May 27, 2025 • 13 mins
For the first time, the jury in the Erin Patterson trial heard from the accused triple murderer as footage of her police interview was played in court.
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 one Thaggy Police Station. There's a small interview
room with white walls and a light brown table. It
was in this room that police first interviewed Aaron Patterson
over the deadly mushroom lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is a DVD recorded interview between detective Leading Senior
Constables Stephen Eppingstall and Aaron Patterson of lean Gatha, conducted
at the one Thaggy Police Station on Saturday, the fifth
of August twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Erin, wearing a light brown sweater, answered the questions from
the detectives.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm sure you understand too that I've never been in
a situation like this before, and I've been very, very
helpful with the health department through the week because i
wanted to help that side of things as much as
possible because I do want to know what happened. So
I've given them as much information as they've asked for
and offered up all the food and all the information
about where the food came from.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Today in court, she fought back tears as the jury
was played the video of that interview. I'm Brooke Greever Craig,
and this is the mushroom cook. I'm back for day
twenty of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I'm here in
morewell with my colleague court reporter Laura Passella.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
What a massive day we've had.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yes, it was a huge day in court. We heard
Aaron's record of interview that was done on August five,
a week after the lunch. This record of interview was
played in court when Constable Eppingsteel took to the stand
and gave evidence. As we mentioned in yesterday's episode, he
is the informant on the case.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That's right Brook And today, when the record of interview
was being played to the jury, Aaron had her own
screen in front of her where she could watch along
as well. I was sitting in court today not too
far from the dock where Erin is seated, and when
you looked over at her, you could tell that at
certain points she did start to become emotional. There was
(01:56):
one point where she looked up at the ceiling of
the dock and it appeared that she was fighting back
tears as she was watching herself answer the detective's questions.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
In the video, Aaron is seated to the right hand side,
while Constable epping Stall is with one of his colleagues
and they're seated to the left. Aarin begins the interview
by confirming her full name and her home address.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
The interview starts with the exchange you heard at the
top of the episode, before Constable epping Stall starts asking
Arin some more detailed questions which concern their investigation. Two
points that are touched on pretty early on in the
record of interview concern the foraging of mushrooms and the dehydrator.
These are some of the exchanges they had. These are
(02:41):
their words, it's not their voices.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to the mushrooms and
where they've come from. Is it something you have done
in the past foraging for mushrooms?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Never?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Ever?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Never?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And later he asked, do you know anything about a
dehydrator in your No? Do you own a dehydrator?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No. I've got manuals of lots of stuff I've collected
over the years. I just keep them all.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
The defense conceded in its opening address that Erin has
foraged for mushrooms before, and she did own a dehydrator,
which she later dumped at a local tip after the lunch,
Defense barrister Colin Mandy told the jury at the beginning
of the trial that it was their case that Aaron
panicked after the lunch because she was overwhelmed by the
(03:29):
fact that these four guests had become so ill because
of food she had cooked them. But mister Mandy made
it clear to the jury that while Aaron admits she
lied about foraging for mushrooms, she denies that she ever
deliberately sought out deathcat mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Now back to the interview, Aerin was also asked about
her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Pattison and his family.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Can you describe to me the relationship with your ex
partner Simon. I would like to understand why you had
his parents and the uncle and aunt.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Over for lunch because I've got no other family. They've
always been really good to me, and I try to
maintain those relationships despite what is happening with Simon. I
love them a lot. They've always been really good to me,
and they always said to me that they would support
me with love and emotional support even when Simon and
I were separated. I really appreciated that my parents are
(04:23):
both gone, my grandparents are all gone. They're the only
family that I've got and they're the only grandparents that
my children have, and that's really important to me. I
think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with them.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I love them.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Nothing that's ever happened between us, nothing he's ever done
to me, will change the fact that they are good,
decent people that have never done anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
In the interview Erin was also asked questions about her
hospital visit.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That's right. Constable Eppingstall asked Erin about her presentation to
lene Gatha Hospital two days after the lunch on July
thirty one, and asked her questions about why she had left.
