May 29, 2025 • 11 mins
Erin Patterson's defence team led by top silk Colin Mandy SC spent today quizzing the detective who spearheaded the investigation into the alleged triple murder.
The Mushroom Cook team is Brooke Grebert-Craig, Laura Placella, Anthony Dowsley, Jordy Atkinson and Jonty Burton. Our intern is Jasmine Geddes.
The Mushroom Cook is a Herald Sun production for True Crime Australia.
Go to themushroomcook.com.au for news, features, previous episodes and more
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the days following the deadly mushroom lunch, passwords were
put in place around hospitals and specialist divisions of Victoria.
Police were briefed they knew the storm that was about
to descend upon that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Three people are dead and one man is fighting for
his life this morning after a suspected mushroom poison A
suspected mushroom poisoning inside where victims are from is a
really small town, just five thousand people.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In another day of his testimony, Stephen Eppingstaal took to
the stand to talk about dealing with the media a Noki,
your phone, diet books, subway footage and Facebook messages. I'm
Brook Greenbert Craig, and this is the mushroom cook. It's
day twenty two of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and once
(00:48):
again I'm joined by my colleague, court reporter Laura Pistol.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I can't believe we're nearing the end of week five.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, we are. So it was quite a bitsy day
in court today. Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall returned
to the sten and gave evidence.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
His cross examination continued and defense barrister Colin Mandy really
took him through a number of topics, some of which
we flagged at the top of the episode.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Let's start with the media coverage.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
This was a topic Constable epping Stall was asked about
very early on today. Mister Mandy asked him whether or
not he agreed that there was significant media interest in
this case from very early on in the investigation. He agreed,
and he explained to the court that he briefed the
Victoria Police media unit and holding lines were prepared. He
(01:36):
also told the court that passwords were put in place
at the hospitals where the guests were being treated. He
said by August five, a week after the lunch, the
media were well and truly reporting on this case.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The jury heard that a media release was issued on
August six, confirming the homicide squad were investigating three deaths.
Constable epping Stall said a press conference was held on
all August seven with Detective Inspector Dean Thomas. Mister Mandy
then asked him whether the media were camped outside Aaron's
(02:09):
property and lean Gatha, including inside her property, and he replied, yes,
they did go into her property, but.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
That's all that was really said about the media and
mister Mandy moved on to a different topic.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yes, let's talk about the search warrant that was done
at Aaron's home on August five. We touched on this
in yesterday's episode, So Laura, can you tell us what
more we heard about it in court today.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So mister Mandy really used this part of today's cross
examination to try to pick holes in the police investigation.
The court heard today that Erin was not given any
notice of the search warrant. On August five, police arrived
at her house, told her what the warrant was in
connection to, and began their search. Mister Mandy asked Constable
(02:58):
Eppingstall about Erin's wabouts during the search, and he said
for the majority of the time she remained with him
unless she needed to go to the bathroom when one
of his female colleagues would take over. He told the
court that Erin was allowed to retain her phone because
she needed to make some arrangements in relation to her children.
He also explained that at one point Erin was given
(03:21):
permission to contact a lawyer from a room at the
front of her house with the door closed. Mister Mandy
asked whether or not this was for a period of
fourteen minutes, and Constable Eppingstall replied that it was his
recollection that it was about twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
He was then specifically asked questions about a Nochi your phone.
Constable Eppingstall said he had a conversation with Erin about
that device during her record of interview. He confirmed it
was not located and therefore not seized.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
During this part of the cross examination, Constable Eppingstall was
asked about a number of devices and whether or not
they were seized. He confirmed again today in that another
phone that has been referred to in this case that
has been called Phone A, was also never located by police.
To refresh our listener's memories, this is the phone that
police say Erin used in the lead up to the
(04:12):
lunch with a SIM card that she had been using
for a number of years. Constable Eppingstall told the court
yesterday that phone record showed that this simcard was taken
out of Phone A on August five at one forty
five pm, that is the time of the search warrant,
and placed into another phone, that being a Nokia. It
was at this point that Constable epping stare was taken
(04:35):
to a photo that was captured during the search warrant
by police. It was a photo of an ottoman in
Aaron's house that was covered in charging chords and what
appeared to be devices. Mister Mandy pointed to one of
these devices on the ottoman and asked Constable epping Stall,
can I suggest that is Phone A in a case?
