How Erin Patterson's Defence is Painting a Picture of Family Love in Mushroom Trial

The defence in Erin Patterson's triple murder trial is building a narrative of a loving mother who had close relationships with her alleged victims. Colin Mandy SC presents evidence of Erin's deep connection with in-laws and lunch victims Don and Gail Patterson, portraying them as supportive in-laws who "treated her like a daughter."

• Defence characterises Erin as a devoted mother of two with good character
• Evidence suggests Erin moved from Western Australia to Victoria to be closer to Don and Gail
• Simon Patterson testified that Erin and his parents had "loving and respectful relationships"
• Special bond highlighted between Erin and Don, sharing interests in knowledge, books and science
• Defence emphasises continuing relationship between Erin and in-laws even after separation from Simon
• Jury deliberations expected to begin Wednesday next week

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to day 35 of Erin Patterson's
triple murder trial in theSupreme Court in Morwell,
regional Victoria.
My name is Lisa and I'm heretoday to give you a perspective
of what the defence is saying tothe jury.

(00:21):
So I've actually got thetranscript here and I thought we
could go through it and seewhat her lawyer, mr Mandy Mr
Colin Mandy, sc, is arguing andtrying to persuade the jury.
Now it looks like the jurywon't be sent out until possibly
Wednesday of next week.
So we shall see, won't we?

(00:43):
Anyway, while I have you here,can you please go to my website
and sign up for my newsletter toget a bonus or two?
That would be fantastic.
It's mushroommurdertrialcom.
Okay, so we know.
Ms Erin Patterson has pled notguilty to three counts of murder

(01:05):
and one count of attemptedmurder, and this is from
yesterday, which is day 34.
So, starting at the beginning,this is Mr Mandy.
Of course I'm not going to goall the way back to childhood,
you would be glad to know.
Erin Patterson, you know, is amother of two, devoted, good mum
.
You've heard that many times.

(01:27):
She is a person of goodcharacter.
She was close with thePatterson family and had been
from the very earliest days ofher relationship with Simon.
The evidence is she always hada good relationship with Gail
and Don, a close relationship.
They treated her like adaughter.
They came and visited Simon andErin in Western Australia

(01:51):
shortly after the birth of theirson and Erin said about that
visit at page 2152, quote Iremember being really relieved
that Gail was there, because Ifelt really out of my depth.
I had no idea what to do with ababy and I was not confident,
and she was really supportive,gentle and patient with me, and

(02:15):
those of you who have hadexperience of mothers with young
children some of that mightring true.
Did she give you advice?
She did About what?
About helping settle him aftera feed?
About trying to interpret hiscries?
She gave me good advice aboutjust relax and enjoy it.

(02:36):
You don't have to stick to thistimetable, this schedule.
Just relax and enjoy your baby.
And when they left WesternAustralia, what Aaron wanted to
do was to come back to Victoriato be closer to that support
network.
That's the evidence.
It was isolating being inWestern Australia, so that's

(02:57):
what they did.
Simon's evidence at 318.
One of the reasons he gaveevidence quote to the jury that
in 2012 or thereabouts thefamily made the decision to move
back to Victoria from Perth,from Western Australia.
Quote Simon.

(03:17):
That's right, yep, mr Mandy.
And one of those reasons forthat is that Aaron wanted to be
closer to your parents Simon yes, mr Mandy and your wider family
so that there could be supportfor the son.
And he answered yes.
And the daughter who was aboutto be born said Simon.

(03:39):
And then there's Aaron'sevidence at 2163.
We'd gone back to Victoria onceor twice while we were in
Western Australia and Simon andthe child just loved being with
his cousins and Nana and Papa.
So we wanted firstly to comeback for him, but secondly, I

(03:59):
was trying and ending up beingpregnant with their daughter and
I wanted to be near Donna andGail.
When we had the daughter and Isaid so, you said in your answer
just before that your sonwanted to be near Nana and Papa.
Yes, said Erin.
Mr Mandy, did you mean Donnaand Gail?

(04:19):
Obviously she did.
Yes, I did mean that.
So part of the reason to moveback was to be closer to these
people that you mentioned apretty clear passage of evidence
consistent with needing andwanting the support of don and
gail, loving them.
And then simon patterson gave afair bit of evidence about that

(04:41):
on that topic.
So 241 and to 244 of thetranscript and I'm mentioning
the pages so that when you lookat the transcript later of my
remarks you'll know where tofind these passages.
Can I ask you some questions?
These questions and answers,about Erin's relationship with

(05:02):
Don and Gail.
Your parents Do you agree?
From your observation, theyloved Erin.
This is Simon.
Erin loved them.
She seemed to.
Yeah, mr Mandy, and you onlyobserve them to have loving and
respectful relationships witheach other.
Simon, yeah, that seemed to bethe case.
Yep, that is Mr Mandy's sayingDon and Gail with Erin, with Don

(05:28):
and Gail.
Simon says yeah, that's how itappeared to me.
Quote I think he gave evidencebefore that Erin and Don were
particularly close, simon, yes,because they shared a love of
knowledge, knowledge generally,facts, do you agree with that?
And his answer was Simon, yeah,more than facts.

(05:51):
And I said I was going to listsome more things.
And then I did Books, yes,science, yes, inquiring, curious
minds, enjoy, enjoyed talkingto each other about various
things, Simon, they did.
Erin sought Don's advice aboutthings.
Erin, I have known her to dothat.

(06:11):
Yes, and trusted his advice.
I think so, and you willremember the messages in
December which have someprominence in this trial Erin
seeking advice from Don abouthow to deal with that topic, and
they were ultimately, forvarious reasons, an important
part of her support network.

(06:33):
Simon, I think for some timethat was true.
They were active and involved.
This Mr Mandy Grandparents tothe children, simon, they were,
mr Mandy there was.
There were Jitsi meetings andyou'll remember the evidence
about that, and on it goes.
He recalled his cousin walkedErin down the aisle.

(06:57):
He's got Matt there.
Oh, he clarifies His cousinMatt walked Erin down the aisle
when they got married.
David, sorry, thank you, quoteeven after your separation, erin
had been to many lunches at Donand Gail's house with Simon and
the kids.
Yes, okay, that's what I've gotfor you at the moment.

(07:19):
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
I appreciate it so much.
We're going to stick togetherand get to the end.
How does that sound?
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You can contact me there.
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(07:41):
Could I say that?
I don't know, I'm just talkingcrap.
I'm tired.
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Thank you to everyone who'sdone it.
I am so grateful because we areat the pointy end of this trial
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(08:02):
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That would be fabulous as well.
So, thank you, have a wonderfulday and I will keep you up to

(08:22):
date.
Bye.