Latest / The Front / I lied, I panicked: Erin Patterson’s account of mushroom lunch

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I lied, I panicked: Erin Patterson’s account of mushroom lunch · 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 Thursday, June five, twenty twenty five. Australia's leading Indigenous
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: elders need to take a step back and let a
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  Speaker 1: new generation lead. That's the call from Pat Anderson, one
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  Speaker 1: of the most respected senior Aboriginal advocates. That storys live
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. Aaron Patterson
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  Speaker 1: lied to her elderly relatives and her husband. She's told
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  Speaker 1: the Victorian Supreme Court, where she's on trial for murder,
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  Speaker 1: but she's pleading not guilty to deliberately poisoning her family
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  Speaker 1: with deathcat mushrooms. Today, Patterson says she ate the same
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  Speaker 1: meal as the others, but forced herself to vomit after lunch.
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  Speaker 1: We're bringing you her evidence, recreated by voice actors. On
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  Speaker 1: Wednesday morning, Defense counsel Colin Mandy Casey took his client
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Patterson through her recollection of inviting her parents in law,
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  Speaker 1: Gail and Don Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and her
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  Speaker 1: husband Ian to a lunch on July twenty nine, twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. That's the lunch that ultimately resulted in the
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  Speaker 1: deaths of Don, Gail, and Heather from what doctors say
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  Speaker 1: was death cap mushroom poisoning. Aaron Patterson, who had separated
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: from the Patterson's son Simon, described exchanging messages with Gail
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  Speaker 1: Patterson about a lump on her arm shortly before the
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  Speaker 1: fatal lunch. Here's what Aaron Patterson's message said.
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  Speaker 2: I had a needle biopsy taken out of the lump,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm returning for an MRI next week and will
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  Speaker 2: know more after the results of those two things.
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  Speaker 1: In court, Mandy asked, had you been to an appointment? No?
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  Speaker 3: Had you had a needle biopsy taken off the lump?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 3: Were you returning for an MRI the next week?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 3: Were those lies?
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  Speaker 2: Yes?
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  Speaker 3: And why did you tell those lies?
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  Speaker 2: So some weeks prior, I had been having an issue
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  Speaker 2: with my elbow with pain, and I thought there was
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  Speaker 2: a lump there, and I'd told Gail and Don about
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  Speaker 2: that when I saw them or spoke to them, and
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  Speaker 2: they'd showned quite a lot of care about that, which
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: felt really nice. The issue started to resolve, and I
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  Speaker 2: felt like a bit embarrassed that I'd made such a
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  Speaker 2: big deal about it, and I didn't want their care
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  Speaker 2: of me to stop, so I just kept it going.
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  Speaker 2: I shouldn't have done it.
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  Speaker 1: Patison sent another message suggesting they talk about it at
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  Speaker 1: the lunch.
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  Speaker 2: I'd come to the conclusion that I wanted to do
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  Speaker 2: something for once and for all about my weight and
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  Speaker 2: my poor eating habits. So I was planning to have
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: gastric bypass surgery, and so I remember thinking I didn't
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: want to tell any what I was going to have done.
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  Speaker 2: I was really embarrassed about it. So I thought perhaps
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  Speaker 2: letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed
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  Speaker 2: treatment might mean they'd be able to help me with
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  Speaker 2: the logistics around the kids, and I wouldn't have to
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  Speaker 2: tell them the real reason.
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  Speaker 1: She said, she decided to cook beef Wellington, as she
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  Speaker 1: recalled her mum making the dish for special occasions. She
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  Speaker 1: got the recipe from a book by Nagi Mayhashi called
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  Speaker 1: Recipe Tin Eats, and did two big shops at Woolworths
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  Speaker 1: on the twenty third of July, buying mushrooms I feel
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  Speaker 1: at steak puff and fillow pastry, and on July twenty eight,
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  Speaker 1: the day before the lunch, buying mushrooms again, more I
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  Speaker 1: feel its, and more pastry.
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  Speaker 2: I have no idea why I thought I needed more filo.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't shop with a list, so sometimes I would
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  Speaker 2: just buy things I already had. I'd only bought some
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  Speaker 2: the day before. But it looks like I must have
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  Speaker 2: forgotten I did that. But I made things with pastry
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  Speaker 2: all the time, so it wouldn't have mattered.
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  Speaker 1: In total. Patterson said she bought ten steaks. She said
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  Speaker 1: she wasn't able to find a tenderloin log of meat
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  Speaker 1: called for in the recipe to make one Wellington, and
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  Speaker 1: so used individual steaks to make smaller serves wrapped in
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  Speaker 1: pastry like pasties. She said. On the Friday before the lunch,
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  Speaker 1: she salted the steaks, and on Saturday woke up to
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  Speaker 1: cook the mushrooms into a duck cell a sauce with
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  Speaker 1: fried garlic, shalots and chopped mushrooms from Woolworths.
