June 3, 2025 • 14 mins
From the witness box, accused triple murderer Erin Patterson has admitted lethal death cap mushrooms were in the beef wellington meal she served her lunch guests and revealed she foraged wild mushrooms.
The Mushroom Cook team is Brooke Grebert-Craig, Laura Placella, Anthony Dowsley, Jordy Atkinson.
The Mushroom Cook is a Herald Sun production for True Crime Australia.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In terms of the meal that you cooked for the
lunch which is the subject of this trial. Yes, do
you accept that there must have been deathcap mushrooms in
that meal?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I do. And speaking globally, do you remember where the
mushrooms that went into that meal came from? So all
of the mushrooms that went into.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The meal, right, So the vast majority came from the
local Wilworth's in Leongatha. Yes, and there were some from
the grocer in Melbourne.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
That was actors voicing the words of defense barrister Colin
Mandy and his client, accused murderer Aaron Patterson. It was
the first time she was asked about the beef Wellington
meal at the center of this trial, the first time
she said there must have been deathcap mushrooms in it.
Her responses formed part of her day long testimony. Today,
(00:51):
testimony will break down this episode. I'm Brooke Greebert Cray
and this is the Mushroom cook. It's day twenty five
of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I'm here with court
reporter Laura Plassella. It was another big day in court,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yes, Erin took the stand for the entire day, she
was wearing a different outfit than she was yesterday. She
was in a navy blouse with white polka dots on it,
but she still had her hair out, and today she
brought her glasses with her.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
In yesterday's episode, we wanted our listeners to hear Erin
in her own words as she gave evidence for the
first time, but in today's episode will be providing more
contexts around the topics.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
That she was asked about yes At the top of
the episode, our listener's heard in exchange between mister Mandy
and Aaron today where she was specifically asked about the
lunch on July twenty nine, and this was actually the
first time she has been asked in court by mister
Mandy about this lunch. It hasn't been touched on before,
(01:55):
and she admitted in her response that there must have
been death caps in that meal. Now it has been
a few episodes since we've mentioned the defense case. Just
as a reminder, Erin has pleaded not guilty to three
counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She
says what happened at that lunch was a tragedy and
(02:16):
a terrible accident.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Erin was also asked about her love of mushrooms and
she said she discussed fungi with her Facebook friends, who
have given evidence already in this trial.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Erin explained to the jury today how much she loves
mushrooms of all different varieties. She explained how she would
buy mushrooms from the local woolies near where she lived,
as well as farmers' markets and Asian grocers whenever she
came to Melbourne. These grocers were located around one of
her properties in Mount Waverley, namely in suburbs such as Oakley,
(02:49):
Clayton and Glen Waverley, and she said that she would
visit these stores when she was staying in Melbourne with
her children during the school holidays. The court heard that
some of the mushrooms she brought from these doors included shataki,
enochi or porscini mushrooms, and she said she would use
them in a variety of dishes such as curries, pasta
(03:09):
dishes and soup. When asked today by mister Mandy what
she liked about exotic mushrooms, she said, they just taste
more interesting, they have more flavor.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Aaron told the jury that she developed an interest in
wild mushrooms in early twenty twenty during COVID lockdowns in Victoria.
Aaron said she spotted mushrooms growing in the paddocks at
one of her properties at Shelcott Road in karram Burra,
and this is where she had animals. I think it's
important to note to our listeners that over eleven years
(03:42):
Aaron owned six properties. She owned four in karram Burrough
and that included in Nason Street Anthony Court, and she
had two properties on Shelcott Road. She had another property
in Mount Waverley at Lion Street which we mentioned earlier.
And finally she had another property at Gibson Street in
(04:03):
Lean Gathera and that's where the lunch took place. On
July twenty nine, twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Erin told the court that it took a while for
her to confidently identify the mushrooms she was spotting. She
said she relied on a Facebook group for mushroom lovers,
where people could post the mushrooms they were seeing in
the wild and ask other people to help identify them.
After she said her knowledge increased, she began regularly picking
mushrooms and cooking them. Minmeals, including those she served her children.
