June 25, 2025 • 8 mins
It was a short day for the jury in the trial of Erin Patterson, but Justice Christopher Beale was able to make his way through a roll call of “incriminating conduct” allegedly committed by the accused.
The Mushroom Cook team is Brooke Grebert-Craig, Laura Placella, Anthony Dowsley, Jordy Atkinson and Jonty Burton.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this case, the prosecution relies on certain alleged conduct
by the accused as incriminating conduct, that is, as implied
admissions of guilt.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Guilt and innocence were at the heart of Justice Christopher
Bill's words today as he continued his charge to the
jury in the trial of Aaron Patterson, and for the
first time, the jury heard a role call of the
incriminating conduct allegedly committed by the accused. It was a
short session today, but Justice Bill had a lot to say.
(00:34):
I'm Brook Greebert Craig, and this is the mushroom cook.
I'm hearing Morewell with my colleague court reporter Laura Plossella,
and we just finished day thirty seven of the trial.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey there, Brooke. I don't know if our listeners can
hear this, but it has just started bucketing down in Morewell.
I don't think we've heard rain this loud the entire
time we've been here, but we will solder On.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes we will. It's been freezing down here.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I think today just fell shy of being the shortest
day the jury have had in the trial. I think
more than a month ago we had a day where
we only heard forty minutes of evidence, and today the
jury only heard around two hours of Justice Bill's charge.
That was because the parties had some matters they had
to work through this morning, so they were able to
(01:21):
enjoy a lunch break and then come in to hear
more from Justice Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes, and that was around two fifteen today, So Justice
Bill spoke to the jury in depth about the topic
of incriminating conduct. These are his words, but not his voice.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
In other words, prosecution argues that the only reasonable explanation
of the conduct alleged is that the accused knew she
was guilty of the offenses with which she's charged and
engaged in the relevant conduct in an endeavor to conceal
her guilt. The defense, on the other hand, argues that
there are other reasonable, innocent explanations for the alleged conduct
(01:59):
relied on by the prosecution.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Justice Bill then went on to outline what the prosecution
claims in the case.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And this is where he made his way through that
role call you mentioned at the top of the episode, Brook,
and I'll run through it today just like he did.
He pretty much put it together as a list. And
while the jury have obviously heard evidence around all of
these points and The prosecution referred to all of these
points in their closing address. This was the first time,
(02:27):
at least in my memory, that these points have been
put to the jury one after the other. So again
before I launch in, these are all of the allegations
of incriminating conduct that the prosecution alleged were committed by
Erin after the lunch. So they say she lied about
being unwell and was faking deathcat mushroom poisoning. She lied
(02:48):
about using dried mushrooms from an Asian grosser. She refused
treatment on her first presentation to hospital and discharged herself
against medical advice. She was reluctant to accept treatment on
her second presentation to hospital. She was reluctant to obtain
treatment for her children. She lied about feeding her children
the leftovers of the beef Wellington with the mushrooms and
(03:10):
pastry scraped off. She reset Phone B, a phone she
handed to police multiple times. She disposed of her dehydrator
at the local tip. She provided police phone B instead
of phone A, her usual phone. She lied about her
phone number ending in eight three five during her record
of interview, and finally she lied about never having foraged
(03:34):
for mushrooms and never having owned a dehydrator.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Justice Bill then said that he would summarize the evidence
relating to each allegation, and he started with Aaron refusing
treatment on her first presentation to hospital and discharging herself
against medical advice.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
He took them back to the evidence of doctor Chris Webster,
doctor Fronica Foot, and nurse Kylie Ashton, among others. After
he summarized the evidence, he then moved on to the
arguments from the prosecution about this allegation. Here is what
he said.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
The prosecution argued that the only reasonable explanation for her
unwillingness to receive emergency treatment and her discharging herself against
medical advice is that she knew she hadn't consumed death
cap mushrooms because she had deliberately poisoned her guests with
death cap mushrooms, making sure she did not also consume
(04:29):
the toxins.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
He also took them to the arguments from the defense, and.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
In brief, the defense argued that a reasonable explanation for
refusing to receive treatment was that she found it difficult
to accept that she could have suffered death cap mushroom
poisoning she wasn't informed to the full extent of the
medical conditions of the lunch guests. She did not come
prepared to be admitted overnight, but she was led to
(04:54):
believe it involved transfer to a tertiary hospital, he added,
and to assess this all in the context of her
having a history of discharging herself against medical advice and
second guessing medicos.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Incriminating conduct was the last topic Justice Bihal spoke about
today and was only able to make his way through
the evidence of one of the eleven allegations. He will
return to summarizing the rest tomorrow, but earlier Justice Bill
returned to the topic of expert evidence, in particular the
testimony of senior digital forensics officer Charman fox Henry from
(05:32):
Victoria Police.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And just to remind our listeners, mister fox Henry was
one of the officers who examined devices seized from Aaron's home, just.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
As he did yesterday with digital forensics expert Matthew Cerell.