But Constable Eppingstall said he did not agree, saying that
(04:58):
if that device was a phone, it would have been
seized by police.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And just to summarize what Laura said, Phone A and
the Nokia phone were both not located or seized by police.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Mister Mandy had more questions for Constable epping Stall about
items not seized from Erin's home. He showed Constable epping
Stall a photo, again taken during the search warrant from
the study, which he also called the Lego room. Mister
Mandy claimed that two laptops could be seen in that photo,
but Constable epping Stall replied, if their laptops, this is
the first I'm learning of these items, reiterating to mister
(05:33):
Mandy that during the search he was with Erin and
was not looking for items himself, leaving that to his colleagues.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Now, let's move on to Erin's bank records.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
This was a very brief exchange, but mister Mandy quizzed
Constable epping Stall about how many months of Erin's bank
records police had obtained. The court heard they had obtained
records from July one, twenty twenty three, through to August four.
Mister Mandy asked Constable Epping's no other periods of time.
(06:03):
He replied, no, and I can't explain why we didn't
go back further. Some of her bank records were then
shown to the court, specifically in relation to the troops
she made to a BP in Coldermeaede and a Doughnut van.
Later that same day.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
On the topic of records, Constable epping Stall was questioned
about the analysis of Aaron's phone records conducted by digital
forensics expert doctor Matthew Serell.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I feel like it's been a while since we've spoken
about doctor Cerel's evidence, and today we got back into
the nitty gritties of it. Earlier in the trial, doctor
Soerell told the jury that he was provided years of
call charge records from a phone belonging to Erin, as
well as about twenty days of what are called event
based Monitoring records or EBM. For sure, these EBM records
(06:52):
provide very granular detail, he said. And today Constable epping
Stall was asked why police only obtained days of these
records to give to doctor Serrell, and in response, Constable
epping Stall spoke quite a lot about how costly these
records actually are to obtain, and he said to the jury,
to get EBMs for a year we would be talking
(07:15):
well into six figures. And my boss isn't real keen
when I spend too much money. That comment from him
definitely prompted some laughs from the courtroom, and he went
on to say that the police have to be really
selective and targeted when it comes to these EBM records.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
The jury also found out how Constable epping Stall found
out about I Naturalist, and this was after a conversation
with doctor Tom May when they were just generally speaking
about death cap mushrooms. Doctor May went on to tell
him that he had actually cited death caps in Outrim
in May twenty twenty three, and he posted this sighting
(07:52):
to the citizen website I Naturalists.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
There have been several clips of CCTV footage tended in
this trial and today Constable epping Stall was quizzed about
another one.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yes, he was asked about CCTV footage obtained from a
subway store in leen Gatha on the night of that
deadly lunch. He told the court on Tuesday, the footage
shows Aeron dropping off her son at seven twenty two
pm and picking him up eleven minutes later. But in
court today three images were shown to the jury. The
(08:25):
first one was of Erin's son, the second one was
the still of a boy from inside subway, and the
third image was of another photo of Eron's son. Mister
Mandy suggested to Constable epping Stool that that boy depicted
inside subway in the second photo was not Eron's son.
He replied, I believe it to be him, but it's
(08:46):
a matter for the jury.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And that was really all that was said about the
subway before mister Mandy took Constable epping Stall to another topic.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yes, more messages were shown to the jury between Aaron
and her online friends. The jury heard there were around
one hundred and eighty six pages of messages from this
group chat that had been extracted by police.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
To jog our listener's memories. These are the messages that
Erin was having with these online friends that concerned her
estranged husband, Simon and his parents Don Gale, in the
context of the child support dispute that she was having
with him. The jury has previously been shown quite a
number of these, but today mister Mandy tended more of
those messages. This is what Aaron writes in one exchange.
(09:31):
It's her words, it's not her voice. I suspect the
best thing I can do is just forget about all
of them and live my life. Simon is probably loving
how upset I am about all of this. In response,
one of her friends replies, I'm so sorry, Erin. It's
so funny hard when you're not believed or understood. I
went through similar with my ex in laws. Mister Mandy
(09:52):
asked Constable Eppingstall whether he agreed that there was an
enormous amount of context surrounding these messages. Mister Mandy also
on to suggest that this was a group chat where
a number of the participants were talking in similar ways,
venting to each other about their lives, and Constable Eppingstall
said that was a fair assessment.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Lastly, the purchasing of diet books were briefly mentioned in
court today. Once again we didn't get a whole lot
of context about it.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Mister Mandy mentioned today that Erin's weight was recorded when
she was admitted to Lea and Gatha Hospital on July
thirty one. After that, he told the court that police
had obtained Erin's receipts from the online bookstore book Topia.