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  Speaker 2: So as I was cooking it down, I tasted a
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  Speaker 2: few times and it seemed a little bland to me.
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  Speaker 2: So I decided to put in the dried mushrooms that
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  Speaker 2: I'd bought from the grocer that I still had in
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  Speaker 2: the pantry.
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  Speaker 1: This was a reference to mushrooms she earlier told the
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  Speaker 1: jewelry she'd bought at an Asian grocer. She said she
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  Speaker 1: poured some hot water over the mushrooms, chopped them, and
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  Speaker 1: sprinkled them over the mushroom duck cell without stirring them much.
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  Speaker 3: At that time, to your knowledge, what was in that
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  Speaker 3: tupperware container?
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  Speaker 2: At that time, I believed it was just the mushrooms
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  Speaker 2: that i'd bought in Melow.
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  Speaker 3: And now what do you think might have been in
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  Speaker 3: that tupperware container?
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  Speaker 2: Now? I think that there was a possibility that there
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  Speaker 2: were foraged ones in there as well.
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  Speaker 1: Simon Patterson the previous night had told his wife he
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be attending the lunch. He sent his wife a message.
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  Speaker 4: Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch
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  Speaker 4: with you, Mum, Dad, Heather and Ian tomorrow. But I'm
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  Speaker 4: happy to talk about your health and implications of that
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  Speaker 4: another time. If you'd like to discuss on my phone,
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  Speaker 4: just let me know.
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  Speaker 2: That's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week preparing
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  Speaker 2: lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in light of
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  Speaker 2: the issues I'm facing, and spent a small fortune on
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  Speaker 2: beefive Phillip to make beef Wellington's because I wanted it
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  Speaker 2: to be a special meal, as I may not be
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  Speaker 2: able to host a lunch like this again for some time.
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  Speaker 2: It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow and
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  Speaker 2: that I have the conversations I need to have. I
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  Speaker 2: hope you'll change your mind. Your parents and Heather and
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  Speaker 2: Ian are coming at twelve thirty. I hope to see
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  Speaker 2: you there.
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  Speaker 3: Why did you send Simon that message?
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  Speaker 2: I just remember feeling, well, I was hurt he didn't
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  Speaker 2: want to come, but I was also feeling anxious and
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  Speaker 2: stressed about this upcoming procedure that I was going to have,
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  Speaker 2: and I just wanted to know that it would be
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  Speaker 2: sorted and I wouldn't have to worry about whether I'd
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  Speaker 2: have to be with the kids or not. So I
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  Speaker 2: just really wanted him to come so I could talk
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  Speaker 2: to him about that.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson said she hadn't done a lot of prep and
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  Speaker 1: that the rest was exaggeration.
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  Speaker 3: When you say I've spent many hours preparing lunch for tomorrow,
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  Speaker 3: was that true?
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  Speaker 2: I didn't do any prep other than shopping and researching
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  Speaker 2: the recipe. So I guess the answer to your question
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  Speaker 2: is no, it wasn't true.
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  Speaker 1: She said she'd fried six steaks, wrap them in mushrooms
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  Speaker 1: and pastry, and put them in the oven. Patterson said
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  Speaker 1: her children had decided to go to a movie with
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  Speaker 1: a friend. She said she wanted to talk to the
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  Speaker 1: family about an upcoming medical procedure, which in reality was
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  Speaker 1: a pre assessment for the gastric bypass booked for September,
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  Speaker 1: but which she wanted the family to think was more serious.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson said when the guests arrived, she recalled Heather and
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Gail going to look in her pantry.
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  Speaker 3: How did you feel about them going to look in
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  Speaker 3: the pantry?
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  Speaker 2: Mixed. I was proud of the pantry, but it was
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  Speaker 2: probably a little bit messy. I think I'd hidden my
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  Speaker 2: garbage bag around there or something. It was fine for
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  Speaker 2: them to go in, So after they finished that, they
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  Speaker 2: came back out and they stood on the other side
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  Speaker 2: of the kitchen bench to where I was plating up
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  Speaker 2: the food. So I had the wellingtons on an oven
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  Speaker 2: tray resting on the bench next to the stove, and
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  Speaker 2: I had the mashed potato in a pot, and then
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  Speaker 2: I put out the plates and started serving the mash.
