April 30, 2025 • 13 mins
Today the jury got to hear from both the prosecution and defence as they outlined their cases in the trial of Erin Patterson.
For coverage of the trial, podcast episodes and more, go to:themushroomcook.com.au
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What a day.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's the first time we heard exactly how Aaron Patterson
is alleged to have murdered her lunch guests. The prosecution
says she deliberately poisoned the beef Wellington mill she served
her estranged husband's family, but the defense is something very
different happened that day. They say the lunch was a
tragedy and a terrible accident. I'm Brooke Greebert Craig, and
(00:25):
this is the Mushroom Cook. Wow, Laura, what a big
day in court.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh my goodness. I'm almost relieved that we're sitting down
to record this episode because I feel like we learnt
so much today that I need to unpack it all
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
My mind is literally exploding. I just can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, So we're going to try our hardest today to
break it all down for our listairs, but you might
need to bear with us because there is a lot
we have to get through.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So broadly, Laura, what happened today?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So today was the first time we heard the prosecution
put their case against Erin. They did that in their
opening address and I'm just going to repeat myself again,
but it's important we get this out of the way.
Erin has been charged with three counts of murder and
one count of attempted murder and she has pleaded not guilty.
So the prosecution today put forward their case and that
(01:20):
contained a lot of allegations, which is what we will
be unpacking today.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Okay, let's start with lunch. What do the prosecution say
happened the lunch?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We know what happened at Leanngatha, at Erin's home on
July twenty ninth, twenty twenty three. Five people were invited
to this lunch, Simon Patterson, her former husband, Simon's parents,
John and Gail Patterson, and Simon's aunt and uncle, Ian
and Heather Wilkinson. Simon never went to the lunch, but Don, Gail,
(01:50):
Ian and Heather all attended and they were all invited
at a church service. Yes, we did hear that today.
Eron went up to everyone at church and invited them
to her house for this lunch.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Simon initially said yes, that he was going to attend,
but he later texted Erin a day before the lunch
and said that he would not be going.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, so we did hear that from Nannette Roger's sc
She is the Crown prosecutor, so she was the one
today walking the jury through the prosecution case.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So, Laura, all four guests arrived to Aaron Patterson's house together.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yes, that's right, and Ian and Heather actually had never
been to her house before, so the lunch almost started
with a little bit of a tour. Aaron showed them
around the house and then soon after lunch was served.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And I think we should make it clear that Aaron
and Simon's kids were not present at the lunch at all.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, that is important to note.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So Aeron served her guests individual beef Wellington's on different
colored plates.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
The prosecution described to us how when the lunch was
being served, there were four gray plates and then there
was another plate. The prosecution says this was a tanned
orange plate, and when it came time for everyone to
sit at the ten, it was the four lunch guests
who had the gray plate, and Aaron ate her serve
of the beef Wellington off that tanned orange plate.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
As well as the beef Wellington. They also had mashed
potato and green beans on their plates. We heard from
the prosecution that Ian and Heather ate their whole portion
of their beef Wellington. We heard that Gail ate half
and don ate his portion and Gale's half.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yes, And then after that we also heard there was
some cake and a fruit platter to finish off the lunch.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So Laura, for the first time we heard why Aaron
invited the guests to a house for lunch.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yes, so we heard that she wanted their advice. She
mentioned there being a medical issue that had cropped up
in her life and she was wondering the best way
to tell her children about it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Aaron then said that she had an ovarian cancer diagnosis,
and the guest said it was best to be honest
with the kids about it.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And I think it's important at this point to say
that the prosecutions say this claim was deliberately false. Arin
does not have cancer. Her defense barrister Colin Mandy, and
we will talk more about what he had to say
in his opening address today, but he made it clear
in his address that Aaron does not have cancer and
that claim was false.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And then the prosecution said that Erin used this false
claim to ensure and explain then why the children would
not be present at that lunch on July twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
All right, so I think we should take a step
back now and let's talk about the mushrooms. It's not
in dispute that Don, Gail and Heather all passed away
after falling victim to death cat mushroom poisoning. That was
made pretty clear today in court, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yes, that's correct. So what we heard from the prosecution
is that Aaron told multiple doctors, nurses and also the
Department of Health that she actually sourced the mushrooms from
a local Woolworths in lean Gatha, and then she also
sourced dried mushrooms from a Chinese grosser and that was
(05:03):
in either Oaklegh, glen Waverley, Mount Waverley or Layton, but
she couldn't remember where exactly she got those dried mushrooms from.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And for our listeners who don't know, those final four
suburbs are located in Melbourne Southeast.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Erin was also asked by doctors whether she actually foraged
the mushrooms and she denied those allegations multiple times. I
think it's also important to note that the prosecution says
that the Department of Health received no other reports of
people falling ill and no mushroom products were pulled or
record Okay, Laura, now let's move on to the dehydrator.