(04:33):
She told the court she would chop the mushrooms up
very small so her children couldn't pick them out. She
told the court the mushrooms they were eating tasted good
and she didn't get sick.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Mister Mandy also asked Aaron questions about her purchasing a
dehydrator in April twenty twenty three. The jury previously heard
that Aaron dumped this dehydrator at Kunwara Tip and police
seized it. Asked why she bought the dehydrator, Aaron said,
I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season.
(05:04):
You can't keep them too long in the fridge, so
it was one way of sort of preserving them and
having them available later on throughout the year. But it
wasn't just for mushrooms, so I thought perhaps I could
use it to preserve a whole range of things.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Between twenty twenty and twenty twenty three, Erin said she
foraged for mushrooms from a whole range of locations around
where she lived in Leengatha and carr And Borough. This
also included picking mushrooms on some of the properties she owned.
Mister Mandy asked her today whether she ever foraged for
mushrooms under oak trees, and she said she did not.
(05:37):
Photos were shown to Erin today that have been previously
shown to the jury. She confirmed these were photos she
had taken that had been extracted from devices seized from
her home. In the photos, the jury could see trays
from the dehydrader and on them there were slices of
dried mushrooms. She explained that she was doing some experimenting
(05:59):
with the de high and wanted to see how long
it would take to dry out fungi and what temperature
the dehydrata needed to be.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Said to so Laura.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
At the start of the episode, our listeners would have
heard an exchange between mister Mandy and Aaron. Can you
talk more about where Aaron said the mushrooms in the
beef Wellington were from?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
As we've heard previously, Aaron said that the mushrooms in
the Beef Wellington came from a Woolworth's and Leandngatha and
an Asian grocer in Melbourne. She told the court today
that she wasn't quite clear exactly where she bought them,
but she remembered buying them in April, bringing the product
home and realizing they smelled very pungent. She didn't think
(06:39):
a mushroom with that smell would work well in the
dish she was making at the time, so she put
them in a container and then placed that container in
her pantry. She told the court that that container with
the dried mushrooms from the Asian grocer was in her
pantry around the time she was dehydrating wild mushrooms in
May and June, and she went on to say that
(07:01):
she remembered putting dehydrated wild mushrooms into a container that
already held other dried mushrooms.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Okay, let's move on from mushrooms, and let's talk about
another topic that Aaron was asked questions about, that being
child support.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
The jury has previously heard evidence that Aaron and Simon
permanently separated in twenty fifteen, but had remained friends until
around October twenty twenty two. This was when a dispute
arose about child support after Aaron had found out that
Simon changed the marital status on his tax return to single.
Erin told the court that she was annoyed that Simon
(07:38):
had not told her that he was making this change
on her tax return, and if he had told her earlier,
she would have been able to make an application for
a family tax benefit.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Erin spoke to her friends about the child support issue
in a Facebook group chat. She became emotional today when
answering questions about those messages that she sent. When speaking,
Erin and wiped her eyes with her hand and grabbed
a tissue. She went on to say that she had
been part of this chat since January twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
The messages that Erin was being asked about today were
sent in December twenty twenty two, and they are about
Don's response to the issue. Don being Simon's father. The
jury were once again shown these messages in court. Here
is the first one.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So Don said, they can't adjudicate if they don't know
both sides, and Simon won't give his side, so he said,
all he can ask is that Simon and I get
together and pray for the children this family. I swear
to fucking God.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Erin told the court today that she sent this message
to her Facebook friends because she felt hurt, frustrated, and
a little bit desperate. Here's more of what she said today.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I knew that the women would probably support me. Being
annoyed about those things, and so I sent them to
them knowing they would probably latch on and become like
a cheer squad for your problems. Does that make sense?
She then went on to say, I wish I never
said that. I feel very feel ashamed for saying it,
and I wish the families didn't have to hear that
I said that they didn't deserve it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Mister Mandy then asked Aaron questions about this message she
sent her online friends.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I'm sick of this shit. I want nothing to do
with them. I thought his parents would want him to
do the right thing, but it seems they're concern about
not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get
involved in their son's personal matters. Are overwriting that?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
So fulcom Aaron told the court she regretted the language
that she used. Here's more of what she said.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I needed to vent. I needed to get the frustration
off my chest, and the choices are go into the
paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women.
