Latest / The Front / Fury and forgiveness: hear Erin Patterson victims’ statements in full

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Fury and forgiveness: hear Erin Patterson victims’ statements in full · The Front

0:03
Speaker 1: From The Australian a special bonus episode of the Front
0:06
Speaker 1: for You Today. I'm Claire Harvey, Aaron Patterson's victim, the
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Speaker 1: only man to survive her fatal mushroom lunch, has told
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Speaker 1: the triple murderer he forgives her.
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Speaker 2: I make an offer of forgiveness to Erin. Now I
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Speaker 2: am no longer Aaron Patterson's victim, and she has become
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Speaker 2: the victim of my kindness.
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Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the words of Ian Wilkinson,
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Speaker 1: a Baptist pastor whose wife Heather and in laws Dawn
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Speaker 1: and Gail Patterson were murdered by Aaron Patterson. He was
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Speaker 1: reading a victim impact statement at Aaron Patterson's plea hearing,
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Speaker 1: where a Victorian Supreme Court judge will decide what sentence
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Speaker 1: Patterson will face. Today you'll hear Ian Wilkinson's statement in full,
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Speaker 1: plus Aaron Patterson's husband Simon, who lost his parents and
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Speaker 1: other family members. Ian Wilkinson is the man who lived
1:06
Speaker 1: the only survivor of Aaron Patterson's murderous rampage. When he
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Speaker 1: gave evidence during the trial. Ian Wilkinson, who is pastor
1:14
Speaker 1: of the Cornborough Baptist Church, was composed and even genial,
1:19
Speaker 1: sharing smiles and the old laugh with the court. But
1:22
Speaker 1: on Monday, when he entered the witness box to face
1:25
Speaker 1: the woman who murdered his wife and tried to murder him,
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Speaker 1: Wilkinson's voice was heavy with emotion. We've used voice actors
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Speaker 1: throughout this episode to read the words spoken in court.
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Speaker 2: Your honor, I would like to begin with a few
1:40
Speaker 2: words about my beautiful wife, Heather. She was compassionate, intelligent, brave, witty,
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Speaker 2: simply a delightful person who loves sharing life with others.
1:51
Speaker 2: Like everyone else, she had faults, but she actively sought
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Speaker 2: to overcome them so that she could live peacefully and
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Speaker 2: constructively with all people. She was generous in her attitudes
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Speaker 2: and with her resources. If she could help somebody, she would.
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Speaker 2: Heather had a great sense of humor and it was
2:09
Speaker 2: a joy to be in her company. She loved learning
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Speaker 2: and had a special interest in languages. She was a
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Speaker 2: wonderful wife. We shared a very close marriage relationship for
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Speaker 2: forty four years. Heather was always supportive and encouraging to me.
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Speaker 2: She was wise and had skills that made up for
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Speaker 2: my shortcomings. Together, we faced life as a team, and
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Speaker 2: we were delighted in each other's company. We shared a
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Speaker 2: lot of common interests and yet encouraged each other in
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Speaker 2: our own particular interests. Heather was a great mum to
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Speaker 2: our four children. We agreed together she would be a
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Speaker 2: stay at home mum. She loved our children and believed
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Speaker 2: her greatest work was to raise them to be good
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Speaker 2: people with values of care for each other in the
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Speaker 2: family and for other people beyond the family. I think
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Speaker 2: that the way our children conducted themselves through the crisis
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Speaker 2: of our illness and the subsequent legal proceedings is a
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Speaker 2: testament to her mothering skills. Our children were thrown into
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Speaker 2: an unprecedented situation in which they suddenly had to take
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Speaker 2: medical responsibility for the lives of their parents. The trauma
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Speaker 2: that they experienced at their mother's death and at my
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Speaker 2: near death has left deep wounds. I'm deeply grieved by
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Speaker 2: their ongoing pain. Heather was a proud grandma who loved
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Speaker 2: each of our six grandchildren. Heather took an active interest
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Speaker 2: in their lives and created activities that would bring them together.
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Speaker 2: Family events are no longer the same. A very important
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Speaker 2: member of our family is missing. Heather was also a
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Speaker 2: fellow traveler with me in the Way of Jesus, along
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Speaker 2: with many other people her faith very seriously. It shaped
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Speaker 2: her life. In the way that she lived. Heather was
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Speaker 2: full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and
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Speaker 2: self control, all the fruits of the spirit of Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Living in her. We encouraged each other and urged each
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Speaker 2: other on to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.