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  Speaker 2: Then the wellingtons, and then finally the beans.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson said. As this was going on, Gail Patterson invited
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  Speaker 1: her to a family gathering for next Saturday, which she
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  Speaker 1: hadn't previously been invited to.
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  Speaker 3: You were talking about plating up. How many plates did
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  Speaker 3: you plate up?
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  Speaker 2: I plated up five.
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  Speaker 3: You said you cooked six wellingtons? Yes, what happened to
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  Speaker 3: the other one?
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  Speaker 2: So it either? I think I just put the oven
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  Speaker 2: tray straight in the fridge to worry about later. So
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  Speaker 2: I said, you know, grab a plate, guys, I'm just
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  Speaker 2: going to finish off the gravy. I turned around. I
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  Speaker 2: think I used one of those ready made gravy sachets.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't want to risk a gravy problem, so I
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  Speaker 2: heated that up in the Maybe I used two sachets.
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  Speaker 2: I heated that up in the saucepan and went into
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  Speaker 2: the pantry to get the serving picture, put the gravy
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  Speaker 2: in the picture, grabbed the last plate off the bench,
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  Speaker 2: and went and sat at the table.
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  Speaker 3: And how did the other plates get to the table?
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  Speaker 3: Did you see?
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  Speaker 2: Well? I didn't see it happen. I assumed everybody grabbed
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  Speaker 2: a plate. Ian said that Gail and Heather took two
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  Speaker 2: plates each, and I accept that's probably what happened.
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  Speaker 3: And do you remember which plate you had?
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 1: Patterson later told the jury it would have taken her
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  Speaker 1: about a minute to heat up the packet gravy in
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  Speaker 1: the microwave. She said there were no assigned seats or
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  Speaker 1: assigned plates at the lunch, and recalled telling the family
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  Speaker 1: about her imaginary cancer scared.
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  Speaker 2: So it was right at the end of the meal,
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  Speaker 2: and I mentioned that I'd had an issue a year
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  Speaker 2: or two earlier where I thought that I'd had ovarian
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  Speaker 2: cancer and had various scans related to that, and then
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  Speaker 2: I'm not proud of this, but I led them to
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  Speaker 2: believe that I might be needing some treatment in regards
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  Speaker 2: to that in the next few weeks or months.
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  Speaker 3: And do you remember what you said about that in
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  Speaker 3: any more detail?
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  Speaker 2: Not specifically. I do remember I referred to an upcoming
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  Speaker 2: treatment because primarily in my mind, I was thinking I
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  Speaker 2: might need help with getting the kids to and from
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  Speaker 2: the bus or activities, and I thought I might need
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  Speaker 2: to explain why I was going up to hospital for
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  Speaker 2: a day or two, So that was really the focus
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  Speaker 2: of what I was talking about.
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  Speaker 3: Did you mislead them I did. How did that conversation conclude?
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  Speaker 2: They all showed a lot of compassion about that. And
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  Speaker 2: then we saw Simon's car driving into the driveway coming
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  Speaker 2: back with the kids, and so Ian said, why don't
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: we pray for Erin? And so that's what we did.
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  Speaker 3: Did you lie to them?
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  Speaker 2: I did lie to them, And.
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  Speaker 3: Why didn't you tell them the truth about what you
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: were intending?
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  Speaker 2: I was really embarrassed. I was ashamed of the fact
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  Speaker 2: that I didn't have control over my body or what
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  Speaker 2: I ate. I was ashamed of that and embarrassed. I
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied
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  Speaker 2: to them, She said.
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  Speaker 1: The Wilkinsons and Don Patterson ate all their beef. Wellington
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  Speaker 1: and Don also ate the uneaten half of his wife, Gails.
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  Speaker 2: I ate a quarter a third somewhere around there of mine.
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  Speaker 2: I ate some of mine.
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  Speaker 1: After the guests left, she turned to the orange cake
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  Speaker 1: Gail Pattison 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.
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  Speaker 3: How many pieces of cake did you have?
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  Speaker 2: All of it?
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  Speaker 3: How much had been left?
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  Speaker 2: Probably a good two thirds of it was left.
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  Speaker 3: And what happened after you ate the cake, I felt sick.
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  Speaker 2: I felt over full, so I went to the toilets
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  Speaker 2: and brought it back up again.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: She said that night she suffered diarrhea and in the
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: morning got a call from Simon to say her lunch
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: guests were suffering diarrhea and were in hospital. She said
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: that on the following morning, Monday, she dropped her children
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: for the school bus at seven twenty and then attended
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the local hospital, hoping for some intravenous fluids. Patterson said
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: she asked her husband Simon, to accompany her.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I wanted company when I went to the hospital. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't want to go there by myself. He said that
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: he was tired and still in bed and I should
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: drive myself. Eventually, she arrived at the hospital and spoke
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: to a doctor. He said, there's a concern, or where concerned.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: You've been exposed to death cap mushrooms.
