From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Friday, May two, twenty twenty five. Its election. Even the Australian is reporting today. Labor has courted Beijing backed property developers and senior figures in the Chinese Communist Party's foreign influence arm. Anthony Albanezi has refused to rule out new taxes, and the coalition released the costings of its policies, showing a deeper projected budget deficit in its first two years,
but a reduced budget deficit within four years. Aaron Patterson conducted taste tests where she hid mushroom powder in muffins and fed them to her children. That was part of the evidence in an emotional day of testimony by Crown witness Simon Patterson. Aaron's husband leaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder for feeding death cap mushrooms to Simon's parents, aunt, and uncle, something
she says was a terrible accident. Today, Simon Patterson describes the breakdown of her marriage and Erin's attempts to get him to come to the fatal lunch the day before a lunch that would kill his parents and his auntie. Simon Patterson sent a text to his wife Erin Aaron Patterson had invited her husband, from whom she was separated after a rocky marriage, along with his parents Don and Gail,
and aunt and uncle Heather and Ian. Aaron Patterson told Simon Patterson that she had serious health news to share and wanted to talk Frank without the presence of their two children. But Simon Patterson, who had declined an earlier invitation to lunch, decided he didn't want to go. In the early evening of July twenty eight, twenty twenty three, he sent Aaron Patterson this message.
Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with your mum, Dad, Heather and I and tomorrow, but I'm happy to talk about your health and implications of that at another time. If you'd like to discuss on the phone, just let me know.
Five minutes later, Aaron Patterson.
Replied, 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 Phillips to make beef Wellington's because I wanted it to be a special meal, because 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. I hope you'll change your mind.
Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at twelve thirty. I hope to see there.
That exchange was read to the jury in Aaron Patterson's Supreme Court of Victoria trial, where Simon Patterson sat in the witness box across the courtroom from his wife in the dock. Aaron Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder for killing Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. She's also pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted murder relating to Simon's uncle Ian,
who became seriously ill after the lunch but survived. The Crown alleges she invited the family to her home with murderous intent and served them a meal she knew contained deadly deathcap mushrooms. Aaron Patterson's lawyer has told the jury. She didn't intend to kill anyone and it was a tragedy and a terrible accident. We've used voice actors to bring you the words spoken in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Simon Patterson.
Erin's very intelligent. I guess some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was definitely her intelligence. She's quite witty and can be quite funny.
That was how Simon Patterson began his evidence on day two of the trial, telling the jury what made him fall in love with Erin when they met while both working at the local council. She was a qualified accountant and air traffic controller, but she was an animal lover working as an RSPCA representative at the council. He was
a civil engineer. Simon Patterson described a turbulent marriage where Erin would frequently leave him, including when they were driving around Australia in a four wheel drive with their baby son.
We'd sort of done the northern part of Australia right up to the top of Cape York Peninsula and then got back down to Townsville and Aaron decided or chose to fly just herself back to Perth, and so yeah, I packed everything up and the baby and I drove across Australia through the Middle straight back to Perth.
When they arrived in Perth, Patterson, who Simon said had inherited two million dollars from her late grandmother, had organized a rental house for herself and the baby.
I organized to stay in an on site van at a caravan park nearby. I don't know how many months, a few months. What I understood from Aaron was that she was struggling inside herself.
They got back together and moved to Victoria.
Aeron decided to buy herself a separate house and move into it.
They separated again. Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers sc her words are read by a voice actor.
How would you describe the relationship? Was it a bit strained?
Yeah, it was strained. There was tension in it. I'd organized a family counselor in Lee and Gatha. I was always keen to have a good relationship, have a good marriage and a good strong family to bring up the kids in. I think it's good to be friends with the person you're married to, and plus I like to have good relationships with anyone, especially my wife. But also partly because it was, so it's really important to me that. Sorry, can I have some tissues?
Please?
Do you want to break I don't, That's fine. I'm just struggling to answer the question, but I'll get there.
Simon Patterson said they'd retained a friendly relationship where they shared custody of their two children and shared family holidays together, both in Australia and overseas, but one day in late twenty twenty two, about seven months before the fatal lunch, after he dropped off one of the children at her home, Simon recalled Aaron Patterson, saying she wanted a serious conversation.
She said that she discovered that my tax returned for the previous final actual year had for the first time noted that we were separated before that. We hadn't got the government involved in the fact we were separated at all before then, and so she said that mattered, I think for the family tax benefit something of that nature, and she would be obliged to claim child sport of me, which had never happened before, and so was yeah, she pointed that out, and that was she was upset about it.
Simon Patterson said he hadn't intended to describe himself as separated, but it was probably a miscommunication between him and his accountant. He said. He offered to amend the tax return.
Aaron rejected that as a possibility and said she wasn't happy with that. I think it was resolved by us agreeing she would apply for child.
Support, But that, said Simon Patterson, was the end of their friendly relationship. The chatty banter on messages ceased. He said. He then began declining requests to pay school fees and medical bills, telling eron that should be covered by the child's caught payments.
Was she happy or unhappy?
Pretty sure she was very upset about that. I was sure she was very upset about.
That, Simon Patterson said. After this, Aaron Patterson involved his parents, Don and Gail Patterson in the discussion about the school fees via a group chat on the messaging app Signal.