(05:43):
Can you tell me what we learned from the prosecution.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
The prosecution walked us through what happened after the lunch,
and one part of this was surrounding the dehydrator. A
dehydrator is a kitchen appliance that you can use for
various purposes, but mainly, like its name suggests, it's to
dehydrate food items. So the dehydrada that Erin had at
her house, it was found by police days later at
(06:09):
a local tip near her home. It was forensically examined
and there were found to be traces of deathcap mushrooms
on this dehydrata. But I will just say at this
point that the defense admits that Erin did get rid
of this dehydrada. They're not trying to shy away from it.
They admit she got rid of it at the tip.
The defense told the jury today in their opening address
(06:32):
that their client did tell a number of lies in
the aftermath of the lunch. They say she panicked because
she was overwhelmed by the fact that three guests, three
people close to her, had died following a meal at
her home. Another lie that the defense admits their client
told was that she had never foraged for mushrooms before
(06:54):
she told police that she had never done it. But
mister Mandy said today that she admits she did forage
for ushrooms, but she denies that she ever deliberately sought
out death cap mushrooms. Just to reiterate, though, the defense
says that the lunch was a terrible accident and that
miss Pattison did not deliberately poison that meal with death
cap mushrooms.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Okay, Laura, So moving on to the next topic. The
prosecution says that Aaron said her two kids ate leftovers
of the beef welling to mill the next day for dinner.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Is that right, Yes, So, according to the prosecution, Aaron
scraped off the mushrooms because the children didn't like them,
and she told them as well that these were leftovers
from that Saturday lunch. But again, it is important to
note that the children did not fall ill and they
did not have any symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now, let's go back to our lunch guests, Don Gale
Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson. They got really sick
days after that lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yes, very sick. Indeed, we had a lot of detail
in court today about their symptoms and what the final
day of their lives were like.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So in the days following the lunch, all four guests
moved around to different hospitals and they all ended up
at the Austin Hospital and they were all critically unwell.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Don, Gail, and Heather continued to deteriorate over those final days,
and they got to a point where the doctors that
were taking care of them were of the opinion that
the illness was unsurvivable, that there was nothing they could
do for them.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, sadly, Heather and Gail died on August four, and
then Don died a day later on August five.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But Ian's condition did improve over the following days and
he was eventually discharged following weeks of treatment in hospital.
So the prosecution spoke a bit today about Aaron's presentation
at Lee and Gatha Hospital two days after the lunch.
By this stage, the lunch guests had been admitted and
were quite unwell, and Erin arrived at the hospital and
(08:55):
very quickly one of the doctors there realized that she
was the fifth person at this lunch and that she
was the person who hosted it. He explained that they
were worried the guests had fallen ill with death cap
mushroom poisoning and that she was at risk herself. But
the prosecution told the jury that Erin told doctors that
(09:17):
she had experienced symptoms they included diarrhea, but she reiterated
to them that she needed to leave and that she
was not prepared to stay in hospital. But it is
really important here to note that the defense said it
was disputed that Erin feigned sickness after the lunch. They
said that she wasn't pretending to be sick. Their case
(09:38):
was that she was sick too, just not as sick.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Okay. So now a website was mentioned to the jury.
It's called Eye Naturalist. So the website is a platform
about plants, animals and fungi, and in particular in this case,
you can log mushrooms that you find across Victoria. Can
you tell me a little bit more how this relates
(10:03):
to the case.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, And I'll just say from the top that dates
are really important here. So on April eighteen, the prosecution
said there was a mushroom expert who found death caps
under an oak tree in Locke, which is near ly
On Gutha, and posted it on this website Our Naturalist
About ten days later, the prosecution said Erin's phone data
(10:25):
suggested she was in this same area. A month later,
there was a second post on this website by another expert.