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Speaker 2: She had a particular compassion for strugglers and disadvantage people,
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Speaker 2: and that was reflected in the teaching mentoring work she
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Speaker 2: chose to do when she re entered the workforce after
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Speaker 2: our children reached secondary age. I could go on. There's
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Speaker 2: so much more that deserves to be said about Heather.
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Speaker 2: It's one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that
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Speaker 2: so much attention is showered on those who do evil
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Speaker 2: and so little on those who do good. The greatest
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Speaker 2: impact of Erin's actions on me has been to deprive
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Speaker 2: me of Heather's gold company and Heather's important place in
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Speaker 2: our family. The silence in our home is a daily
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Speaker 2: reminder I continue to carry a heavy burden of grief
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Speaker 2: over her untimely death. It's a truly horrible thought to
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Speaker 2: live with that somebody could decide to take her life.
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Speaker 2: I only feel half alive without her. My consolation is
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Speaker 2: that we will be reunited in the resurrection and the
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Speaker 2: age to come in a similar vein. The second heaviest
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Speaker 2: impact on me has been the loss of Don and Gale.
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Speaker 2: They were the next two closest people to me after
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Speaker 2: Heather and our family. And again there were good and
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Speaker 2: solid people. No doubt their families will say more about them,
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Speaker 2: but I would like to acknowledge their good character and
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Speaker 2: their constructive influence on my life. Our families grew up together.
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Speaker 2: They were also serious about following Jesus, and we encouraged
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Speaker 2: and supported each other for about fifty years. My life
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Speaker 2: is greatly impoverished without them. I have suffered severe personal
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Speaker 2: impacts from Eron's actions. I very very nearly died. It
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Speaker 2: has taken me the best part of two years for
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Speaker 2: my health and strength to recover to the point that
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Speaker 2: I have. I praise God for my miraculous healing, and
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Speaker 2: I thank the many medical professionals who strive to save
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Speaker 2: all four of us. They threw everything into our care.
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Speaker 2: I joke that I know this because I have a
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Speaker 2: bump on the back of my head from the kitchen sink.
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Speaker 2: It's a grief to them that Heather, Gale and Don died.
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Speaker 2: Although I've made a good recovery, my health has never
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Speaker 2: returned to the levels I had before the fateful lunch.
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Speaker 2: I have reduced kidney function, ongoing respiratory issues, and reduced energy.
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Speaker 2: I've had to face the many challenges of re establishing
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Speaker 2: life without Heather. The challenge of vastly changed social circumstances
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Speaker 2: I'm suddenly single, the heartbreak of having to wind up
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Speaker 2: her affairs, returning to pastoral work without her help and
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Speaker 2: sage advice, unsettled sleep, Nobody to share in life's daily tasks,
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Speaker 2: which has taken much of the joy out of pottering
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Speaker 2: around the house and the garden. Nobody to debrief with
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Speaker 2: at the end of the day. The impacts are so
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Speaker 2: many and varied, some big and a myriad of small
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Speaker 2: things that no list could ever contain them. I am
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Speaker 2: distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard
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Speaker 2: for my life and the life of those I love.
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Speaker 2: What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could
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Speaker 2: be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of
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Speaker 2: people who had only good intentions towards her. Erin has
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Speaker 2: brought deep sorrow and grief into my life and the
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Speaker 2: lives of many others. The ripples spread out through family, friends,
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Speaker 2: our congregation, the local community, and beyond. In regard to
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Speaker 2: the many harms done to me, I make an offer
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Speaker 2: of forgiveness to Erin. I say harms done to me Advisedly,
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Speaker 2: I have no power or responsibility to forgive harms done
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Speaker 2: to others. In regards to the murder of Heather, Gale
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Speaker 2: and Don I am compelled to seek justice. However, I
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Speaker 2: do encourage Erin to receive my offer of forgiveness for
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Speaker 2: those harms done to me with full confession and repentance.
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Speaker 2: I bear her no ill will. My prayer for her
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Speaker 2: is that she will use her time in jail wisely
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Speaker 2: to become a better person. Now I am no longer
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Speaker 2: Aaron Patterson's victim, and she has become the victim of
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Speaker 2: my kindness. Thank you for hearing me, your honor.
