here are voice actors for Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy sc
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  Speaker 1: and Jennifer Hosking.
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  Speaker 2: Miss Patterson currently communicates with one other person while they
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  Speaker 2: are in separate yards. She does not currently physically mix
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  Speaker 2: with other women in the unit.
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  Speaker 3: That's yes, that's correct. She has approval to have access
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  Speaker 3: with one other prisoner. I'm not aware of how frequently
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  Speaker 3: that occurs, but she certainly approved to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And although she has that approval, can I suggest to
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  Speaker 2: you that she has never spoken one word to that
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  Speaker 2: other prisoner.
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  Speaker 3: I can't deny that. I have no further information on
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  Speaker 3: that point. That could be for a range of reasons.
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  Speaker 3: It could be the other person or her not wishing
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  Speaker 3: to have that conversation.
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  Speaker 2: And that other person is one of the prisoners who's
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  Speaker 2: been in that unit for a number of years.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct.
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  Speaker 2: And they are serving a sentence for terrorism offenses. Is
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  Speaker 2: that right?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's correct, And.
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  Speaker 2: They have attacked other prisoners whilst they've been in custody, correct.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct.
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer Hoskins said Patterson's cell was basic.
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  Speaker 3: She has normal cell provisions, things like television, room for
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  Speaker 3: her personal items. I understand she has. She's a keen
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  Speaker 3: crocheer and she has a lot of woolen crochet equipment
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  Speaker 3: in there. She has a computer. She has a computer
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  Speaker 3: which she's had for some time, and that's in her cell.
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  Speaker 3: She also has her own pillows. She has a number
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  Speaker 3: of crocheted blankets that she's made herself. She has toiletries, books, magazines.
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  Speaker 3: She has a hair straightener and a fan.
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  Speaker 1: Hosking said improved conditions were available for prisoners once they'd
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  Speaker 1: been sentenced, but until then Patterson wouldn't have access to
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  Speaker 1: educational courses or other privileges. The point of all this
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  Speaker 1: is to determine the length of Aaron Patterson's sentence and
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  Speaker 1: whether she'll be allowed to apply for parole at any point.
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  Speaker 1: In Victoria, the maximum sentence for murder is life, and
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  Speaker 1: the Crimes Act says the standard sentence is twenty five
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  Speaker 1: years if the victim is a civilian. The judge can
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  Speaker 1: choose whether sentences are served concurrently or not, and when
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  Speaker 1: she could apply for parole. It's generally accepted as a
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  Speaker 1: sentencing principle that the court takes into account how hard
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  Speaker 1: the offender is doing. Mandy told the judge Patterson was
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  Speaker 1: having a hard time because she has autism and aspergers.
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  Speaker 2: She does find it difficult because of that condition, because
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  Speaker 2: she finds it difficult to cope with changes in routine
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  Speaker 2: and the kinds of things that afflict people with that disorder.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't sound like there's much change, ah well, your honor,
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  Speaker 2: but there are changes in routine on a minute by
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  Speaker 2: minute basis. In that unit, you might be locked in
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  Speaker 2: your cell with the door closed and no access to
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  Speaker 2: anyone watching your TV, but mentally ill people come in
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  Speaker 2: next door and start screaming and yelling. People moving up
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  Speaker 2: and down the corridors, banging things, people screaming through the
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  Speaker 2: intercom's abuse staff members. There are changes to routine on
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  Speaker 2: a minute by minute basis which are never palatable as
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  Speaker 2: far as the prisoner is concerned. It's a relative context
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  Speaker 2: for her life, we say. Rather than mitigating the offending
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  Speaker 2: in any way.
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  Speaker 1: Mandy said he was asking for a non parole period
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  Speaker 1: to be said, which would mean Patterson does get the
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  Speaker 1: chance to apply for early release if she's of good behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Consistently with the jury's verdict, there can be no argument
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  Speaker 2: that the acts were deliberate and the intention was to kill.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutor Jane Warren said the Crown doesn't believe Patterson should
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  Speaker 1: be eligible for parole at any point.
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  Speaker 4: There was an elaborate attempt to cover up her offenses,
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  Speaker 4: and that is, in our submission, indicative of a complete
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  Speaker 4: absence of regret or remorse, and complete indifference. In our
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  Speaker 4: submissions to the victims and the families, we submit, your
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  Speaker 4: Honor can be satisfied it is properly described as worst
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  Speaker 4: category offending. It is a crime that is so cruel
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  Speaker 4: and so horrific that, in our submission, the offender is
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  Speaker 4: not deserving of this court's mercy.
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you that the offending here is horrendous.
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  Speaker 4: Well, for those reasons, Your Honor, we make the submission
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  Speaker 4: that fixing of a non parole period is not appropriate.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you, Miss Warren.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Coming up the moving Victim Impacts statements of Aaron Patterson's victims.
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  Speaker 1: If you scroll back in your feed for the front,
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  Speaker 1: you'll see we made a full episode about the remarkable
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  Speaker 1: victim impact statements that were read in court on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: I spoke to Ellie Dudley, who's covered this whole trial.
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  Speaker 1: I found Ian Wilkinson's statement in particular very very sad.