This post was made on May twenty one. The expert
said they had found death caps along a street in Outram,
which is another area close to lean Gatha.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so did Aarin travel to this area as well?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well? The prosecutions say the very next day, on May
twenty two, she traveled to this area as well as
going back to Locke, the place where those first mushrooms
were posted by the first expert.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So, in summary, the prosecution as saying that Aaron travel
to both of these locations after she saw these posts
on the Eye Naturalist website.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yes, and that is the prosecution case.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Now let's move on. The prosecution said today that Aaron
had two phones. Can you talk more about that? Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
The allegation is that she had two phones and one
phone was never recovered from police and including with that,
the simcard was never recovered. The phone that police did recover,
they believe it was factory reset on three separate occasions,
including remotely after it was seized by police.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Gosh, that was a lot from the prosecution. Was there
anything else that they said that we needed to know? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
One final thing to note was the prosecution did not
offer a motive, but it is important to remember that
the prosecution don't need to prove a motive in murder trials.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, so we've talked about the prosecution. I reckon we
should move on to the defense. They didn't have a
lot to say, did they, Laura.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
No, they didn't, and that is really standard. The opening
address made by the defense in any trial is usually
a lot shorter than the prosecutions. It's just a response.
They don't have to start arguing over the allegations the
prosecution made. They just need to summarize how they put
their case. We mentioned him before Erin's defense, barrister Colin Mandy.
(12:22):
He said today that it was important that the jury
remembered that Erin was innocent until proven guilty.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So we haven't really been able to speak about everything
that happened in court today. There was a lot of information,
but we will touch upon different points later on.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yes, this trial is going for six weeks, so the
day of the openings is always a very big day
for jurors as well. There's a lot that they are
taking in for the first time, but both parties will
walk the jurors through all of this evidence across the trial,
so rest assured there will be plenty of detail to come.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Thanks Laura, so make sure you stay tuned for all
our coverage heading to the mushroomcook dot com dot au
m
What a day.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's the first time we heard exactly how Aaron Patterson
is alleged to have murdered her lunch guests. The prosecution
says she deliberately poisoned the beef Wellington mill she served
her estranged husband's family, but the defense is something very
different happened that day. They say the lunch was a
tragedy and a terrible accident. I'm Brooke Greebert Craig, and
(00:25):
this is the Mushroom Cook. Wow, Laura, what a big
day in court.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh my goodness. I'm almost relieved that we're sitting down
to record this episode because I feel like we learnt
so much today that I need to unpack it all
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
My mind is literally exploding. I just can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, So we're going to try our hardest today to
break it all down for our listairs, but you might
need to bear with us because there is a lot
we have to get through.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So broadly, Laura, what happened today?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So today was the first time we heard the prosecution
put their case against Erin. They did that in their
opening address and I'm just going to repeat myself again,
but it's important we get this out of the way.
Erin has been charged with three counts of murder and
one count of attempted murder and she has pleaded not guilty.
So the prosecution today put forward their case and that
(01:20):
contained a lot of allegations, which is what we will
be unpacking today.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Okay, let's start with lunch. What do the prosecution say
happened the lunch?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We know what happened at Leanngatha, at Erin's home on
July twenty ninth, twenty twenty three. Five people were invited
to this lunch, Simon Patterson, her former husband, Simon's parents,
John and Gail Patterson, and Simon's aunt and uncle, Ian
and Heather Wilkinson. Simon never went to the lunch, but Don, Gail,
(01:50):
Ian and Heather all attended and they were all invited
at a church service. Yes, we did hear that today.