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Speaker 1: The next person to read a victim impact statement was
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Speaker 1: Ruth Dubois, the daughter of Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Dubois
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Speaker 1: entered court alongside Ian Wilkinson, as she had throughout Patterson's trial.
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Speaker 3: Your honor, I am the daughter of Heather and Ian
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Speaker 3: Wilkinson Wettier start How could you possibly reduce who these
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Speaker 3: people were and the depth and extent of our loss,
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Speaker 3: grief and trauma down to just a few words on
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Speaker 3: a page. On the twenty ninth of July twenty twenty three,
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Speaker 3: four generations of our families, ranging from newborn to ninety
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Speaker 3: nine years old, countless friends, and the wider community were
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Speaker 3: handed a lifetime of carrying this unimaginable horror. Mum had
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Speaker 3: seemingly endless amounts of energy. She was generous and kind,
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Speaker 3: with a gentle patience and a good sense of humor.
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Speaker 3: She truly worked to love others and wanted the best
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Speaker 3: for them. She wanted to love people where the they
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Speaker 3: were at, and did so with kindness. She was a
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Speaker 3: wonderful example of a mother, and one I have continually
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Speaker 3: strived to live up to. One of my closest friends
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Speaker 3: and someone I cherish deeply. She was the person I
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Speaker 3: went to for advice, the person i'd call when I
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Speaker 3: wanted to share my success, the person who comforted me
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Speaker 3: and lifted me up. When I was going through hard times.
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Speaker 3: She was somebody I trusted with both the best parts
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Speaker 3: and worst parts of myself, knowing there would be no judgment.
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Speaker 3: Her love as a mother shone evidently in her words
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Speaker 3: and actions right up until she left us. Her final
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Speaker 3: conversations with us were not about herself. She was more
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Speaker 3: concerned about our own family, our work, our kids than
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Speaker 3: she was about her sudden and unexpected health crisis. I
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Speaker 3: miss her daily and life feels less bright without her.
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Speaker 3: Don and Gail were a constant in my life grow up,
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Speaker 3: spending time with the family at our respective homes in
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Speaker 3: the community, and a church. I won't say too much,
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Speaker 3: but I did want to highlight the kind, thoughtful, and
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Speaker 3: gentle natures of both Don and Gaale. They both cared
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Speaker 3: deeply for those around them and were very intentional and
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Speaker 3: generous in their interactions with people. We grew up in
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Speaker 3: a home being shown love, empathy, compassion, and to always
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Speaker 3: look for the best in people. It is horrible to
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Speaker 3: know that it's these good attributes that we use to
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Speaker 3: lure these kind people with the intention of causing them harm.
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Speaker 3: The world seems colder and harsher Knowing this, then, for
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Speaker 3: the offender to sit and watch over casual conversation while
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Speaker 3: these people who showed nothing but love and care for her,
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Speaker 3: ate a meal that would kill. It's beyond anything I
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Speaker 3: can put words to. The following days are in stark contrast.
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Speaker 3: The events we witnessed in hospital felt like an endless nightmare,
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Speaker 3: and now we've heard in court how seemingly normal life
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Speaker 3: continued for the offender. It is difficult to comprehend how
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Speaker 3: someone could spend months planning this out, researching, collecting the
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Speaker 3: items needed, making the lunch invitation, preparing the meal, to
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Speaker 3: sit through eating it, and then to carry on with
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Speaker 3: normal life, all while knowing what tremendous harm was being caused,
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Speaker 3: followed up by the extraordinary lies and the absolute lack
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Speaker 3: of care shown for the victims. There were multiple times
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Speaker 3: during this process she could have stopped, She could have
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Speaker 3: canceled the plans, she could have thought about the consequences,
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Speaker 3: being honest, helped the medical staff, potentially changed the outcomes.
