Bonus preview episode: The summations - with Anthony Dowsley

As the trial of Erin Patterson nears its close, veteran crime writer Anthony Dowsley discusses the closing arguments from the defence and prosecution.  This episode is a preview of our subscriber-only Sunday show.

Want to hear more?  Go to themushroomcook.com.au and click on any previous subscriber-only podcast to get access. Subscriber-only shows come out on Sundays and are best listened-to through the app. details below.

The Mushroom Cook team is Brooke Grebert-Craig, Laura Placella, Anthony Dowsley, Jordy Atkinson and Jonty Burton.

The Mushroom Cook is a Herald Sun production for True Crime Australia.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hire listeners. As we said in our daily show, there
is no court sitting today, but we thought we would
give you another little taste of our Sunday subscriber show.
We're up to the very last days of the trial
of Aaron Patterson. The prosecution and the defense have spoken
their last words and the only thing the jury has
left to hear is from the presiding judge. As always,

(00:23):
I'm joined by veteran crime reporter Anthony Dowsley to break
it all down. I'm Brooke Greeber Craig and this is
the Mushroom Cook. Hi dows Welcome back for another episode.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi Brooke, morewell's treating you well? I hope it's come
to the very point to end at last. Was supposed
to be what set down for six week five six
week trial, then they said it might be a month,
and now it's going to be almost nine weeks in
the end.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yes, we're heading into the ninth week. So this week
we heard the closings from the prosecution and the defense.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
The highlights package. It's where both sides get to sum
up their case. It's not actual evidence, it's a summary
of the evidence, but it's persuasive argument as well. And
that's where both the prosecution and the defense get to
try and have their last well lash at the jury

(01:21):
to say this is why you should either convict or
not convict, guilty or not guilty.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And Crown Prosecutor and Nannette Rogers really focused on five
deceptions during her summation, Dows, did you want to talk
our listeners through each one of them? Maybe we'll start
off with the first one, which was the fabricated cancer
claim Aaron used as a reason for the lunch.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
And this is an interesting one because it's a deception
that caught the ears of everyone that during this lunch,
this fatal lunch, Aaron Patterson, as everyone will remember, mentions
at the end of it that she has cancer. And
there is debate around exactly what she said, but this

(02:06):
is what the prosecution of led off with. It was
one of the things that was in the opening addresses
and it's something that they've closed with as well. But
the defense point out Colin Mandy, who's Aaron Patterson's lawyer,
said that it's not a ruse because well, she didn't
tell them as a reason to get there. She's not

(02:28):
telling them, he says, say I've got cancer, come to lunch.
He's saying that this comes at the end of the lunch,
so it's not a ruse. He says that because she
never told them she was diagnosed with cancer, that it's
more of a like a ploy to get love and attention,
that she's an isolated woman, that she's living basically an

(02:53):
isolated life. That's the argument he's putting forward. Aaron Patterson,
no evidence said, you know, I'm not proud of this,
but I led them to believe that I might be
needing some treatment in regards to cancer. Ovariant cancer was mentioned.
She admitted to misleading them. Now, from the prosecution side
of things, they say that there was never going to

(03:15):
be a need for Aaron Patterson to account for her
cancer lie because they say she intended to kill her
lunch guests. They say her lie would die with them.
But there's also a reply from Aaron Patterson's cancel, Colin Mandy.

(03:36):
The barrister says, why tell them after the lunch because
they've consumed the meal, So what's the point.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Okay, Now, let's move on to the second deception, the
lethal doses of poison Aaron secreted in the beef Wellingtons
this is something that the prosecution claims.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
So murder trials come down to intend. That's one of
the key elements of murder. And if you're deliberately secreting
poisonous mushrooms into a meal, that goes a long way
to intent. Colin Mandy Erin's lawyer disputes this by saying

(04:18):
that his client didn't deliberately put death cap mushrooms in
the meal. He says the three sources of mushrooms were
from Woolworth's, an Asian grosser, and foraged mushrooms, but we
don't know where the forage mushrooms necessarily came from. The
Prosecution say that Aaron Patterson's phone data shows that she

(04:41):
was in areas of Locke and outram In about April
May of twenty twenty three. Now, in those areas, as
you know Brook, there was an eye naturalist website where
it was indicated that death capt mushrooms were growing in
those areas, But there's no direct evidence that she picked

(05:06):
any mushrooms from these areas, so that will be something
the jury will likely deliberate on. And I should add
that the prosecution have led some evidence which show Aaron
Patterson weighing mushrooms during this period of time in twenty

(05:27):
twenty three, in April, and they say this is evidence
that she's, you know, got some mushrooms. She's weighing them
and she's looking for more. But the defense say there
were mushrooms Aaron Patterson foraged that were put into a container,
and after everybody gets sick, Aaron Patterson says she started

(05:51):
to worry that somehow they got mixed up together and
that death Cat mushrooms ended up in this meal by mistake,
and that she was never aware that she'd ever had
Deathcat mushrooms in her possession.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
To listen to the full show, go to the links
in the description of this episode.