I regret the language that I used, but I knew
that they would rally around me. I probably played up
the emotion to get that support.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
In court today. Aaron went on to say that she
didn't mean those things.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I was really frustrated with Simon, but it wasn't done
Gale's fault, it wasn't the family's fault, and it wasn't
even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part in the
issue too.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Ultimately, Aaron said it was wrong to try and involve
Don and Gail and she should have approached it differently
with Simon. Let's move on to another topic. Yesterday. Aaron
spoke about her low self esteem in July twenty twenty three,
but today mister Mandy asked her more about her relationship
with food.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
She explained that she has struggled with body image issues
ever since she was a teenager. She said she tried
every diet under the sun, and also battled Bolimia. This
is what she said today. I mean, it's been a
rollercoaster over the years. When I was a kid, Mum
would weigh us every week to make sure we weren't
putting on too much weight, and so I went to
the extreme of barely eating then and through my adult
(10:37):
years going the other way binging. I suppose, for lack
of a better word, I had never had a good
relationship with food, a healthy relationship with food.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Erin and mister Mandy also had an exchange about her health,
in particular about cancer. In week one of the trial.
When Simon gave his evidence, he said Aaron had invited him,
along with Don, Gail Ian and Heather to lunch as
she wanted to discuss some important medical issues. According to Ian,
Aaron told her guests she had cancer and described it
(11:08):
as life threatening.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
However, the defense have conceded since the beginning of the
trial that Erin was never diagnosed with cancer, but have
suggested that Erin only told the lunch guests that she
had a suspected diagnosis of cancer. Here's her exchange with
mister Mandy today.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I want to ask you some questions now about your
health over the years. The first question is, have you
ever been diagnosed with ovarian cancer?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Have you ever had a needle biopsy on a lump
on your elbow?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I've never had a needle biopsy anywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Were you worried about having ovarian cancer at any stage?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, I was. I was quite worried about it at
certain times.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And the jury has seen some medical records from the
end of twenty twenty one. Exhibit are yeap where you
went to the doctor and complained and suggested to the
doctor that you might have of a cancer. Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I did do that.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
What were your symptoms? What was going on?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I'd been having for a few months by then, a
multitude of symptoms. I felt very fatigued. I had ongoing
abdominal pain, I had chronic headaches. I put on a
lot of weight in quite a short period of time,
and had like my feet and my hands seemed to
retain a lot of fluid. And what set me over
the edge to actually go to the doctor was my
wedding ring suddenly wouldn't fit, and so I took them
(12:26):
to the local jeweler to be resized, and only a
few weeks later when I picked them up, they, like
my hands had outgrown them again and I so this
was like a rapid thing that caused me concern.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Now the notes indicate this Aaron Worries ovarian cancer has
been googling her symptoms.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That's right, yep?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Is that what you had been doing?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I had, yep. I consulted doctor Google.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Were there any other reasons about from your own symptoms
where you thought you might have avarian cancer.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, there were a few. I had a family history
of it on both sides of my parents. I'd had
an overian cyst myself in about two thousand and two,
and my daughter had an ovarian mass when she was
a baby. Erin went on to say that her daughter's
experience in hospital damaged her faith in the medical system,
especially since they dismissed her concern about her daughter's ovarian mass.
(13:18):
Erin also said she suffered chronic headaches and started googling
her symptoms, convincing herself that she had a brain tumor
or a brain disease.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
To finish off, Laura, let's talk about the long queue
that was outside La Troe Valley Law Courts today. I
believe some people were lining up at six am.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
News broke very late yesterday that Erin would be taking
the stand in her own trial, so there wasn't much
time for members of the public to get down to
the courthouse in Morwell to hopefully snag a seat. But
today people were very much prepared. Like you said, Brooke,
they were arriving very early to get their spot in
the queue.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yes, I think by eight am there were about twenty
people in the line, and the doors to the courthouse
don't actually open until nine am.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Not everyone got a seat at the beginning of the trial,
which kicks off at ten thirty every day, but we
will say that the staff at the courthouse in Morwell
have been doing a great job of making sure everything's
been running smoothly considering that more people than usual are
coming through the building.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yes, we definitely have to give a shout out to
the security guards. They do an awesome job. And I
think that's all for today, so we will be back
tomorrow as Aaron Pattison takes the stand for a third day.