Justice Beal reminded the jury of his qualifications and how
long he had spent at Victoria Police. He told them
that mister fox Henry moved across to the cyber crime
squad in July twenty three, and did not have any
of the qualificationations he now holds when he received the
(06:02):
devices the next month. In a similar fashion to how
he dealt with doctor Currel's evidence yesterday, Justice Beale summarized
what mister fox Henry said about the cooler Master computer
that was seized from Aaron's house, as well as a
Samsung tablet and phone B. As part of his summary,
Justice Beial also referred to Erin's evidence, where she said
(06:24):
it was possible she may have used the cooler Master
computer to visit the I Natchalist website on May twenty eight,
twenty twenty two, and how she admitted to factory resetting
Phone B in a panic while police were searching her home.
Justice Beale then turned to how the jury can use
this expert evidence from mister fox Henry. This is what
he said.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
The issues that his opinions bear upon include whether you
can reasonably infer that on twenty eight May twenty twenty two,
the accused sought information on the I Naturalist website regarding
the locations of deathcap mushrooms in victorm Arrea. For a
second time, whether the accused access to Christine Mackenzie's post
(07:05):
on I Naturalist of the Observation of deathcap Mushrooms in
Locke Reserve on eighteen April twenty twenty three, whether she
sourced death cap mushrooms in Locke on twenty eight April
twenty twenty three, whether she accessed doctor May's post on
Iron Naturalist of the Observation of deathcap Mushrooms in Nielsen Street,
(07:26):
Outrim on twenty one May twenty twenty three, whether she
sourced or attempted to source deathcap mushrooms in Locke on
twenty two May twenty twenty three, and whether she sourced
or attempted to source deathcap mushrooms in Autrim on twenty
two May twenty twenty three, and whether she deliberately and
knowingly put death cap mushrooms into the beef. Wellington's served
(07:50):
to the lunch guests on twenty nine July.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But he also reminded the jury that there was no
evidence in this case of erin seeing the posts by
Miss mcken's and doctor May, So.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
After just two hours of being in court, the jury
was done for the day.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Before they left, Justice Biale told them that he wouldn't
be completing his charge tomorrow. He then said, you can
live in Hope, which prompted laughs from the jurors.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So we'll be back tomorrow with more of Justice Bill's charge.
Thanks brook In the meantime, go to the mushroomcook dot
com dot au for more
In this case, the prosecution relies on certain alleged conduct
by the accused as incriminating conduct, that is, as implied
admissions of guilt.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Guilt and innocence were at the heart of Justice Christopher
Bill's words today as he continued his charge to the
jury in the trial of Aaron Patterson, and for the
first time, the jury heard a role call of the
incriminating conduct allegedly committed by the accused. It was a
short session today, but Justice Bill had a lot to say.
(00:34):
I'm Brook Greebert Craig, and this is the mushroom cook.
I'm hearing Morewell with my colleague court reporter Laura Plossella,
and we just finished day thirty seven of the trial.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey there, Brooke. I don't know if our listeners can
hear this, but it has just started bucketing down in Morewell.
I don't think we've heard rain this loud the entire
time we've been here, but we will solder On.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes we will. It's been freezing down here.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I think today just fell shy of being the shortest
day the jury have had in the trial. I think
more than a month ago we had a day where
we only heard forty minutes of evidence, and today the
jury only heard around two hours of Justice Bill's charge.
That was because the parties had some matters they had
to work through this morning, so they were able to
(01:21):
enjoy a lunch break and then come in to hear
more from Justice Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes, and that was around two fifteen today, So Justice
Bill spoke to the jury in depth about the topic
of incriminating conduct. These are his words, but not his voice.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
In other words, prosecution argues that the only reasonable explanation
of the conduct alleged is that the accused knew she
was guilty of the offenses with which she's charged and
engaged in the relevant conduct in an endeavor to conceal
her guilt. The defense, on the other hand, argues that
there are other reasonable, innocent explanations for the alleged conduct
(01:59):
relied on by the prosecution.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Justice Bill then went on to outline what the prosecution
claims in the case.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And this is where he made his way through that
role call you mentioned at the top of the episode, Brook,
and I'll run through it today just like he did.