Five minutes later. Erin told him that she went to
hospital because she was really dehydrated and thought she might
need saline. But then she said that she found out
(05:11):
from the doctors they wanted to send her to Melbourne
for treatment. She told Constable epping Stall. When you've got
animals at home and children who have multiple after school activities,
you can't just drop everything and go to Melbourne overnight.
She explained to him that she went home, fed the
animals and packed her daughter's ballet kit. Erin told Constable
(05:32):
epping Stall that when she arrived at leeing Gatha Hospital,
she spoke with doctor Chris Webster, who has given evidence
in this trial. She said she told him that he
shouldn't worry about her because she was just a gastro
case and she wasn't urgent. But she recalled that doctor
Webster realized who she was and informed her that the
lunch guests were sick. He told her that he was
(05:54):
concerned that they had eaten death cat mushrooms. She said
that later that morning, doctor Webster finished his shift and
passed her on to another doctor who gave her some
medication to protect her liver. It was during the time
she spent at lean Gatha Hospital that she conveyed information
to police about where they could find the leftovers of
the lunch. Constable Eppingstall said that it was to Erran's
(06:17):
credit that she provided the pin code to her front
gate and directed police to where exactly they could find
those leftovers. After questions about the leftovers, Constable Eppingstall told
Erin that they would be completing the interview and the
video stopped playing. Constable Eppingstall will return to the witness
box tomorrow and answer more questions from Crown Prosecutor Jane
(06:38):
Warren before he's cross examined.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Let's move on to another witness we heard from today,
Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell, who is also from the homicide squad.
He told the jury he conducted a search at Erin's
home in lean Gatha with Constable epping Stall on August five,
on the same day as her record of interview.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
The jury heard that the search warrant on August five
was executed at around eleven forty When the detectives arrived
at Erin's home, Erin was told that this search warrant
was in connection with the death of two people, and
the court heard in response, she asked who died. Sergeant
Farrell told the court that it was his recollection that
(07:20):
when Erin was told about the deaths, she expressed surprise.
The court heard at the time of the search, Erin's
two children were home, as well as the family dog.
Constable Farrell explained that he was the team leader that day,
which meant it was his job to physically conduct the search,
while some of his colleagues took photos of the items
(07:41):
that were seized and recorded a video of the search
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
So what was actually found during the search, then.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I'll start with the kitchen the jury were shown several
photos of both the kitchen and the butler's pantry, and
the photos showed almost step by step how police went
about this search. A instruction manu a for a sunbeam
dehydrator was found in one of the kitchen drawers, a
set of kitchen scales was found in the butler's pantry,
(08:09):
and then a best selling recipe tin eats cookbook called
Dinner was spotted on the kitchen bench. Sergeant Farrell said
a piece of tissue had been used as a bookmark
and the cookbook had been spattered with food remnants. The
court heard that Erin had conversations with detectives about this
cookbook and she confirmed she had used a recipe inside
(08:33):
to make the beef Wellington. The jury was shown photos
of that recipe today. It runs over about six pages
and on one page you can see a photo of
a latticed beef Wellington log.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Now, the jury were told a video was filmed of
Aaron's house and stills of that video were shown to
the jury, and these were stills of plates inside her home.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
That's right. Farrell conceded that no photos were taken during
the search. Warrant of any plates in Aaron's house, so
they had to resort to using these stills from the video.
There was a range of plates shown that included those
on the kitchen bench, those in a drawer, and some
that were in the dishwasher. He was asked about some
(09:20):
of the plates in the dishwasher and he said that
from the still, it appeared they had a red top
with a dark bottom. He conceded that none of these
plates were seized during the search and.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Were any other room searched.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Sergeant Farrell said that detective searched one of the children's bedrooms.