In terms of the meal that you cooked for the
lunch which is the subject of this trial. Yes, do
you accept that there must have been deathcap mushrooms in
that meal?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I do. And speaking globally, do you remember where the
mushrooms that went into that meal came from? So all
of the mushrooms that went into.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The meal, right, So the vast majority came from the
local Wilworth's in Leongatha. Yes, and there were some from
the grocer in Melbourne.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
That was actors voicing the words of defense barrister Colin
Mandy and his client, accused murderer Aaron Patterson. It was
the first time she was asked about the beef Wellington
meal at the center of this trial, the first time
she said there must have been deathcap mushrooms in it.
Her responses formed part of her day long testimony. Today,
(00:51):
testimony will break down this episode. I'm Brooke Greebert Cray
and this is the Mushroom cook. It's day twenty five
of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I'm here with court
reporter Laura Plassella. It was another big day in court,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yes, Erin took the stand for the entire day, she
was wearing a different outfit than she was yesterday. She
was in a navy blouse with white polka dots on it,
but she still had her hair out, and today she
brought her glasses with her.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
In yesterday's episode, we wanted our listeners to hear Erin
in her own words as she gave evidence for the
first time, but in today's episode will be providing more
contexts around the topics.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
That she was asked about yes At the top of
the episode, our listener's heard in exchange between mister Mandy
and Aaron today where she was specifically asked about the
lunch on July twenty nine, and this was actually the
first time she has been asked in court by mister
Mandy about this lunch. It hasn't been touched on before,
(01:55):
and she admitted in her response that there must have
been death caps in that meal. Now it has been
a few episodes since we've mentioned the defense case. Just
as a reminder, Erin has pleaded not guilty to three
counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She
says what happened at that lunch was a tragedy and
(02:16):
a terrible accident.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Erin was also asked about her love of mushrooms and
she said she discussed fungi with her Facebook friends, who
have given evidence already in this trial.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Erin explained to the jury today how much she loves
mushrooms of all different varieties. She explained how she would
buy mushrooms from the local woolies near where she lived,
as well as farmers' markets and Asian grocers whenever she
came to Melbourne. These grocers were located around one of
her properties in Mount Waverley, namely in suburbs such as Oakley,
(02:49):
Clayton and Glen Waverley, and she said that she would
visit these stores when she was staying in Melbourne with
her children during the school holidays. The court heard that
some of the mushrooms she brought from these doors included shataki,
enochi or porscini mushrooms, and she said she would use
them in a variety of dishes such as curries, pasta
(03:09):
dishes and soup. When asked today by mister Mandy what
she liked about exotic mushrooms, she said, they just taste
more interesting, they have more flavor.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Aaron told the jury that she developed an interest in
wild mushrooms in early twenty twenty during COVID lockdowns in Victoria.
Aaron said she spotted mushrooms growing in the paddocks at
one of her properties at Shelcott Road in karram Burra,
and this is where she had animals. I think it's
important to note to our listeners that over eleven years
(03:42):
Aaron owned six properties. She owned four in karram Burrough
and that included in Nason Street Anthony Court, and she
had two properties on Shelcott Road. She had another property
in Mount Waverley at Lion Street which we mentioned earlier.
And finally she had another property at Gibson Street in
(04:03):
Lean Gathera and that's where the lunch took place. On
July twenty nine, twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Erin told the court that it took a while for
her to confidently identify the mushrooms she was spotting. She
said she relied on a Facebook group for mushroom lovers,
where people could post the mushrooms they were seeing in
the wild and ask other people to help identify them.
After she said her knowledge increased, she began regularly picking
mushrooms and cooking them. Minmeals, including those she served her children.
(04:33):
She told the court she would chop the mushrooms up
very small so her children couldn't pick them out. She
told the court the mushrooms they were eating tasted good
and she didn't get sick.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Mister Mandy also asked Aaron questions about her purchasing a
dehydrator in April twenty twenty three. The jury previously heard
that Aaron dumped this dehydrator at Kunwara Tip and police
seized it. Asked why she bought the dehydrator, Aaron said,
I liked eating wild mushrooms, but it's a very small season.