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Speaker 3: But instead, at every step of the way, she chose
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Speaker 3: to follow through. I constantly feel a weight of sadness
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Speaker 3: about the wider impacts to the community this crime has caused,
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Speaker 3: and the vast number of people outside our family who
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Speaker 3: have been affected, some who we've never even met. The
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Speaker 3: medical staff who had to witness and care for the victims,
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Speaker 3: the investigators, people who had to witness in court, shop
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Speaker 3: owners who have had their names and businesses scrutinized, the
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Speaker 3: mushroom growing industry, the health department, tax payers. The list
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Speaker 3: just seems endless, and I'm horrified that our family is
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Speaker 3: even associated, through no choice of our own, with such
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Speaker 3: destructive behavior towards the community. This crime has changed every
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Speaker 3: part of my life. How I view the world is
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Speaker 3: very different. My life will never be the same. It
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Speaker 3: has changed the way I interact with people and has
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Speaker 3: been very isolating. The intense man coverage has left me
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Speaker 3: second guessing every word I say, worried about who I
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Speaker 3: can trust with my thoughts and feelings. It is particularly
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Speaker 3: revolting to experience our family's tragedy being turned into entertainment
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Speaker 3: for the masses, and to know that people are using
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Speaker 3: our family trauma for their own personal gain. As a mother,
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Speaker 3: you want your children to have a good life, to
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Speaker 3: experience all the wonderful things this world has to offer,
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Speaker 3: and to teach them the skills to manage through the
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Speaker 3: hard things. Your instincts are to want to shield and
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Speaker 3: protect your children from the horrors that can happen. These
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Speaker 3: crimes have left me feeling that I cannot do that
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Speaker 3: for my own children. They have had to experience and
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Speaker 3: navigate firsthand how cruel and unkind this world can be,
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Speaker 3: and these are traumas that will be carried with them
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Speaker 3: for the rest of their lives. As a mother, I
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Speaker 3: will never understand how you could willingly choose this for
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Speaker 3: your children. Thank you, your honor.
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Speaker 1: Martha Patterson is the one hundred year old mother of
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Speaker 1: Don Patterson. Her victim impact statement was read by her granddaughter,
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Speaker 1: Naomi Glido.
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Speaker 4: I was the mother of four wonderful sons. One of
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Speaker 4: them has been taken from us in horrific circumstances. The
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Speaker 4: whole family is broken. I'm brokenhearted to think that Don
15:30
Speaker 4: and Gail gave nine years of their lives serving others
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Speaker 4: in Botswana and China, giving to others, and never seeking
15:39
Speaker 4: rewards for themselves. To end their lives in this way
15:43
Speaker 4: is painful for all who knew them, and especially so
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Speaker 4: to the family. Their frequent visits to me were always
15:51
Speaker 4: a joy, with many gifts, including homemade goodies. I looked
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Speaker 4: upon Gail as a daughter. At the age of seventy
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Speaker 4: seven years, Don taught me how to use the computer,
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Speaker 4: and this allowed me to enjoy many happy hours on
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Speaker 4: the Internet and communicating with others. He kept me in
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Speaker 4: touch with others when my eyesight deteriorated, and enabled me
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Speaker 4: to live at home as I still do at the
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Speaker 4: age of one hundred years. May God help our family
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Speaker 4: to heal after this tragedy.
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Speaker 1: Simon Patterson is Aaron Patterson's husband. He believes his wife
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Speaker 1: tried to poison him on multiple occasions before she ultimately
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Speaker 1: killed his parents and aunt at a lunch he was
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Speaker 1: supposed to attend.
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Speaker 5: I miss my parents and aunt more than words can express,
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Speaker 5: and I think of them often. I missed the opportunity
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Speaker 5: to offer them more love, and I miss their great
16:53
Speaker 5: love of me. I'm thankful, however, that they are with
16:57
Speaker 5: God and I will see them again. The extraordinary effect
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Speaker 5: that they had on so many of us means their
17:03
Speaker 5: brilliant legacies live on too. If genetics is an indicator,
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Speaker 5: then Mum, Heather and Dad each had a full half
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Speaker 5: century in the offing before their lives were cruelly cut short.
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Speaker 5: Mum and Heather's father outlived them, reaching a hundred with
17:17
Speaker 5: a sharp mind but failing lungs. Dad's mother had reached
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Speaker 5: one hundred two and his grandmother reached one hundred and one,
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Speaker 5: all with sharp minds and loving hearts. Throughout Mum, Dad,
17:30
Speaker 5: and Heather each were physically fit and active, living fulfilling lives,
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Speaker 5: continuously supporting family, friends and strangers alike. I will be
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Speaker 5: aware for roughly the next thirty years, presuming I live
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Speaker 5: that long, that they could still be alive had Erin
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Speaker 5: not chosen to murder them. Their incredible love, support, wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, warmth, gentleness, guidance,
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Speaker 5: and humor in both spirit and truth are gone. I
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Speaker 5: have known Mum, Dad, Heather, and Ian almost their entire
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Speaker 5: adult lives, and that each constantly displayed those attributes in spades.