I think it was pretty clear she was asking for them to be involved, That's my opinion, They responded, encouraging us to resolve it between each other.
Asked about Aaron Patterson's relationship with his parents, Simon Patterson said.
She got on particularly well with dad. They shared a love of knowledge in the world, and I think she liked his gentle nature. Mum and Dad were really active in maintaining a good relationship with Aaron. I think it was mutual.
The morning after the lunch Sunday, July thirty, Simon Patterson got a call from his father Dawn.
He told me that he and Mum had been vomiting in a diary since I think he was first light and then Mum started perhaps an hour later, and that had been continuing throughout the night fairly frequently, and so they'd called emergency services.
Dom Patterson told his son Ian and Heather Wilkinson had similar symptoms. Simon Patterson said he said he then drove to the Wilkinson's home.
Ian answered the door.
How did he appear.
Sick? He looked gray, I suppose, and stooped, Yeah, he was struggling.
I think.
I said, how are you? He said, not good.
Simon Patterson said he entered the house and found Heather Wilkinson hunched over a container he described as a spew bucket.
We didn't have much conversation, but she puzzled and she said I noticed Aaron served to sell for food on a colored plate which was different to the rest he took them to hospital.
Did Heather say something to.
You, Yeah, she did. She mentioned the color plate again, so she asked me, is Aaron short of crockery? Is that why she would have this different kind of colored plate.
Did you reply to Heather's observation.
I said, yes, Aaron doesn't have that many plates, and that may be the reason.
When he first saw his parents in hospital, Simon Patterson observed his father seemed very ill.
Dad was substantially worse than mum. He was really struggling. He was lying on the side, hunched, noticeably discolored face. Speaking was an effort and taking the energy to speak was an effort, and his voice was strained. He wasn't right inside.
Simon told the jury Don Patterson told him that at the lunch Aaron Patterson had told him she had cancer.
He said, they'd found cancer, I think ovarian cancer in erin, so she was expecting to have I think chemo and potentially surgery. Mum said that she talked about the question of how to break the news to the kids, and that she believed we should talk about that with the kids together.
And did your father agree with that strategy?
They were both really strong on us working our marriage out together, and everything out together.
The previous night, Aaron Patterson had told her husband she had diarrhea symptoms. The jury heard she.
Wanted to go to hospital, or thought she should go to hospital perhaps, but again she was worried that if she drove herself theare she was worried she might poo her pants driving.
So did she ask you something?
She asked me to come and take her to the hospital.
When he saw his wife later at the local medical center, Simon Patterson said she didn't seem to be rushing to the toilet frequently. He brought their children to hospital and they spent time in the same room as Aaron Patterson. Simon Patterson said during their time at the hospital, the
family discussed the fact the daughter didn't like mushrooms. Simon Patterson said Aaron Patterson told him and the children that she'd been dehydrating mushrooms and pulverizing them, then putting the powder in muffins for the children.
She said she did a blind taste test with our daughter by adding powdered dehydrated mushroom to food, and they all found it interesting that our daughter did like the muffins.
With mushrooms.
Coming up. Aaron Patterson's lawyer cross examines her husband. Aaron Patterson's lawyer, Colin Mandy sc Cross examined Simon Patterson. He asked Simon Patterson to agree their relationship had been cordial over the years, and Patterson agreed. The couple and their children had taken many holidays together even after separation.
Would you agree with this proposition that Erin was very generous with that money she received from her grand Yes, especially to you and your siblings.
Yes, he agreed. They used some of her inheritance to make loans of up to three hundred thousand dollars to two of Simon's siblings.
And you'd agree with this proposition that, consistent with all of that, money has never really been a significant factor, motivating factor in Aeron's life decisions.
Yeah, I think both of us I don't think money was. Money's not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions.
Mandy asked about Aaron Patterson's religious faith.
When I met Erin, she was an atheist.
Mandy brought up a day when the couple attended the current Borough Baptist Church. Mandy asked if Ian Wilkinson, one of the guests at the lunch, was the pastor delivering the sermon that day, Patterson said he couldn't recall.
Do you recall that Aaron was moved by the sermon?
I think I know what you're referring to. Yeah, Aaron was moved during the service. I think it was I think during the communion. She quickly walked, stepped up and left, left the church building and went outside.
And was she upset?
She looked upset. Yeah.
Was there discussion with her afterwards about why that was and was it because she was moved by the sermon?
Oh, she was moved my memory of it, she was actually moved by what was happening during the communion part of the service, not the sermon, but.
By a religious or spiritual aspect of what was happening.
On that day.
Yes, the pair owned multiple properties, and Simon Patterson said he was puzzled about why Aaron Patterson added his name to the title on some of those properties.
It made me wonder about whether she was using me for my expertise and contacts to build her house, or whether she genuinely thought this was, you know, a move towards living together as a family again.
Colin Mandy asked Simon Patterson to agree that Erin's self image wasn't great after she'd gained a lot of weight.
Do you accept she wasn't happy with the way she looked.
Aaron is not particularly happy with how she is, including probably most aspects. I don't think she has high self esteem.
The trial continues. Our reporters John Ferguson and Ellie Dudley are in court and you can read their reporting all day at the Australian dot com dot au.