(05:04):
You can't keep them too long in the fridge, so
it was one way of sort of preserving them and
having them available later on throughout the year. But it
wasn't just for mushrooms, so I thought perhaps I could
use it to preserve a whole range of things.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Between twenty twenty and twenty twenty three, Erin said she
foraged for mushrooms from a whole range of locations around
where she lived in Leengatha and carr And Borough. This
also included picking mushrooms on some of the properties she owned.
Mister Mandy asked her today whether she ever foraged for
mushrooms under oak trees, and she said she did not.
(05:37):
Photos were shown to Erin today that have been previously
shown to the jury. She confirmed these were photos she
had taken that had been extracted from devices seized from
her home. In the photos, the jury could see trays
from the dehydrader and on them there were slices of
dried mushrooms. She explained that she was doing some experimenting
(05:59):
with the de high and wanted to see how long
it would take to dry out fungi and what temperature
the dehydrata needed to be.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Said to so Laura.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
At the start of the episode, our listeners would have
heard an exchange between mister Mandy and Aaron. Can you
talk more about where Aaron said the mushrooms in the
beef Wellington were from?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
As we've heard previously, Aaron said that the mushrooms in
the Beef Wellington came from a Woolworth's and Leandngatha and
an Asian grocer in Melbourne. She told the court today
that she wasn't quite clear exactly where she bought them,
but she remembered buying them in April, bringing the product
home and realizing they smelled very pungent. She didn't think
(06:39):
a mushroom with that smell would work well in the
dish she was making at the time, so she put
them in a container and then placed that container in
her pantry. She told the court that that container with
the dried mushrooms from the Asian grocer was in her
pantry around the time she was dehydrating wild mushrooms in
May and June, and she went on to say that
(07:01):
she remembered putting dehydrated wild mushrooms into a container that
already held other dried mushrooms.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Okay, let's move on from mushrooms, and let's talk about
another topic that Aaron was asked questions about, that being
child support.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
The jury has previously heard evidence that Aaron and Simon
permanently separated in twenty fifteen, but had remained friends until
around October twenty twenty two. This was when a dispute
arose about child support after Aaron had found out that
Simon changed the marital status on his tax return to single.
Erin told the court that she was annoyed that Simon
(07:38):
had not told her that he was making this change
on her tax return, and if he had told her earlier,
she would have been able to make an application for
a family tax benefit.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Erin spoke to her friends about the child support issue
in a Facebook group chat. She became emotional today when
answering questions about those messages that she sent. When speaking,
Erin and wiped her eyes with her hand and grabbed
a tissue. She went on to say that she had
been part of this chat since January twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
The messages that Erin was being asked about today were
sent in December twenty twenty two, and they are about
Don's response to the issue. Don being Simon's father. The
jury were once again shown these messages in court. Here
is the first one.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So Don said, they can't adjudicate if they don't know
both sides, and Simon won't give his side, so he said,
all he can ask is that Simon and I get
together and pray for the children this family. I swear
to fucking God.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Erin told the court today that she sent this message
to her Facebook friends because she felt hurt, frustrated, and
a little bit desperate. Here's more of what she said today.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I knew that the women would probably support me. Being
annoyed about those things, and so I sent them to
them knowing they would probably latch on and become like
a cheer squad for your problems. Does that make sense?
She then went on to say, I wish I never
said that. I feel very feel ashamed for saying it,
and I wish the families didn't have to hear that
I said that they didn't deserve it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Mister Mandy then asked Aaron questions about this message she
sent her online friends.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I'm sick of this shit. I want nothing to do
with them. I thought his parents would want him to
do the right thing, but it seems they're concern about
not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get
involved in their son's personal matters. Are overwriting that?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
So fulcom Aaron told the court she regretted the language
that she used. Here's more of what she said.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I needed to vent. I needed to get the frustration
off my chest, and the choices are go into the
paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women.