In that room, they seized a Cooler Master computer, a
Samsung mobile phone, and a Samsung tablet. Our listeners may
remember that these devices were examined by Senior Digital Forensics
Officer Sharman Fox Henry, who also works for Victoria Police,
(09:56):
and Sergeant Farrell even said that at the time of
the warrant, the tablet was in possession of Eron's daughter
and had to be taken from her.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And besides from Aaron's record of interview, another video was
shown to the jury today.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
That's right, and this was a very short video. It
only ran for about a minute and a half and
It was taken at the very end of the search warrant,
where Sergeant Farrell could be seen talking to Erin about
her mobile phone. He explained to her that the only
outstanding item that they were yet to collect was the
phone she was currently using. In the video, he asks
(10:32):
her if he can have a look at the phone
and she said of course. She could then be seen
handing him the phone and he asked in response whether
or not it required a pin code. She said that
it was either a four digit or a six digit
code and said she didn't know exactly which one. During
his evidence, Sergeant Farrell also said that a search warrant
(10:54):
was executed at one of Erin's properties in Mount Waverley,
but he told the court that nothing of note was found.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And finally we heard again from Senior Public Health Advisor
Sally n Atkinson. She took to the stand and gave
further evidence today.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, she completed her evidence in chief today and spoke
about the report that the Department of Health handed down
after their investigation had concluded. She told the court that
the investigation established that it was highly unlikely that the
commercial food chain had been contaminated with death cat mushrooms.
She said the risk to public health was deemed to
(11:32):
be very low and the Department of Health had deemed
it an isolated event. Miss Atkinson told the court that
only one Asian grosser stocked dried mushrooms, similar to the
description that Erin had provided her, but she said this
product was notably larger.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So, Laura, they are all the witnesses that we heard
from today, But you told me that Adura actually got
left out of the courtroom.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
That's right, And I don't think you could have seen
what was happening from the overflow room, Brook. But in
court towards the end of the day, when Constable epping
Stall was giving evidence, there was a short break and
the jury left the room. But when they came back in,
someone realized that only thirteen of them were sitting in
the jury box. They realized they'd actually left one of
(12:18):
the jurors behind. Laughter filled the courtroom when the jury
forewoman went to the door to the jury room to
try and get him, and then had trouble trying to
open the door, but eventually they recovered him and all
fourteen jurers continued listening to the evidence, and all fourteen
jurors will be back in court tomorrow to continue hearing
from Constable epping Stall, who the prosecution said today would
(12:41):
be the last witness they call before they formally close
their case against Erin.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Looking forward to it. Thanks Laura, Thanks Brooke. To stay
updated on this case, go to the mushroom book dot
com dot au
In the one Thaggy Police Station. There's a small interview
room with white walls and a light brown table. It
was in this room that police first interviewed Aaron Patterson
over the deadly mushroom lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is a DVD recorded interview between detective Leading Senior
Constables Stephen Eppingstall and Aaron Patterson of lean Gatha, conducted
at the one Thaggy Police Station on Saturday, the fifth
of August twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Erin, wearing a light brown sweater, answered the questions from
the detectives.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm sure you understand too that I've never been in
a situation like this before, and I've been very, very
helpful with the health department through the week because i
wanted to help that side of things as much as
possible because I do want to know what happened. So
I've given them as much information as they've asked for
and offered up all the food and all the information
about where the food came from.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Today in court, she fought back tears as the jury
was played the video of that interview. I'm Brooke Greever Craig,
and this is the mushroom cook. I'm back for day
twenty of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I'm here in
morewell with my colleague court reporter Laura Passella.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
What a massive day we've had.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yes, it was a huge day in court. We heard
Aaron's record of interview that was done on August five,
a week after the lunch. This record of interview was
played in court when Constable Eppingsteel took to the stand
and gave evidence. As we mentioned in yesterday's episode, he
is the informant on the case.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That's right Brook And today, when the record of interview
was being played to the jury, Aaron had her own
screen in front of her where she could watch along
as well. I was sitting in court today not too
far from the dock where Erin is seated, and when
you looked over at her, you could tell that at
certain points she did start to become emotional. There was
(01:56):
one point where she looked up at the ceiling of
the dock and it appeared that she was fighting back
tears as she was watching herself answer the detective's questions.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
In the video, Aaron is seated to the right hand side,
while Constable epping Stall is with one of his colleagues
and they're seated to the left. Aarin begins the interview
by confirming her full name and her home address.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
The interview starts with the exchange you heard at the
top of the episode, before Constable epping Stall starts asking
Arin some more detailed questions which concern their investigation. Two
points that are touched on pretty early on in the
record of interview concern the foraging of mushrooms and the dehydrator.