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  Speaker 3: And what did you think when you heard that?
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  Speaker 2: Shocked but confused as well. I didn't see how death
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  Speaker 2: cap mushrooms could be in the meal. The information that
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I had was that I'd had diarrhea, don and Gale
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: had been a bit unwell, but that's all I knew.
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  Speaker 2: I remember feeling very puzzled.
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  Speaker 1: The doctor said they wanted to see Darren Patterson to
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Monash Medical Center in Melbourne, but she needed to make
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: arrangements for her pets and children. She returned to her
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: house in land Gaffer, where she said she fed her pets,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: organized kid's gear, laid down and went to the toilet
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  Speaker 1: a couple of times. She said she'd return in twenty
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: or thirty minutes, but she agreed. She returned to the
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: hospital approximately ninety minutes later. After the break Simon Patterson
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: confronts his wife, Aaron Patterson returned to the hospital and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: was put on a drip, and she said someone put
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: her on the phone to the police, who wanted to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: get the leftovers of the meal to work out why
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: the lunch guests were so ill, and had told doctors
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  Speaker 1: she'd fed her children leftovers of the wellingtons after scraping
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: off the mushrooms. Doctors insisted the children come in for testing,
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  Speaker 1: even though Patterson said they were feeling fine.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: It wasn't that I didn't want them to be treated,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: but more the drastic step of putting them in hospital.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to understand that that was really necessary because
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: of their anxieties. About being in hospital. I didn't want
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: to do that unless it was really necessary. The family
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: ended up at Melbourne's Monash Medical Center. Patterson said she
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: told her husband and children how she had previously dehydrated
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: and powdered mushrooms and put them in muffins she served
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: to the children. When the children were out of the room,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Simon and Aaron Patterson spoke and he said to me,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: is that how you poisoned my parents using that dehydrator?
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  Speaker 3: And what was your response?
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  Speaker 2: I said, of course not.
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  Speaker 3: Can you explain to us what crossed your mind then
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: and what you were thinking then?
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  Speaker 2: So it got me thinking about all the times that
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: i'd used it, the d hype that's right, and how
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I had dried foraged mushrooms in it weeks earlier, and
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I was starting to think, what if they'd gone in
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: the container with the Chinese mushrooms, maybe that had happened.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I was thinking, maybe that's how they thought.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: How did that make you feel scared?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Responsible? Really worried because child protection were involved, and Simon
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: seemed to be of the mind that maybe this was intentional,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: and I just I just got really scared.
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  Speaker 1: She said. When she and the children were discharged from hospital.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Child protection officers drove them home.
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  Speaker 3: How was your state of mind when you got home.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I was frantic because I'd made the meal and I
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: served it and people had got sick.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Patterson said she took the dehydrator to the local tip.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Child Protection were coming to my house that afternoon, and
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I was scared of the conversation that might flow about
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the meal, the dehydrator, and I just was I was
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: scared that they would.
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  Speaker 3: Blame me for it, blame you for.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: For making everyone sick, and I was scared they'd remove
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the children.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Patterson said she'd decided to stop using her original phone
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and SIM and had put a new SIM into a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: device known in this case as Phone B.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: I was becoming concerned about Simon's behavior and his allegations,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: and I was concerned for my security, so I wanted
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: him to not be able to contact me anymore.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: The trial has previously heard that one of Patterson's phones,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Phone B, which was later seized by police, had gone
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: through four factory resets. Patterson said her son did the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: first reset when using the phone after his device had
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: been damaged. She said she did the subsequent three resets,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: including once after police had seized the phone.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I'd put all my apps on it, including my Google account,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: which included my Google photos, and I knew that there
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: were photos in there of mushrooms in the dehydrata, and
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I just panicked, and I didn't want them to see them.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: When you say them, who do you mean?
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Theives. At some point after the search of my house
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: and the interview and the detectives had brought me home,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I remember thinking, I wonder if I can log into
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: my Google account and see where all my devices are.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: So I did that and it was really stupid, but
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I thought, I wonder if they've been silly enough to
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: leave it connected to the internet, and so I hit
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: factory reset to see what happened, and it did.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Patterson said she believed her original phone, Phone A, was
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: left behind by police when they searched the house. Police
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: have previously told the jury they've never been able to
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: find this phone. Aaron Patterson's evidence will resume on Thursday,
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  Speaker 1: June four. You can follow The Australian's coverage live at
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: The Australian dot com dot au