He pretty much put it together as a list. And
while the jury have obviously heard evidence around all of
these points and The prosecution referred to all of these
points in their closing address. This was the first time,
(02:27):
at least in my memory, that these points have been
put to the jury one after the other. So again
before I launch in, these are all of the allegations
of incriminating conduct that the prosecution alleged were committed by
Erin after the lunch. So they say she lied about
being unwell and was faking deathcat mushroom poisoning. She lied
(02:48):
about using dried mushrooms from an Asian grosser. She refused
treatment on her first presentation to hospital and discharged herself
against medical advice. She was reluctant to accept treatment on
her second presentation to hospital. She was reluctant to obtain
treatment for her children. She lied about feeding her children
the leftovers of the beef Wellington with the mushrooms and
(03:10):
pastry scraped off. She reset Phone B, a phone she
handed to police multiple times. She disposed of her dehydrator
at the local tip. She provided police phone B instead
of phone A, her usual phone. She lied about her
phone number ending in eight three five during her record
of interview, and finally she lied about never having foraged
(03:34):
for mushrooms and never having owned a dehydrator.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Justice Bill then said that he would summarize the evidence
relating to each allegation, and he started with Aaron refusing
treatment on her first presentation to hospital and discharging herself
against medical advice.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
He took them back to the evidence of doctor Chris Webster,
doctor Fronica Foot, and nurse Kylie Ashton, among others. After
he summarized the evidence, he then moved on to the
arguments from the prosecution about this allegation. Here is what
he said.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
The prosecution argued that the only reasonable explanation for her
unwillingness to receive emergency treatment and her discharging herself against
medical advice is that she knew she hadn't consumed death
cap mushrooms because she had deliberately poisoned her guests with
death cap mushrooms, making sure she did not also consume
(04:29):
the toxins.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
He also took them to the arguments from the defense, and.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
In brief, the defense argued that a reasonable explanation for
refusing to receive treatment was that she found it difficult
to accept that she could have suffered death cap mushroom
poisoning she wasn't informed to the full extent of the
medical conditions of the lunch guests. She did not come
prepared to be admitted overnight, but she was led to
(04:54):
believe it involved transfer to a tertiary hospital, he added,
and to assess this all in the context of her
having a history of discharging herself against medical advice and
second guessing medicos.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Incriminating conduct was the last topic Justice Bihal spoke about
today and was only able to make his way through
the evidence of one of the eleven allegations. He will
return to summarizing the rest tomorrow, but earlier Justice Bill
returned to the topic of expert evidence, in particular the
testimony of senior digital forensics officer Charman fox Henry from
(05:32):
Victoria Police.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
And just to remind our listeners, mister fox Henry was
one of the officers who examined devices seized from Aaron's home, just.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
As he did yesterday with digital forensics expert Matthew Cerell.
Justice Beal reminded the jury of his qualifications and how
long he had spent at Victoria Police. He told them
that mister fox Henry moved across to the cyber crime
squad in July twenty three, and did not have any
of the qualificationations he now holds when he received the
(06:02):
devices the next month. In a similar fashion to how
he dealt with doctor Currel's evidence yesterday, Justice Beale summarized
what mister fox Henry said about the cooler Master computer
that was seized from Aaron's house, as well as a
Samsung tablet and phone B. As part of his summary,
Justice Beial also referred to Erin's evidence, where she said
(06:24):
it was possible she may have used the cooler Master
computer to visit the I Natchalist website on May twenty eight,
twenty twenty two, and how she admitted to factory resetting
Phone B in a panic while police were searching her home.
Justice Beale then turned to how the jury can use
this expert evidence from mister fox Henry. This is what
he said.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
The issues that his opinions bear upon include whether you
can reasonably infer that on twenty eight May twenty twenty two,
the accused sought information on the I Naturalist website regarding
the locations of deathcap mushrooms in victorm Arrea. For a
second time, whether the accused access to Christine Mackenzie's post
(07:05):
on I Naturalist of the Observation of deathcap Mushrooms in
Locke Reserve on eighteen April twenty twenty three, whether she
sourced death cap mushrooms in Locke on twenty eight April
twenty twenty three, whether she accessed doctor May's post on
Iron Naturalist of the Observation of deathcap Mushrooms in Nielsen Street,
(07:26):
Outrim on twenty one May twenty twenty three, whether she
sourced or attempted to source deathcap mushrooms in Locke on
twenty two May twenty twenty three, and whether she sourced
or attempted to source deathcap mushrooms in Autrim on twenty
two May twenty twenty three, and whether she deliberately and
knowingly put death cap mushrooms into the beef. Wellington's served
(07:50):
to the lunch guests on twenty nine July.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But he also reminded the jury that there was no
evidence in this case of erin seeing the posts by
Miss mcken's and doctor May, So.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
After just two hours of being in court, the jury
was done for the day.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Before they left, Justice Biale told them that he wouldn't
be completing his charge tomorrow. He then said, you can
live in Hope, which prompted laughs from the jurors.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So we'll be back tomorrow with more of Justice Bill's charge.
Thanks brook In the meantime, go to the mushroomcook dot
com dot au for more
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