These are some of the exchanges they had. These are
(02:41):
their words, it's not their voices.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to the mushrooms and
where they've come from. Is it something you have done
in the past foraging for mushrooms?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Never?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Ever?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Never?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And later he asked, do you know anything about a
dehydrator in your No? Do you own a dehydrator?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No. I've got manuals of lots of stuff I've collected
over the years. I just keep them all.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
The defense conceded in its opening address that Erin has
foraged for mushrooms before, and she did own a dehydrator,
which she later dumped at a local tip after the lunch,
Defense barrister Colin Mandy told the jury at the beginning
of the trial that it was their case that Aaron
panicked after the lunch because she was overwhelmed by the
(03:29):
fact that these four guests had become so ill because
of food she had cooked them. But mister Mandy made
it clear to the jury that while Aaron admits she
lied about foraging for mushrooms, she denies that she ever
deliberately sought out deathcat mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Now back to the interview, Aerin was also asked about
her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Pattison and his family.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Can you describe to me the relationship with your ex
partner Simon. I would like to understand why you had
his parents and the uncle and aunt.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Over for lunch because I've got no other family. They've
always been really good to me, and I try to
maintain those relationships despite what is happening with Simon. I
love them a lot. They've always been really good to me,
and they always said to me that they would support
me with love and emotional support even when Simon and
I were separated. I really appreciated that my parents are
(04:23):
both gone, my grandparents are all gone. They're the only
family that I've got and they're the only grandparents that
my children have, and that's really important to me. I
think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with them.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I love them.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Nothing that's ever happened between us, nothing he's ever done
to me, will change the fact that they are good,
decent people that have never done anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
In the interview Erin was also asked questions about her
hospital visit.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That's right. Constable Eppingstall asked Erin about her presentation to
lene Gatha Hospital two days after the lunch on July
thirty one, and asked her questions about why she had left.
Five minutes later. Erin told him that she went to
hospital because she was really dehydrated and thought she might
need saline. But then she said that she found out
(05:11):
from the doctors they wanted to send her to Melbourne
for treatment. She told Constable epping Stall. When you've got
animals at home and children who have multiple after school activities,
you can't just drop everything and go to Melbourne overnight.
She explained to him that she went home, fed the
animals and packed her daughter's ballet kit. Erin told Constable
(05:32):
epping Stall that when she arrived at leeing Gatha Hospital,
she spoke with doctor Chris Webster, who has given evidence
in this trial. She said she told him that he
shouldn't worry about her because she was just a gastro
case and she wasn't urgent. But she recalled that doctor
Webster realized who she was and informed her that the
lunch guests were sick. He told her that he was
(05:54):
concerned that they had eaten death cat mushrooms. She said
that later that morning, doctor Webster finished his shift and
passed her on to another doctor who gave her some
medication to protect her liver. It was during the time
she spent at lean Gatha Hospital that she conveyed information
to police about where they could find the leftovers of
the lunch. Constable Eppingstall said that it was to Erran's
(06:17):
credit that she provided the pin code to her front
gate and directed police to where exactly they could find
those leftovers. After questions about the leftovers, Constable Eppingstall told
Erin that they would be completing the interview and the
video stopped playing. Constable Eppingstall will return to the witness
box tomorrow and answer more questions from Crown Prosecutor Jane
(06:38):
Warren before he's cross examined.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Let's move on to another witness we heard from today,
Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell, who is also from the homicide squad.
He told the jury he conducted a search at Erin's
home in lean Gatha with Constable epping Stall on August five,
on the same day as her record of interview.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
The jury heard that the search warrant on August five
was executed at around eleven forty When the detectives arrived
at Erin's home, Erin was told that this search warrant
was in connection with the death of two people, and
the court heard in response, she asked who died. Sergeant
Farrell told the court that it was his recollection that
(07:20):
when Erin was told about the deaths, she expressed surprise.
The court heard at the time of the search, Erin's
two children were home, as well as the family dog.