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Speaker 5: Praise God that at least Ian miraculously survived to continue
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Speaker 5: to make the world a better place, living an exceptional
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Speaker 5: life as he always has. I feel incredibly sad that
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Speaker 5: the others cannot continue to fulfill their potential to keep
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Speaker 5: making the world a better place too. My children are
18:29
Speaker 5: left without grandparents as a result of these murders. They
18:33
Speaker 5: have also been robbed of hope for the kind of
18:36
Speaker 5: relationship with their mother that every child naturally yearns for.
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Speaker 5: Like all of us, they face the daunting challenge of
18:43
Speaker 5: trying to comprehend what she has done and then who
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Speaker 5: she might be. It is great that the children live
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Speaker 5: continually with me in a safe, healthy and honest home
18:55
Speaker 5: within a supportive community. The grim reality is they live
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Speaker 5: in an en reparably broken home with only a solo parent,
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Speaker 5: when almost everyone else knows their mother murdered their grandparents.
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Speaker 5: None of these hurdles that my children face are easy
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Speaker 5: for them to overcome. The fact these foreseeble hurdles were
19:15
Speaker 5: actively put in front of them by their own mother
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Speaker 5: is an impact we will wrestle with for the rest
19:20
Speaker 5: of our lives. Despite this, both children are incredibly strong, loving, intelligent, observant,
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Speaker 5: and wise beyond their years. With much help, they are
19:32
Speaker 5: overcoming the hurdles they both know. They are always loved,
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Speaker 5: supported and encouraged at home, and upheld by our family
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Speaker 5: and community. With this ongoing love, they will continue to
19:45
Speaker 5: overcome and ultimately thrive, especially if the wider public persists
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Speaker 5: in letting them be. The practical impact on our family
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Speaker 5: and me since the murders have been intense added to
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Speaker 5: the bewildering kiss bill of special people we'd love dearly.
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Speaker 5: The impact includes trauma caused by an abrasive legal system
20:06
Speaker 5: and an occasionally callous mainstream media. I found both to
20:11
Speaker 5: be remarkably dehumanizing. The inability to share openly with close
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Speaker 5: family members prior to us giving evidence to avoid influencing
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Speaker 5: each other's memories has partly inhibited my healthy grieving. My
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Speaker 5: inability to follow or absorb the legal process that occurred
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Speaker 5: before I gave evidence in the trial has distressed me.
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Speaker 5: The deplorable behavior by some legacy media personnel has also
20:38
Speaker 5: substantially impacted my family and me. My kids and I
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Speaker 5: have suffered many days filled with strangers menacing our home
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Speaker 5: brandishing notebooks, phones, cameras, and microphones. We have faced people
20:51
Speaker 5: waiting in ambush at our front door inches away with
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Speaker 5: TV camera and microphone at the ready after ringing our doorbell.
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Speaker 5: Strangers holding nope books have banged aggressively on our windows
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Speaker 5: in the early morning, trying to peek into my children's bedrooms,
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Speaker 5: always skulking away before the police arrived. I've been nambushed
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Speaker 5: by strangers with cameras and microphones waiting by my car
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Speaker 5: when I'm parked in public. My children and I have
21:16
Speaker 5: been filmed in cafes and in the street by opportunistic individuals.
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Speaker 5: I doubt I'll get used to being treated in such
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Speaker 5: dehumanizing ways by these creepy strangers who regard humans as
21:27
Speaker 5: merely content to further their media careers. As a consequence
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Speaker 5: of this is that our home has a security camera
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Speaker 5: TV switched on much of the time, which we often
21:37
Speaker 5: glance at. Noises from outside our home also precipitate a
21:41
Speaker 5: check of the security camera feed and sometimes a long,
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Speaker 5: reassuring hug. The kids and I have established a routine
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Speaker 5: for when we stay away at short notice to avoid
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Speaker 5: a media circus suddenly gathered outside our home. When we're
21:54
Speaker 5: at a cafe. If I suddenly say time to go now,
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Speaker 5: the kids know, we immediately leave quiet because I've spotted
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Speaker 5: someone surreptitiously recording us. The need to perpetually watch for
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Speaker 5: strangers who are showing a threatening interest has introduced a
22:09
Speaker 5: new strain on our lives. Despite the trauma and drama,
22:13
Speaker 5: I'm more so thankful for the many positive impacts on
22:16
Speaker 5: the kids and me. The amazing care we've encountered has
22:20
Speaker 5: enabled us to survive the old deals so far, and
22:23
Speaker 5: in some instances thrive. We have received incredibly strong, gentle, patient,
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Speaker 5: and caring support from friends, family, schools, and our own
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Speaker 5: church congregation, the wider church, colleagues, work clients, neighbors, police,
22:39
Speaker 5: government officers, and our professional counselors. We've experienced love in
22:45
Speaker 5: a special way since the murders. The sensitivity of the
22:49
Speaker 5: local community and relating with our family, including by minimizing
22:52
Speaker 5: their communication about us to reporters, has also been amazing.
