Dramatic old day.
Yesterday for the first time in a long time a sentencing was broadcast alive, that sentencing being Aaron Patterson, the mushroom Killer.
And it just happened before that. It's been livestream black.
There has been sentencing has been there've ha been cameras allowed inside, but this is the first time it's been broadcast.
Live, if that makes sense, like a stream.
Yeah.
So she received life in prison with a minimum parole of thirty three years. It's certainly a case which is captivated not just Melbourne or Australia, but the world. And here to tell us a little bit more take us inside the Supreme Court, is Justin Quill, one of the prominent lawyers here in Melbourne, partner at Thompson Gear Morning.
Quilly, Morning, Quilly, Good morning.
I was Spanish.
Well we're good. Was that what we're expecting thirty three years without parole?
Yeah? Well, the only real question going in was was she going to get a chance of parole? Was she going to get a chance to see the outside of a prison cell or was it going to be life with no parole? That was the that was really the only question that that that we we had going in and he's on a decided he'd show a little bit
of mercy. It could have gone the other way though, if he if he, if we were waking up this morning she got no parole, then I would I wouldn't be that surprised about that either.
Yeah, hey, Quilly, how come so Aaron Patterson has murdered three people and I think it was attempted murder on the fourth. How come you get one life sentence for three lives that you've taken. Surely they should be served back to back so that she never gets out of prison.
Well, look, that's I wouldn't disagree with you. If we did that, we'd have to build more prisons, and we we like I mean that literally, and and we in the great state of Victoria probably don't have enough money to build new prisons. So I don't disagree with you. But that is one of the genuinely one of the major problems we have. It's a problem not with just with a murder case, but you know, you see all this machete violence going on at the moment and whatever,
and people say these people should be locked up for longer. Well, the problem with that is if you're locked people up for longer. You have more people in prisons. We need to build more prisons. We're already at an absolute busting point.
It does seem like, oh, if you murder one, might as well murder three. These are no difference.
I mean, her defense.
Counsel would argue that there is you know, there needs to be scope for rehabilitation. I dare say, well, it's incarceration for thirty three years, there is still a chance for her to rehabilitate them.
I right, quily, Yeah, and that's right. There is also this principle very similar to what you say, where the principle in sentencing law which says you shouldn't make a sentence. The point is not to crush the person. It's to punish them, but not to absolutely crush them. And so if you if you didn't allow them to be served concurrently, and that's what we're talking about here. It's a question of whether you allow them to be served concurrently or
whether they've got to be conserved served consecutively. And if you allow them to be conserved concurrently, then then it's less crushing. It's like, Okay, you've got a chance, you've got a chance of seeing the outside of a jail, Celle. I mean, let's be frank, though eighty three years, it should be eighty three, I think, or eighty two when the thirty three years is up. I can't imagine the prison food is that healthy. She's not doing ice bas and sauna in and longevity stuff, so I'm not sure
she's going to be around when she's eighty three. I might be wrong, but you know, then again, having said that, she's probably not going out boozing and smoking cigarettes, so maybe maybe she's better off.
She'll probably last longer than Clint. To be honest. Just before we let you go, Lauren brought up an interesting fact yesterday. And it's a not so serious question. But when they're going.
To court, is there like is this about a wardrobe?
Yeah?
Laws and I were like, who's picking the outfits? Yeah? Family allowed to send in clothes.
Did you get that from her wardrobe?
Court? Is there a susan's at the prison? A prison?
No? I know that they'll be her clothes. And and I can tell you I think on day one at law school, that's what they teach you. If you're acting for a crook, you tell them, hey, dress up when you come to court. So even if you've you know, I don't know, you're facing a drink driving charge or something like that and you're going before a magistrate, don't don't turn up in the active were put a put
a put a nice sus on a certain tie? Yeah, exactly exactly, And so yeah, that would have been would have been thought about, They would have I would expect there would have been a discussion between her and her counsel about what to wear. Not not so much for the sentencing. To be honest with you, at that point.
You know, she.
Bikini, it wouldn't matter. But in front of the jury, in front of the jury, she would have been thinking about or her legal counsel would have been thinking about how she presented in front of the jury.
This is what Justice Christopher Bill was trying to do yesterday by allowing this to be live stream, right, justin, take people into the court, just try and teach them something about what happens inside the four walls of the Supreme Court.
Yeah. Absolutely, I thought I was in trouble there when you called me justin. Look, that's absolutely right. And I've got to say tudos to his honor, and hopefully more judges do it as good a job as our court reporters do every night on the news or you know, in you know, the newspapers the following day, in explaining to us what happened in court, as good a job as they do, they can't do it as well as hearing it from the horse's mouth. And I thought it
was brilliant from his honor. And I might say, when you heard it all unfold, you were like, oh, wow, yeah, she deserves a massive whack. Like you you really you realize that he wasn't He wasn't taking it lightly, and it allows you to. I think that's one reason why there's not this uproar over the fact that she she's got the chance for parole, because people realize, oh, he's really taken this seriously. He really understands the gravity of this. And and okay, he decided he's going to give and
I understand the reasons why he's given her chance for parole. Okay, fine, no problem. You know, some people might disagree with her, but no one could say having heard that, no one could say he didn't get it. He was too.
So that's a job you wouldn't want.
Yeah, absolutely not. He quickly just before we let you go. What sort of conditions will Aaron Patterson be living in that Dame Phyllis Frost prison? Is she in her own cell? What do what will her day to day look like?
Now? Yeah, not great and she's not It'll looked nothing like your bedroom was, you know, all fancy we are talking, we actually work honestly, like your walking robe is probably bigger than herself and she The main thing is she's in a management unit, right, and this is one of the main reasons why he's on a gave her parole with all the chance of parole because he said, you're going to be locked up for twenty two or twenty four hours a day. Yeah, yeah, And look that's for
her safety, not the other way around. But so not all prisoners. Most prisoners are in general population, and they are you know, they circulate with other prisoners, talk to them, they can play as them, exercise with them, et cetera, et cetera. The whole prison goes into a lockdown when her and the other management unit prisoners get hour or two, yeah,
and they're out on their own. So she's in a yard with there's a mesh wire around it, and she can talk to the person in the yard next to through the mesh, but that's her only contact with people, and otherwise she's twenty two. And that's why he's on. I said, your your time served is going to be much harsher. So your thirty three years is going to be much harsher than thirty three years that we might give Joe blow next week. So that's one of the
main reasons why he's on. A gave her brother. I might say, as notorious as this case is, and as I think you said at the start, as you know, captured not just Victoria and Australia, but right the way around the world, and that is absolutely true. But time passes, memory fade, and she's got thirty four years and I guarantee you in thirty years time, people are going to be saying, Aaron who And so I just don't think that she's going to need to be in this management you that certainly for change.
But yeah, my change. Thank you. Justin Justin Quill partner Thompson Gear join us on the air. Good on you courly, thanks your time mate, Thanks Thanks Claric God. We struggled with two years in lockdown and it was in our house going for a little walk. We did nothing right, No, exactly right.
That is twenty four hours a day she's locked in that little.
Cell, no katies in there. That to buy your garment.
It's sad Justin Clill has no idea what the inside of my bedroom looks like.
Oh yeah, that was my be's my follow up question.
I mean it doesn't take that much imagination.
No, I think your red Count is going to be a little bit different than Aaron Patterson's Lauren wake up.
Feeling good of them on the socials.
Yeah,