May 1, 2025 • 10 mins
Erin Patterson's ex-husband Simon was the first witness to take to the stand, and he spent the day telling the court about his time with the woman who is now accused of murder. Go to themushroomcook.com.au for more.
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):
Sorry. I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch
with you, Mom, Dad, Heather and Ellian tomorrow, but I'm
happy to talk to you about your health and implications
of that at another time. If you'd like to discuss
it on the phone, just let me know.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week preparing
lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in light of
the issues I'm facing, and spent a small fortune on beef.
I Philip to make beef Wellington's because I wanted it
to be a special meal, as I may not be
able to host a lunch like this again for some time.
It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow and
that I can have the conversations that I need to have.
(00:36):
I hope you'll change your mind. Your parents and Heather
and Ian are coming at twelve thirty. I hope to
see you there.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You've just heard a reading of text messages between Aaron
Patterson and her ex husband Simon and exchange they had
a day before Aaron cooked the fateful mushroom lunch. It
talks to a fractured relationship. Today, Simon took to the
stand and told the jury about his life with the
woman accused of killing his parents and his auntie. I'm
(01:07):
Brook Greenbert Craig and this is the Mushroom Cook. Welcome back, Laura.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Can you believe we're nearly at the end of the week.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I know it's gone so fast. Yes, the jury heard
from Simon today and he spoke at length about his
relationship with Aaron Patterson.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Today was the first day of evidence in the trial,
and Simon was the first prosecution witness. So this involves
him getting into the witness box, taking an oath, and
then he's questioned by the lead prosecutor. We mentioned her yesterday,
Nannette Rodgers, and like you said, he was questioned a
lot at length about his relationship with Erin and the
circumstances surrounding the lunch.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
The center of this case is this deadly lunch where
three people died in the days after it. If we
go back to Simon being invited to the lunch, talk
me through about what the jury heard.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
He told the jury today that he was invited to
that lunch on July sixteen, twenty twenty three, And just
to remind our listeners, the lunch was on July twenty nine,
so she's let them know about the lunch about two
weeks earlier at a church service. At the time, Simon
said he would come despite being reluctant, but the day
before the lunch he texts her late at night, and
(02:30):
that exchange is what our listeners heard at the top
of the episode. So Simon was asked about this text
exchange today, but he was also asked a series of
questions just about his relationship with Erin, describing what she
was like, how the relationship had an on and off nature.
Let's unpack that now.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
The jury heard that Simon and Aaron met in the
early two thousands when they were both working at Monash
City Council. Simon was a civil engineer and Erin was
working as an RSBCA representative.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Yeah, he said she always loved animals.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
He also said that she's witty, intelligent and funny as well.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And he speaks about those being some of the traits
that led to him falling in love with her all
those years ago.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Something of note that Simon said was that Aaron had
always been a devoted mother to her two kids. He
said that her daily life really revolved around them and
she took her role as a parent very seriously. Simon
also spoke about Aaron's relationship with his parents, Don and
Gale Patterson.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
He spoke quite a lot about Don and Aaron sharing
a love of knowledge and learning, and said they shared
an interest in the world.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Don and Gale were quite supportive of Aaron and Simon's
relationship even though they separated and reconciled a lot throughout
their marriage.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
And just in terms of the timeline, we heard that
Simon and Aaron met in the early two thousands. They
were married by two thousand and seven, had children in
two thousand and nine and twenty fourteen, but by twenty
fifteen they permanently separated.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
In that time, Aaron and Simon did a lot of
traveling together. They really shared the same passion of exploring nature.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
They did share a lot of these common interests. And
the interesting thing is is despite separating in twenty fifteen,
they remained friends. And Simon said today they remained friends
for quite a number of years up until about twenty
twenty two when something happened with his tax return.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, their relationship did turn soura at that point in time.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Simon told the jury today that when he was dropping
off the two children one day at Aaron's house, she
said she had become aware of a change in his
tax return where his marital status had been altered to separated.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Aaron was not happy about that, and she made that
very clear to Simon at the time.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Simon told the court that Aaron told him that change
in his marital status would have tax implications for the
two of them, and as a result, she demanded child
support from him moving forward. He then told the court
their relationship substantially changed. Something that once was a friendship
that involved chatty conversations over text, he said, turned to
(05:20):
very functional messages just about the day to day life
of their children.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Things that weren't an issue became an issue. Simon told
the court that Erin was keen to split their children's
school fees, but he told her child support had told
him not to do that because it was already covered
by the child support fees.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Simon recalled Erin being very upset about that. Simon was
questioned a lot today about the properties Aaron owned, some
with him, some without him, and.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
That was all stemmed by the inheritance that Aaron was
given after her grandma died and her mother died.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
The inheritance totaled about two million dollars, but Simon told
the court that it dribbled out in installments over about
eight years.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So just to clarify, Aaron was the beneficiary of two
separate estates. Aaron's grandma died in two thousand and six
and Aaron's mother died in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
That's correct, and Simon told the jury Erin used part
of her inheritance very generously.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Simon has three siblings and Aaron and him lent them
around four hundred thousand dollars each.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And while we're talking about properties, there were a few
that were mentioned today in court, and I must admit
there were times where I was struggling to keep up.