Eron went up to everyone at church and invited them
to her house for this lunch.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Simon initially said yes, that he was going to attend,
but he later texted Erin a day before the lunch
and said that he would not be going.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, so we did hear that from Nannette Roger's sc
She is the Crown prosecutor, so she was the one
today walking the jury through the prosecution case.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So, Laura, all four guests arrived to Aaron Patterson's house together.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yes, that's right, and Ian and Heather actually had never
been to her house before, so the lunch almost started
with a little bit of a tour. Aaron showed them
around the house and then soon after lunch was served.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And I think we should make it clear that Aaron
and Simon's kids were not present at the lunch at all.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, that is important to note.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So Aeron served her guests individual beef Wellington's on different
colored plates.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
The prosecution described to us how when the lunch was
being served, there were four gray plates and then there
was another plate. The prosecution says this was a tanned
orange plate, and when it came time for everyone to
sit at the ten, it was the four lunch guests
who had the gray plate, and Aaron ate her serve
of the beef Wellington off that tanned orange plate.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
As well as the beef Wellington. They also had mashed
potato and green beans on their plates. We heard from
the prosecution that Ian and Heather ate their whole portion
of their beef Wellington. We heard that Gail ate half
and don ate his portion and Gale's half.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yes, And then after that we also heard there was
some cake and a fruit platter to finish off the lunch.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So Laura, for the first time we heard why Aaron
invited the guests to a house for lunch.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yes, so we heard that she wanted their advice. She
mentioned there being a medical issue that had cropped up
in her life and she was wondering the best way
to tell her children about it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Aaron then said that she had an ovarian cancer diagnosis,
and the guest said it was best to be honest
with the kids about it.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And I think it's important at this point to say
that the prosecutions say this claim was deliberately false. Arin
does not have cancer. Her defense barrister Colin Mandy, and
we will talk more about what he had to say
in his opening address today, but he made it clear
in his address that Aaron does not have cancer and
that claim was false.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And then the prosecution said that Erin used this false
claim to ensure and explain then why the children would
not be present at that lunch on July twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
All right, so I think we should take a step
back now and let's talk about the mushrooms. It's not
in dispute that Don, Gail and Heather all passed away
after falling victim to death cat mushroom poisoning. That was
made pretty clear today in court, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yes, that's correct. So what we heard from the prosecution
is that Aaron told multiple doctors, nurses and also the
Department of Health that she actually sourced the mushrooms from
a local Woolworths in lean Gatha, and then she also
sourced dried mushrooms from a Chinese grosser and that was
(05:03):
in either Oaklegh, glen Waverley, Mount Waverley or Layton, but
she couldn't remember where exactly she got those dried mushrooms from.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And for our listeners who don't know, those final four
suburbs are located in Melbourne Southeast.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Erin was also asked by doctors whether she actually foraged
the mushrooms and she denied those allegations multiple times. I
think it's also important to note that the prosecution says
that the Department of Health received no other reports of
people falling ill and no mushroom products were pulled or
record Okay, Laura, now let's move on to the dehydrator.
(05:43):
Can you tell me what we learned from the prosecution.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
The prosecution walked us through what happened after the lunch,
and one part of this was surrounding the dehydrator. A
dehydrator is a kitchen appliance that you can use for
various purposes, but mainly, like its name suggests, it's to
dehydrate food items. So the dehydrada that Erin had at
her house, it was found by police days later at
(06:09):
a local tip near her home. It was forensically examined
and there were found to be traces of deathcap mushrooms
on this dehydrata. But I will just say at this
point that the defense admits that Erin did get rid
of this dehydrada. They're not trying to shy away from it.
They admit she got rid of it at the tip.
The defense told the jury today in their opening address
(06:32):
that their client did tell a number of lies in
the aftermath of the lunch. They say she panicked because
she was overwhelmed by the fact that three guests, three
people close to her, had died following a meal at
her home. Another lie that the defense admits their client
told was that she had never foraged for mushrooms before
(06:54):
she told police that she had never done it. But
mister Mandy said today that she admits she did forage
for ushrooms, but she denies that she ever deliberately sought
out death cap mushrooms. Just to reiterate, though, the defense
says that the lunch was a terrible accident and that
miss Pattison did not deliberately poison that meal with death
cap mushrooms.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Okay, Laura, So moving on to the next topic. The
prosecution says that Aaron said her two kids ate leftovers
of the beef welling to mill the next day for dinner.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Is that right, Yes, So, according to the prosecution, Aaron
scraped off the mushrooms because the children didn't like them,
and she told them as well that these were leftovers
from that Saturday lunch. But again, it is important to
note that the children did not fall ill and they
did not have any symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now, let's go back to our lunch guests, Don Gale
Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson. They got really sick
days after that lunch.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yes, very sick. Indeed, we had a lot of detail
in court today about their symptoms and what the final
day of their lives were like.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So in the days following the lunch, all four guests
moved around to different hospitals and they all ended up
at the Austin Hospital and they were all critically unwell.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Don, Gail, and Heather continued to deteriorate over those final days,
and they got to a point where the doctors that
were taking care of them were of the opinion that
the illness was unsurvivable, that there was nothing they could
do for them.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, sadly, Heather and Gail died on August four, and
then Don died a day later on August five.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But Ian's condition did improve over the following days and
he was eventually discharged following weeks of treatment in hospital.