22:57
Speaker 5: I'm so grateful for this. Although these crimes are shocking
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Speaker 5: and their impacts substantial, they are immeasurably outweighed by the
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Speaker 5: power of God to work with anything, including these matters,
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Speaker 5: for ultimate good. I'm grateful for the opportunity to keep
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Speaker 5: following in Mum, Dad, Heather, and Ian's footsteps to this end.
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Speaker 5: That is, to do my best to grow in reflecting
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Speaker 5: God's love always in his strength. Nothing can impact that.
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Speaker 1: After the break. Dawn and Gail Patterson's nephew Tim Patterson.
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Speaker 1: Tim Patterson is Dawn Patterson's nephew and cousin of Erin's husband,
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Speaker 1: Simon These are Tim Patterson's words read by a voice actor.
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Speaker 6: I'm not sure how to answer the question, how is
23:59
Speaker 6: this crime changed your life? How do you measure or
24:02
Speaker 6: quantify such a deep sense of loss or injustice? The
24:06
Speaker 6: week following the lunch was the worst of my life.
24:10
Speaker 6: I'm no stranger to anxiety, but that week was the
24:13
Speaker 6: most acutely anxious I've ever been, driven by my worst fears.
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Speaker 6: My nightmares made reel. Would Don, Gale, Heather and Ian,
24:22
Speaker 6: the people who played central roles in shaping the person
24:24
Speaker 6: I am today survive? Would the police be engaged early
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Speaker 6: enough to capture the evidence, And would she, the author
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Speaker 6: of the carefully calculated and executed demise of these gentle
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Speaker 6: and selfless souls, be held accountable.
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Speaker 5: For me?
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Speaker 6: It all started on Sunday, the thirtieth of July. I
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Speaker 6: wrote in my diary Don and Gale are in hospital
24:48
Speaker 6: with apparent food poisoning after eating at Errands. Coincidence or
24:52
Speaker 6: is there evil a play here? My question was answered
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Speaker 6: in the following days when I wrote that Don is
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Speaker 6: in a really bad way being transferred to the Austin,
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Speaker 6: followed by God please look after everyone. An angst filled,
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Speaker 6: sleep deprived couple of days past, punctuated by visits to
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Speaker 6: the hospital, until the Friday, when the tears flowed as
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Speaker 6: Heather and Gale passed away. I wrote in my diary,
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Speaker 6: why did God decide to end such amazing lives in
25:21
Speaker 6: such a horrific manner? They deserve better than this. Up
25:25
Speaker 6: until this point, I'd only ever experienced death from a distance.
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Speaker 6: I'd always found the pain of loss had been tempered
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Speaker 6: by the knowledge that the person who had lived along
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Speaker 6: life and their time had naturally come to an end.
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Speaker 6: As we held vigil over Gail as she slipped away,
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Speaker 6: I felt a new kind of pain, that of a deep,
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Speaker 6: senseless and unjust loss of time with family and friends,
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Speaker 6: years of love and laughter being stolen. The comfort I
25:51
Speaker 6: found was in those that remained and were sharing in
25:54
Speaker 6: that pain. I wrote later, there is actually a sense
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Speaker 6: of peace for me surrounding Gail with God now and
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Speaker 6: her sister. The world is poorer for it. On Saturday evening,
26:06
Speaker 6: we received word that Don's transplant was failing. In my diary,
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Speaker 6: I reflected that Don is a beautiful, honorable, caring man,
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Speaker 6: one of my favorite people in the world outside of
26:17
Speaker 6: my immediate family. Don Gale and their kids have been
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Speaker 6: the primary influence on my life. They are my second family.