Could you please explain You've.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Really put me on the spot here. Okay, I'm sorry,
it is complicated, so stay here with me. The jury
heard of four separate properties, two properties in Karenbara, one
in Mount Waverley and another one in lean Gatha, and
that's where the mill took place. Simon said that Aaron
put his name on the Mountain Waverley and lean Gather
(07:01):
the titles despite them being separated by this point in
twenty nineteen. Okay, now I'm going to bring it back
to the lunch and I'm going to throw to you Laura.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Oh no, this is Carmer. I guess we haven't touched
much on the lunch yet. But Simon was questioned by
both the prosecution and the defense today about the lead
up and the aftermath. We must remember that he wasn't
actually at the lunch himself. The day after the lunch,
on the Sunday, his parents told him they were quite unwell.
They described experiencing diarrhea and vomiting. Knowing that his aunt
(07:36):
and uncle, Heather and Ian, were also at the lunch,
he went over to their home to check that they
were okay.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And the prosecution really focused on questions that Heather asked Simon.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
They did. Simon recalled Heather, telling him I noticed Aaron
served herself her food on a colored plate which was
different to the rest. Then later that afternoon, when Simon
was drying both Ian and Heather to hospital, Heather touched
on this topic again. She asked, is Aaron short of crockery?
(08:07):
Is that why she would have this different kind of
colored plate that she served herself on?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So that really stood out to Heather the fact that
there were different colored plates.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, I believe the word she used was puzzled. She
says she was puzzled by it. But in response in
the car, Simon said to her Arin doesn't have that
many plates and that might be the reason why.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And as we heard yesterday in the prosecution openings, Crown
Prosecutor Nannette Rogers said the guess mills were served on
gray plates and Aaron served her meal on a tanned
orange plate.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Under cross examination today by Colin Mandy, Simon said that
Aaron owned a mixture of plates and that they weren't
all the same. After driving his aunt and uncle to hospital,
there was a point in time where Simon returned to
be with his parents and this was a point today
in court where Simon became visibly emotional.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yes, the jury would have seen how emotional Simon got.
He asked for tissues and this is when he was
talking about how unwell his parents were in hospital.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
He said his dad was substantially worse than his mum
and said it looked like he was really struggling, and
described him as lying on his side, hunched with a
discolored face. But then Later in his evidence, Simon spoke
about how Aaron appeared after the lunch. He told the
jury that she wanted to go to hospital, but was
(09:37):
worried she might pool her pants on the drive.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I know that sounds like a bit too much tea
am I, but it was set in court. Simon gave
evidence over many hours today. Is there anything we may
have missed, Laura, That's.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
A good question. I'll just cast my mind back. He
did also mention that it was very rare for Aaron
to invite guests over to her home. He said that
as a wider family, especially when they were still together,
he didn't think they ever had a gathering of that
size at their house.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But Simon isn't done giving evidence yet. He will be
back on the stand tomorrow in front of the jury.