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  Speaker 5: It was a really challenging listen. He said that he
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  Speaker 5: was suddenly single. He said that he no longer had
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  Speaker 5: somebody to debrief about his day at the end of
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  Speaker 5: the day. And you know, he no longer took joy
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  Speaker 5: and pottering around the kitchen and pottering around the garden
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  Speaker 5: because the silence that she had left was deafening. The
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  Speaker 5: other interesting part about Ian Wilkinson's victim impact statement is
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  Speaker 5: the forgiveness that he gave erin He said that Aaron
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  Speaker 5: has now become a victim of his kindness because he's
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  Speaker 5: chose and to forgive her, and that he hopes that
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  Speaker 5: she will spend her time in prison thinking about how
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  Speaker 5: to become a better person.
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  Speaker 1: We heard from Dawn Patterson's one hundred year old mother, Martha.
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  Speaker 1: Her statement was read by another family member. What a
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  Speaker 1: tragedy to be dealing at the age of one hundred
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  Speaker 1: with the death of your son, of his wife and
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  Speaker 1: other family members.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, and that was something that Justice Beeal drew on
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  Speaker 5: as well. He spoke about how this crime has impacted
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  Speaker 5: four generations. Often these things are characterized as a ripple effect,
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  Speaker 5: but he said this is more like a tsunami. There
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  Speaker 5: are four generations of people who have been deeply impacted
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  Speaker 5: by Aaron Patterson's cruel offending, and that's obviously something he's
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  Speaker 5: going to take into account when it comes to her sentencing.
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  Speaker 5: With Simon Patterson, he didn't read out his victim impact
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  Speaker 5: statement in court. Why do you think that's something he
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  Speaker 5: may have chosen not to do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was read by a cousin. Perhaps he thought
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  Speaker 1: he couldn't hold it together emotionally, and during that reading
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  Speaker 1: I thought his statement was interesting. Simon Patterson has throughout
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  Speaker 1: this process been extremely dignified. When he was giving evidence
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  Speaker 1: against his wife, of course, he wasn't allowed to mention
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  Speaker 1: his belief that she had tried to poison him on
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  Speaker 1: multiple occasions before she successfully poisoned his family. In the
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  Speaker 1: witness box during the trial, he spoke about her as
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  Speaker 1: a highly intelligent woman and someone who he still loved
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  Speaker 1: and had loved very deeply. I thought that at this time,
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  Speaker 1: the victim impact statement time, we might see what Simon
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  Speaker 1: really thought. You know, Aaron tried to kill me. Aaron
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  Speaker 1: was an abusive partner. There was kind of none of that.
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  Speaker 1: He was very bitter about the media's interest in his
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  Speaker 1: life and seemed very angry that their life had been
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  Speaker 1: interrupted by people trying to get them to talk. There
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: were glimmers of joy as well, weren't there. He said
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  Speaker 1: that he and the children had been very grateful for
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  Speaker 1: the love that they'd been shown.
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  Speaker 5: He did focus quite heavily on those children. He spoke
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  Speaker 5: about how as a family, the three of them, you know,
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  Speaker 5: they're adjusting to living in a home with solo parent.
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  Speaker 5: These children are adjusting to trying to understand who their
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  Speaker 5: mother is and knowing that their mother killed their grandparents
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  Speaker 5: and that's something that everyone in their entire community knows.
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  Speaker 5: But as you said, he described his children as very
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  Speaker 5: strong and said that they're hurdles that they're getting together
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  Speaker 5: as a family and are well supported in doing so.
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  Speaker 1: I thought there was a real microdrop moment when Ruth Dubois,
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  Speaker 1: who is the daughter of Heather and Ian Wilkinson, made
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  Speaker 1: her statement and she said, you know, as a mother,
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  Speaker 1: you try to protect your children from anything bad that
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  Speaker 1: might happen in this world. And she feels that she
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  Speaker 1: has failed in this instance because she hasn't been able
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  Speaker 1: to shield her kids from the notoriety that the whole
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  Speaker 1: family has now got. And she ended her victim impact
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  Speaker 1: statement by addressing Aaron Patterson directly saying I cannot believe that,
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  Speaker 1: as a mother, you have chosen to expose your children
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  Speaker 1: to this. I was glad to hear that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: someone talking to her directly, and I.
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  Speaker 5: Think that throughout these victim impacts, a lot of the
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: emotions that a lot of people would have been feeling
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  Speaker 5: were said out loud. Now this is an opportunity for
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  Speaker 5: this family, who clearly believed that Aaron Patterson committed these crimes,
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  Speaker 5: to say exactly the way that they had impacted them.
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  Speaker 1: Should be back in court on September the eighth at
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  Speaker 1: nine point thirty. Am Ellie, you'll be covering it live.
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  Speaker 1: Have you got a tip for what that sentence might be?
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  Speaker 5: I wouldn't be foolish enough to even guess, Claire.
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  Speaker 1: I'll talk to you then. The Australian subscribers will be
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the first to know when Pattison is sentenced, and they'll
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: be reading analysis and reporting by our team, including John Ferguson,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the veteran journal who broke the story in the first place.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Join us at the Australian dot com dot au