He then asked Constable epping Stare whether he agreed that
a large number of the books Erin had purchased related
(10:40):
to diets. He said that was correct. At the end
of the day today, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury
that there was an issue that needed sorting out before
mister Mandy could continue the rest of his cross examination
with Constable epping Stall, so it's expected that he will
return to the witness box tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
To stay updated on the case, go to the mushroomcook
dot com dot au MHM
In the days following the deadly mushroom lunch, passwords were
put in place around hospitals and specialist divisions of Victoria.
Police were briefed they knew the storm that was about
to descend upon that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Three people are dead and one man is fighting for
his life this morning after a suspected mushroom poison A
suspected mushroom poisoning inside where victims are from is a
really small town, just five thousand people.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In another day of his testimony, Stephen Eppingstaal took to
the stand to talk about dealing with the media a Noki,
your phone, diet books, subway footage and Facebook messages. I'm
Brook Greenbert Craig, and this is the mushroom cook. It's
day twenty two of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and once
(00:48):
again I'm joined by my colleague, court reporter Laura Pistol.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I can't believe we're nearing the end of week five.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, we are. So it was quite a bitsy day
in court today. Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall returned
to the sten and gave evidence.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
His cross examination continued and defense barrister Colin Mandy really
took him through a number of topics, some of which
we flagged at the top of the episode.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Let's start with the media coverage.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
This was a topic Constable epping Stall was asked about
very early on today. Mister Mandy asked him whether or
not he agreed that there was significant media interest in
this case from very early on in the investigation. He agreed,
and he explained to the court that he briefed the
Victoria Police media unit and holding lines were prepared. He
(01:36):
also told the court that passwords were put in place
at the hospitals where the guests were being treated. He
said by August five, a week after the lunch, the
media were well and truly reporting on this case.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The jury heard that a media release was issued on
August six, confirming the homicide squad were investigating three deaths.
Constable epping Stall said a press conference was held on
all August seven with Detective Inspector Dean Thomas. Mister Mandy
then asked him whether the media were camped outside Aaron's
(02:09):
property and lean Gatha, including inside her property, and he replied, yes,
they did go into her property, but.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
That's all that was really said about the media and
mister Mandy moved on to a different topic.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yes, let's talk about the search warrant that was done
at Aaron's home on August five. We touched on this
in yesterday's episode, So Laura, can you tell us what
more we heard about it in court today.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So mister Mandy really used this part of today's cross
examination to try to pick holes in the police investigation.
The court heard today that Erin was not given any
notice of the search warrant. On August five, police arrived
at her house, told her what the warrant was in
connection to, and began their search. Mister Mandy asked Constable
(02:58):
Eppingstall about Erin's wabouts during the search, and he said
for the majority of the time she remained with him
unless she needed to go to the bathroom when one
of his female colleagues would take over. He told the
court that Erin was allowed to retain her phone because
she needed to make some arrangements in relation to her children.
He also explained that at one point Erin was given
(03:21):
permission to contact a lawyer from a room at the
front of her house with the door closed. Mister Mandy
asked whether or not this was for a period of
fourteen minutes, and Constable Eppingstall replied that it was his
recollection that it was about twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
He was then specifically asked questions about a Nochi your phone.
Constable Eppingstall said he had a conversation with Erin about
that device during her record of interview. He confirmed it
was not located and therefore not seized.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
During this part of the cross examination, Constable Eppingstall was
asked about a number of devices and whether or not
they were seized. He confirmed again today in that another
phone that has been referred to in this case that
has been called Phone A, was also never located by police.
To refresh our listener's memories, this is the phone that
police say Erin used in the lead up to the
(04:12):
lunch with a SIM card that she had been using
for a number of years. Constable Eppingstall told the court
yesterday that phone record showed that this simcard was taken
out of Phone A on August five at one forty
five pm, that is the time of the search warrant,
and placed into another phone, that being a Nokia. It
was at this point that Constable epping stare was taken
(04:35):
to a photo that was captured during the search warrant
by police. It was a photo of an ottoman in
Aaron's house that was covered in charging chords and what
appeared to be devices. Mister Mandy pointed to one of
these devices on the ottoman and asked Constable epping Stall,
can I suggest that is Phone A in a case?
But Constable Eppingstall said he did not agree, saying that
(04:58):
if that device was a phone, it would have been
seized by police.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And just to summarize what Laura said, Phone A and
the Nokia phone were both not located or seized by police.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Mister Mandy had more questions for Constable epping Stall about
items not seized from Erin's home. He showed Constable epping
Stall a photo, again taken during the search warrant from
the study, which he also called the Lego room. Mister
Mandy claimed that two laptops could be seen in that photo,
but Constable epping Stall replied, if their laptops, this is
the first I'm learning of these items, reiterating to mister
(05:33):
Mandy that during the search he was with Erin and
was not looking for items himself, leaving that to his colleagues.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Now, let's move on to Erin's bank records.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
This was a very brief exchange, but mister Mandy quizzed
Constable epping Stall about how many months of Erin's bank
records police had obtained. The court heard they had obtained
records from July one, twenty twenty three, through to August four.