To stay up to date with all our latest coverage,
go to the mushroomcook dot com dot au
Sorry. I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch
with you, Mom, Dad, Heather and Ellian tomorrow, but I'm
happy to talk to you about your health and implications
of that at another time. If you'd like to discuss
it on the phone, just let me know.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's really disappointing. I've spent many hours this week preparing
lunch for tomorrow, which has been exhausting in light of
the issues I'm facing, and spent a small fortune on beef.
I Philip to make beef Wellington's because I wanted it
to be a special meal, as I may not be
able to host a lunch like this again for some time.
It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow and
that I can have the conversations that I need to have.
(00:36):
I hope you'll change your mind. Your parents and Heather
and Ian are coming at twelve thirty. I hope to
see you there.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You've just heard a reading of text messages between Aaron
Patterson and her ex husband Simon and exchange they had
a day before Aaron cooked the fateful mushroom lunch. It
talks to a fractured relationship. Today, Simon took to the
stand and told the jury about his life with the
woman accused of killing his parents and his auntie. I'm
(01:07):
Brook Greenbert Craig and this is the Mushroom Cook. Welcome back, Laura.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Can you believe we're nearly at the end of the week.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I know it's gone so fast. Yes, the jury heard
from Simon today and he spoke at length about his
relationship with Aaron Patterson.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Today was the first day of evidence in the trial,
and Simon was the first prosecution witness. So this involves
him getting into the witness box, taking an oath, and
then he's questioned by the lead prosecutor. We mentioned her yesterday,
Nannette Rodgers, and like you said, he was questioned a
lot at length about his relationship with Erin and the
circumstances surrounding the lunch.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
The center of this case is this deadly lunch where
three people died in the days after it. If we
go back to Simon being invited to the lunch, talk
me through about what the jury heard.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
He told the jury today that he was invited to
that lunch on July sixteen, twenty twenty three, And just
to remind our listeners, the lunch was on July twenty nine,
so she's let them know about the lunch about two
weeks earlier at a church service. At the time, Simon
said he would come despite being reluctant, but the day
before the lunch he texts her late at night, and
(02:30):
that exchange is what our listeners heard at the top
of the episode. So Simon was asked about this text
exchange today, but he was also asked a series of
questions just about his relationship with Erin, describing what she
was like, how the relationship had an on and off nature.
Let's unpack that now.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
The jury heard that Simon and Aaron met in the
early two thousands when they were both working at Monash
City Council. Simon was a civil engineer and Erin was
working as an RSBCA representative.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Yeah, he said she always loved animals.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
He also said that she's witty, intelligent and funny as well.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And he speaks about those being some of the traits
that led to him falling in love with her all
those years ago.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Something of note that Simon said was that Aaron had
always been a devoted mother to her two kids. He
said that her daily life really revolved around them and
she took her role as a parent very seriously. Simon
also spoke about Aaron's relationship with his parents, Don and
Gale Patterson.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
He spoke quite a lot about Don and Aaron sharing
a love of knowledge and learning, and said they shared
an interest in the world.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Don and Gale were quite supportive of Aaron and Simon's
relationship even though they separated and reconciled a lot throughout
their marriage.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
And just in terms of the timeline, we heard that
Simon and Aaron met in the early two thousands. They
were married by two thousand and seven, had children in
two thousand and nine and twenty fourteen, but by twenty
fifteen they permanently separated.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
In that time, Aaron and Simon did a lot of
traveling together. They really shared the same passion of exploring nature.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
They did share a lot of these common interests. And
the interesting thing is is despite separating in twenty fifteen,
they remained friends. And Simon said today they remained friends
for quite a number of years up until about twenty
twenty two when something happened with his tax return.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, their relationship did turn soura at that point in time.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Simon told the jury today that when he was dropping
off the two children one day at Aaron's house, she
said she had become aware of a change in his
tax return where his marital status had been altered to separated.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Aaron was not happy about that, and she made that
very clear to Simon at the time.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Simon told the court that Aaron told him that change
in his marital status would have tax implications for the
two of them, and as a result, she demanded child
support from him moving forward. He then told the court
their relationship substantially changed. Something that once was a friendship
that involved chatty conversations over text, he said, turned to
(05:20):
very functional messages just about the day to day life
of their children.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Things that weren't an issue became an issue. Simon told
the court that Erin was keen to split their children's
school fees, but he told her child support had told
him not to do that because it was already covered
by the child support fees.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Simon recalled Erin being very upset about that. Simon was
questioned a lot today about the properties Aaron owned, some
with him, some without him, and.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
That was all stemmed by the inheritance that Aaron was
given after her grandma died and her mother died.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
The inheritance totaled about two million dollars, but Simon told
the court that it dribbled out in installments over about
eight years.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So just to clarify, Aaron was the beneficiary of two
separate estates. Aaron's grandma died in two thousand and six
and Aaron's mother died in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
That's correct, and Simon told the jury Erin used part
of her inheritance very generously.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Simon has three siblings and Aaron and him lent them
around four hundred thousand dollars each.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And while we're talking about properties, there were a few
that were mentioned today in court, and I must admit
there were times where I was struggling to keep up.