I regret the language that I used, but I knew
that they would rally around me. I probably played up
the emotion to get that support.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
In court today. Aaron went on to say that she
didn't mean those things.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I was really frustrated with Simon, but it wasn't done
Gale's fault, it wasn't the family's fault, and it wasn't
even entirely Simon's fault. I played a part in the
issue too.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Ultimately, Aaron said it was wrong to try and involve
Don and Gail and she should have approached it differently
with Simon. Let's move on to another topic. Yesterday. Aaron
spoke about her low self esteem in July twenty twenty three,
but today mister Mandy asked her more about her relationship
with food.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
She explained that she has struggled with body image issues
ever since she was a teenager. She said she tried
every diet under the sun, and also battled Bolimia. This
is what she said today. I mean, it's been a
rollercoaster over the years. When I was a kid, Mum
would weigh us every week to make sure we weren't
putting on too much weight, and so I went to
the extreme of barely eating then and through my adult
(10:37):
years going the other way binging. I suppose, for lack
of a better word, I had never had a good
relationship with food, a healthy relationship with food.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Erin and mister Mandy also had an exchange about her health,
in particular about cancer. In week one of the trial.
When Simon gave his evidence, he said Aaron had invited him,
along with Don, Gail Ian and Heather to lunch as
she wanted to discuss some important medical issues. According to Ian,
Aaron told her guests she had cancer and described it
(11:08):
as life threatening.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
However, the defense have conceded since the beginning of the
trial that Erin was never diagnosed with cancer, but have
suggested that Erin only told the lunch guests that she
had a suspected diagnosis of cancer. Here's her exchange with
mister Mandy today.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I want to ask you some questions now about your
health over the years. The first question is, have you
ever been diagnosed with ovarian cancer?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Have you ever had a needle biopsy on a lump
on your elbow?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I've never had a needle biopsy anywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Were you worried about having ovarian cancer at any stage?
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, I was. I was quite worried about it at
certain times.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And the jury has seen some medical records from the
end of twenty twenty one. Exhibit are yeap where you
went to the doctor and complained and suggested to the
doctor that you might have of a cancer. Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I did do that.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
What were your symptoms? What was going on?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I'd been having for a few months by then, a
multitude of symptoms. I felt very fatigued. I had ongoing
abdominal pain, I had chronic headaches. I put on a
lot of weight in quite a short period of time,
and had like my feet and my hands seemed to
retain a lot of fluid. And what set me over
the edge to actually go to the doctor was my
wedding ring suddenly wouldn't fit, and so I took them
(12:26):
to the local jeweler to be resized, and only a
few weeks later when I picked them up, they, like
my hands had outgrown them again and I so this
was like a rapid thing that caused me concern.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Now the notes indicate this Aaron Worries ovarian cancer has
been googling her symptoms.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That's right, yep?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Is that what you had been doing?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I had, yep. I consulted doctor Google.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Were there any other reasons about from your own symptoms
where you thought you might have avarian cancer.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, there were a few. I had a family history
of it on both sides of my parents. I'd had
an overian cyst myself in about two thousand and two,
and my daughter had an ovarian mass when she was
a baby. Erin went on to say that her daughter's
experience in hospital damaged her faith in the medical system,
especially since they dismissed her concern about her daughter's ovarian mass.
(13:18):
Erin also said she suffered chronic headaches and started googling
her symptoms, convincing herself that she had a brain tumor
or a brain disease.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
To finish off, Laura, let's talk about the long queue
that was outside La Troe Valley Law Courts today. I
believe some people were lining up at six am.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
News broke very late yesterday that Erin would be taking
the stand in her own trial, so there wasn't much
time for members of the public to get down to
the courthouse in Morwell to hopefully snag a seat. But
today people were very much prepared. Like you said, Brooke,
they were arriving very early to get their spot in
the queue.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yes, I think by eight am there were about twenty
people in the line, and the doors to the courthouse
don't actually open until nine am.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Not everyone got a seat at the beginning of the trial,
which kicks off at ten thirty every day, but we
will say that the staff at the courthouse in Morwell
have been doing a great job of making sure everything's
been running smoothly considering that more people than usual are
coming through the building.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yes, we definitely have to give a shout out to
the security guards. They do an awesome job. And I
think that's all for today, so we will be back
tomorrow as Aaron Pattison takes the stand for a third day.
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