26:25
Speaker 6: It was Don, in particular who was my role model
26:28
Speaker 6: growing up. He was always interested in what you'd been
26:31
Speaker 6: up to and what you thought about things. He could
26:33
Speaker 6: somehow make you feel as if you were the only
26:36
Speaker 6: person in the world. There was love and joy in
26:38
Speaker 6: everything he did, from the raucous way he'd be able
26:41
Speaker 6: to engage with you as a little kid, to the
26:43
Speaker 6: way he engaged with you about what you learned at school,
26:46
Speaker 6: or the way he'd argue with you on some deep
26:48
Speaker 6: technical or physiological concept. As a young or not so
26:51
Speaker 6: young adult, I always wanted to be perpetually young at
26:55
Speaker 6: heart like him, and to engage with love and concern
26:58
Speaker 6: with everyone I've met like he did. How could someone
27:01
Speaker 6: like this, whose entire life was spent in selfless service
27:04
Speaker 6: to his family and the local and global community through
27:07
Speaker 6: his gentle ministry, leave the earth in this way? I
27:11
Speaker 6: only heard of Don's passing the next morning and wrote
27:14
Speaker 6: that today I've felt somehow it ea is. I wonder
27:17
Speaker 6: if something is broken in me. I woke this morning
27:20
Speaker 6: and the world felt different without Don and Gale in it.
27:22
Speaker 6: I find it difficult to comprehend this new world. Maybe
27:25
Speaker 6: I'm just crying not to That evening everything stopped. Heather,
27:30
Speaker 6: Gail and Don had passed away, the kids had been
27:33
Speaker 6: removed from Aaron's care, the police were on the case,
27:36
Speaker 6: and Ian was still holding on. There was a strange
27:40
Speaker 6: sense of peace that came over me when I found
27:42
Speaker 6: my worst fears had been realized and come to pass.
27:45
Speaker 6: It is done, and I was finally able to sleep
27:49
Speaker 6: like everyone else. I still ask myself why why did
27:53
Speaker 6: Aaron decide that she'd make her life's work a portrait
27:56
Speaker 6: of death and destruction? Why did she decide to focus
27:59
Speaker 6: her experts hidden wrath upon the most selfless, loving people
28:03
Speaker 6: group of people I've known. Why would God choose such
28:07
Speaker 6: a violent end for those who gave their lives to him?
28:11
Speaker 6: I guess that's the final injustice in all of this,
28:13
Speaker 6: the lack of explanation, reason, or remorse. Since then, life
28:19
Speaker 6: has gone on. I still cry when I think about
28:21
Speaker 6: how we came to lose Heather, Gale and Don. It's
28:24
Speaker 6: a strange thing, but for some reason, I still can't
28:26
Speaker 6: fully accept that Don and Gale are gone. In my mind,
28:31
Speaker 6: it's just that we haven't seen each other In a while,
28:33
Speaker 6: they're still there in Corunborough, sitting by the fire in
28:36
Speaker 6: their cozy living room, reading books, playing with the kids,
28:40
Speaker 6: having interesting conversations and sharing meals in their love of life, family,
28:45
Speaker 6: God and each other. In some ways, I hope it
28:48
Speaker 6: stays like that forever. So how has this crime affected
28:52
Speaker 6: my life? I now find myself consciously trying to soak
28:56
Speaker 6: in every moment I get to spend with my amazing
28:58
Speaker 6: wife and our kids, the time I get with my parents,
29:01
Speaker 6: family and friends, chatting for hours with my one hundred
29:05
Speaker 6: year old grandmother, and just reveling in the life that
29:07
Speaker 6: we are so lucky to have.
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Speaker 1: The Australian broke the story of the mass murder in
29:22
Speaker 1: leand Gatham in July twenty twenty three, and we've reported
29:25
Speaker 1: it with fairness and calm ever since. We've not at
29:29
Speaker 1: any point invaded the privacy of the Pattison or Wilkinson families.
29:33
Speaker 1: We've approached them to tell their stories and respectfully left
29:36
Speaker 1: them alone when they requested privacy. You can read all
29:40
Speaker 1: our ongoing coverage right now at The Australian dot com
29:43
Speaker 1: dot au