Could you please explain You've.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Really put me on the spot here. Okay, I'm sorry,
it is complicated, so stay here with me. The jury
heard of four separate properties, two properties in Karenbara, one
in Mount Waverley and another one in lean Gatha, and
that's where the mill took place. Simon said that Aaron
put his name on the Mountain Waverley and lean Gather
(07:01):
the titles despite them being separated by this point in
twenty nineteen. Okay, now I'm going to bring it back
to the lunch and I'm going to throw to you Laura.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Oh no, this is Carmer. I guess we haven't touched
much on the lunch yet. But Simon was questioned by
both the prosecution and the defense today about the lead
up and the aftermath. We must remember that he wasn't
actually at the lunch himself. The day after the lunch,
on the Sunday, his parents told him they were quite unwell.
They described experiencing diarrhea and vomiting. Knowing that his aunt
(07:36):
and uncle, Heather and Ian, were also at the lunch,
he went over to their home to check that they
were okay.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And the prosecution really focused on questions that Heather asked Simon.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
They did. Simon recalled Heather, telling him I noticed Aaron
served herself her food on a colored plate which was
different to the rest. Then later that afternoon, when Simon
was drying both Ian and Heather to hospital, Heather touched
on this topic again. She asked, is Aaron short of crockery?
(08:07):
Is that why she would have this different kind of
colored plate that she served herself on?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So that really stood out to Heather the fact that
there were different colored plates.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, I believe the word she used was puzzled. She
says she was puzzled by it. But in response in
the car, Simon said to her Arin doesn't have that
many plates and that might be the reason why.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And as we heard yesterday in the prosecution openings, Crown
Prosecutor Nannette Rogers said the guess mills were served on
gray plates and Aaron served her meal on a tanned
orange plate.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Under cross examination today by Colin Mandy, Simon said that
Aaron owned a mixture of plates and that they weren't
all the same. After driving his aunt and uncle to hospital,
there was a point in time where Simon returned to
be with his parents and this was a point today
in court where Simon became visibly emotional.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yes, the jury would have seen how emotional Simon got.
He asked for tissues and this is when he was
talking about how unwell his parents were in hospital.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
He said his dad was substantially worse than his mum
and said it looked like he was really struggling, and
described him as lying on his side, hunched with a
discolored face. But then Later in his evidence, Simon spoke
about how Aaron appeared after the lunch. He told the
jury that she wanted to go to hospital, but was
(09:37):
worried she might pool her pants on the drive.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I know that sounds like a bit too much tea
am I, but it was set in court. Simon gave
evidence over many hours today. Is there anything we may
have missed, Laura, That's.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
A good question. I'll just cast my mind back. He
did also mention that it was very rare for Aaron
to invite guests over to her home. He said that
as a wider family, especially when they were still together,
he didn't think they ever had a gathering of that
size at their house.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But Simon isn't done giving evidence yet. He will be
back on the stand tomorrow in front of the jury.
To stay up to date with all our latest coverage,
go to the mushroomcook dot com dot au
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