Constable Farrell explained that he was the team leader that day,
which meant it was his job to physically conduct the search,
while some of his colleagues took photos of the items
(07:41):
that were seized and recorded a video of the search
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
So what was actually found during the search, then.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I'll start with the kitchen the jury were shown several
photos of both the kitchen and the butler's pantry, and
the photos showed almost step by step how police went
about this search. A instruction manu a for a sunbeam
dehydrator was found in one of the kitchen drawers, a
set of kitchen scales was found in the butler's pantry,
(08:09):
and then a best selling recipe tin eats cookbook called
Dinner was spotted on the kitchen bench. Sergeant Farrell said
a piece of tissue had been used as a bookmark
and the cookbook had been spattered with food remnants. The
court heard that Erin had conversations with detectives about this
cookbook and she confirmed she had used a recipe inside
(08:33):
to make the beef Wellington. The jury was shown photos
of that recipe today. It runs over about six pages
and on one page you can see a photo of
a latticed beef Wellington log.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Now, the jury were told a video was filmed of
Aaron's house and stills of that video were shown to
the jury, and these were stills of plates inside her home.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
That's right. Farrell conceded that no photos were taken during
the search. Warrant of any plates in Aaron's house, so
they had to resort to using these stills from the video.
There was a range of plates shown that included those
on the kitchen bench, those in a drawer, and some
that were in the dishwasher. He was asked about some
(09:20):
of the plates in the dishwasher and he said that
from the still, it appeared they had a red top
with a dark bottom. He conceded that none of these
plates were seized during the search and.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Were any other room searched.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Sergeant Farrell said that detective searched one of the children's bedrooms.
In that room, they seized a Cooler Master computer, a
Samsung mobile phone, and a Samsung tablet. Our listeners may
remember that these devices were examined by Senior Digital Forensics
Officer Sharman Fox Henry, who also works for Victoria Police,
(09:56):
and Sergeant Farrell even said that at the time of
the warrant, the tablet was in possession of Eron's daughter
and had to be taken from her.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And besides from Aaron's record of interview, another video was
shown to the jury today.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
That's right, and this was a very short video. It
only ran for about a minute and a half and
It was taken at the very end of the search warrant,
where Sergeant Farrell could be seen talking to Erin about
her mobile phone. He explained to her that the only
outstanding item that they were yet to collect was the
phone she was currently using. In the video, he asks
(10:32):
her if he can have a look at the phone
and she said of course. She could then be seen
handing him the phone and he asked in response whether
or not it required a pin code. She said that
it was either a four digit or a six digit
code and said she didn't know exactly which one. During
his evidence, Sergeant Farrell also said that a search warrant
(10:54):
was executed at one of Erin's properties in Mount Waverley,
but he told the court that nothing of note was found.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And finally we heard again from Senior Public Health Advisor
Sally n Atkinson. She took to the stand and gave
further evidence today.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, she completed her evidence in chief today and spoke
about the report that the Department of Health handed down
after their investigation had concluded. She told the court that
the investigation established that it was highly unlikely that the
commercial food chain had been contaminated with death cat mushrooms.
She said the risk to public health was deemed to
(11:32):
be very low and the Department of Health had deemed
it an isolated event. Miss Atkinson told the court that
only one Asian grosser stocked dried mushrooms, similar to the
description that Erin had provided her, but she said this
product was notably larger.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So, Laura, they are all the witnesses that we heard
from today, But you told me that Adura actually got
left out of the courtroom.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
That's right, And I don't think you could have seen
what was happening from the overflow room, Brook. But in
court towards the end of the day, when Constable epping
Stall was giving evidence, there was a short break and
the jury left the room. But when they came back in,
someone realized that only thirteen of them were sitting in
the jury box. They realized they'd actually left one of
(12:18):
the jurors behind. Laughter filled the courtroom when the jury
forewoman went to the door to the jury room to
try and get him, and then had trouble trying to
open the door, but eventually they recovered him and all
fourteen jurers continued listening to the evidence, and all fourteen
jurors will be back in court tomorrow to continue hearing
from Constable epping Stall, who the prosecution said today would
(12:41):
be the last witness they call before they formally close
their case against Erin.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Looking forward to it. Thanks Laura, Thanks Brooke. To stay
updated on this case, go to the mushroom book dot
com dot au
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