So the prosecution spoke a bit today about Aaron's presentation
at Lee and Gatha Hospital two days after the lunch.
By this stage, the lunch guests had been admitted and
were quite unwell, and Erin arrived at the hospital and
(08:55):
very quickly one of the doctors there realized that she
was the fifth person at this lunch and that she
was the person who hosted it. He explained that they
were worried the guests had fallen ill with death cap
mushroom poisoning and that she was at risk herself. But
the prosecution told the jury that Erin told doctors that
(09:17):
she had experienced symptoms they included diarrhea, but she reiterated
to them that she needed to leave and that she
was not prepared to stay in hospital. But it is
really important here to note that the defense said it
was disputed that Erin feigned sickness after the lunch. They
said that she wasn't pretending to be sick. Their case
(09:38):
was that she was sick too, just not as sick.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Okay. So now a website was mentioned to the jury.
It's called Eye Naturalist. So the website is a platform
about plants, animals and fungi, and in particular in this case,
you can log mushrooms that you find across Victoria. Can
you tell me a little bit more how this relates
(10:03):
to the case.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, And I'll just say from the top that dates
are really important here. So on April eighteen, the prosecution
said there was a mushroom expert who found death caps
under an oak tree in Locke, which is near ly
On Gutha, and posted it on this website Our Naturalist
About ten days later, the prosecution said Erin's phone data
(10:25):
suggested she was in this same area. A month later,
there was a second post on this website by another expert.
This post was made on May twenty one. The expert
said they had found death caps along a street in Outram,
which is another area close to lean Gatha.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so did Aarin travel to this area as well?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well? The prosecutions say the very next day, on May
twenty two, she traveled to this area as well as
going back to Locke, the place where those first mushrooms
were posted by the first expert.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
So, in summary, the prosecution as saying that Aaron travel
to both of these locations after she saw these posts
on the Eye Naturalist website.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yes, and that is the prosecution case.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Now let's move on. The prosecution said today that Aaron
had two phones. Can you talk more about that? Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
The allegation is that she had two phones and one
phone was never recovered from police and including with that,
the simcard was never recovered. The phone that police did recover,
they believe it was factory reset on three separate occasions,
including remotely after it was seized by police.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Gosh, that was a lot from the prosecution. Was there
anything else that they said that we needed to know? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
One final thing to note was the prosecution did not
offer a motive, but it is important to remember that
the prosecution don't need to prove a motive in murder trials.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, so we've talked about the prosecution. I reckon we
should move on to the defense. They didn't have a
lot to say, did they, Laura.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
No, they didn't, and that is really standard. The opening
address made by the defense in any trial is usually
a lot shorter than the prosecutions. It's just a response.
They don't have to start arguing over the allegations the
prosecution made. They just need to summarize how they put
their case. We mentioned him before Erin's defense, barrister Colin Mandy.
(12:22):
He said today that it was important that the jury
remembered that Erin was innocent until proven guilty.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So we haven't really been able to speak about everything
that happened in court today. There was a lot of information,
but we will touch upon different points later on.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yes, this trial is going for six weeks, so the
day of the openings is always a very big day
for jurors as well. There's a lot that they are
taking in for the first time, but both parties will
walk the jurors through all of this evidence across the trial,
so rest assured there will be plenty of detail to come.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Thanks Laura, so make sure you stay tuned for all
our coverage heading to the mushroomcook dot com dot au
m
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