Mister Mandy asked Constable Epping's no other periods of time.
(06:03):
He replied, no, and I can't explain why we didn't
go back further. Some of her bank records were then
shown to the court, specifically in relation to the troops
she made to a BP in Coldermeaede and a Doughnut van.
Later that same day.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
On the topic of records, Constable epping Stall was questioned
about the analysis of Aaron's phone records conducted by digital
forensics expert doctor Matthew Serell.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I feel like it's been a while since we've spoken
about doctor Cerel's evidence, and today we got back into
the nitty gritties of it. Earlier in the trial, doctor
Soerell told the jury that he was provided years of
call charge records from a phone belonging to Erin, as
well as about twenty days of what are called event
based Monitoring records or EBM. For sure, these EBM records
(06:52):
provide very granular detail, he said. And today Constable epping
Stall was asked why police only obtained days of these
records to give to doctor Serrell, and in response, Constable
epping Stall spoke quite a lot about how costly these
records actually are to obtain, and he said to the jury,
to get EBMs for a year we would be talking
(07:15):
well into six figures. And my boss isn't real keen
when I spend too much money. That comment from him
definitely prompted some laughs from the courtroom, and he went
on to say that the police have to be really
selective and targeted when it comes to these EBM records.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
The jury also found out how Constable epping Stall found
out about I Naturalist, and this was after a conversation
with doctor Tom May when they were just generally speaking
about death cap mushrooms. Doctor May went on to tell
him that he had actually cited death caps in Outrim
in May twenty twenty three, and he posted this sighting
(07:52):
to the citizen website I Naturalists.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
There have been several clips of CCTV footage tended in
this trial and today Constable epping Stall was quizzed about
another one.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yes, he was asked about CCTV footage obtained from a
subway store in leen Gatha on the night of that
deadly lunch. He told the court on Tuesday, the footage
shows Aeron dropping off her son at seven twenty two
pm and picking him up eleven minutes later. But in
court today three images were shown to the jury. The
(08:25):
first one was of Erin's son, the second one was
the still of a boy from inside subway, and the
third image was of another photo of Eron's son. Mister
Mandy suggested to Constable epping Stool that that boy depicted
inside subway in the second photo was not Eron's son.
He replied, I believe it to be him, but it's
(08:46):
a matter for the jury.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And that was really all that was said about the
subway before mister Mandy took Constable epping Stall to another topic.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yes, more messages were shown to the jury between Aaron
and her online friends. The jury heard there were around
one hundred and eighty six pages of messages from this
group chat that had been extracted by police.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
To jog our listener's memories. These are the messages that
Erin was having with these online friends that concerned her
estranged husband, Simon and his parents Don Gale, in the
context of the child support dispute that she was having
with him. The jury has previously been shown quite a
number of these, but today mister Mandy tended more of
those messages. This is what Aaron writes in one exchange.
(09:31):
It's her words, it's not her voice. I suspect the
best thing I can do is just forget about all
of them and live my life. Simon is probably loving
how upset I am about all of this. In response,
one of her friends replies, I'm so sorry, Erin. It's
so funny hard when you're not believed or understood. I
went through similar with my ex in laws. Mister Mandy
(09:52):
asked Constable Eppingstall whether he agreed that there was an
enormous amount of context surrounding these messages. Mister Mandy also
on to suggest that this was a group chat where
a number of the participants were talking in similar ways,
venting to each other about their lives, and Constable Eppingstall
said that was a fair assessment.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Lastly, the purchasing of diet books were briefly mentioned in
court today. Once again we didn't get a whole lot
of context about it.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Mister Mandy mentioned today that Erin's weight was recorded when
she was admitted to Lea and Gatha Hospital on July
thirty one. After that, he told the court that police
had obtained Erin's receipts from the online bookstore book Topia.
He then asked Constable epping Stare whether he agreed that
a large number of the books Erin had purchased related
(10:40):
to diets. He said that was correct. At the end
of the day today, Justice Christopher Beale told the jury
that there was an issue that needed sorting out before
mister Mandy could continue the rest of his cross examination
with Constable epping Stall, so it's expected that he will
return to the witness box tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
To stay updated on the case, go to the mushroomcook
dot com dot au MHM
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