Bonus episode: Observing The Mushroom Cook

We're here at the Herald Sun office in Melbourne. It's the King's birthday today and in the King Versus Aaron Patterson, the jury has a day off for the second time. We've assembled the entire team for another bonus episode. I'm Brook greebt Craig.

I'm Laura Plascela, and I'm Anthony Dowsley and this is the Mushroom Cook.

Hi guys, welcome back, Hey Brook.

Hey Brook. It's been another week and a couple more to go.

I guess so Aaron Patterson has taken the stand, hasn't she?

Hang on a minute. You're calling it the stand. Now, I've got some old legal contexts that are text messaging me and emailing me. They don't like this word, the stand. They say it is an americanism. So what we call it, apparently is the witness box. But what are we going to go with.

Look, you've got that advice. Let's go with the witness box.

Okay, the witness box.

I like the stand, so I think I'll stick to that.

Guys, let's go.

So, dows can you talk us through in summary what we've heard from Aaron.

We got to see her enter the stand or the witness box for about forty one minutes on Monday and continue on during the week. It delved not only into the really essential facts of this case, but it delved into her life in general. We heard a little bit about her growing up. We heard some really personal issues, such as when she said that she had been weighed as a child and how that had an impact on her relationship with food. We heard a lot about food.

And as we've touched upon in previous episodes, Aaron was planning, she said, to have gastric bypass surgery because of these body image issues.

And what else was Aaron asked about.

During her evidence in chief was questioned by her defense barrister Colin mandy In about mushrooms, about how she prepared the beef Wellington, what she did the day of the lunch, what she did the day after the lunch, and about the searches that were conducted at her house by police.

So, with Aaron taking the stand, there's obviously been an increase in public interest in the case.

That was quite startling to watch. I was in Melbourne and getting images back from Warwell where you both are of queues outside the court. More well's not the biggest court in Victoria, and there's only a certain amount of seats inside courtroom four. And yeah, it's packed now. There was so much interest in what Aaron Patterson was going to have to say, so she gave her forty one minutes at the start on day two. So the crowds are turning up now and there's all sorts of people

Yes, people have been rocking up to the law courts at seven am, queuing up or to get a spot in courtroom four.

Are they missing out?

Yeah, some people are. Actually I think there are about twenty seats reserved for the general public, so people are missing out.

And just before Dowsy were speaking about the kinds of people sitting in the courtroom I would say it seems like there is more women than there are men. And I've even noticed some teenagers. And I think at one stage I saw a boy who was probably in primary school coming along with their parents and watching the proceedings.

And some people have notebooks and they're taking notes.

But one thing they've very much been told not to do is take out their phones. So the tip staff in the courtroom, mister Hastings, he's in charge of making sure the proceedings on smoothly and is keeping a watchful eye to make sure everyone is following the rules.

So we've had an increase of interest from the general public, but there's also been an increase of interest from the media.

Actually, I got a question about that. How's the click clacking of all the typewriters and laptops going in their typewriters and old term the laptops. I'll go in there with my typewriter because I'm so old. But what about the noise from the media in there. I mean, it can get intense when certain parts of evidence come up and the media want to take notes word for word.

I know all of us journalists are really mindful when we're in the courtroom, to try to keep the click clacking at a minimum. I was in court several days last week and there was a lot of evidence we were hearing from Erin, and you do want to get it down so you can take the most accurate notes, but you're just trying as hard as you can to make sure you're typing softly.

Is anyone using the old notebook and pen.

Yeah, there are. I've seen a few journals doing that.

And using their shorthand. It's very impressive. I did learn how to use shorthand, but I never got fast enough, so it's the laptop for me.

I think we've also seen an increase of media in the overflow room. We've spoken about that before, Laura, Can you describe the room for our listeners.

The room usually is in an overflow room. It's reserved for the jury pool, so at the start of a trial, when there is a large group of people brought to court to be in a jury, this is the room they wait in before they're brought into court. But for the last six weeks it's pretty much been a hub

So I would say in the first couple of weeks there were about fifteen journals sitting in in the overflow room, but I would say last week there was probably around thirty to forty of us, some international media like the BBC.

Yes, and the Daily Mail as well from the UK. And when I walked into the overflow room on that day, I think it was the Wednesday, I was almost taken aback because there was usually many empty seats beforehand when we were hearing from expert witnesses. It was very dense evidence and on some of those days there weren't too many of us in the overflow room, but like you said, Brook, on that day there were dozens.

And I think because you and I have been living in more well, we're kind of in a vacuum in our own little bubble in regards to the trial. But Dows, can you speak to our listeners more about the international interest We've done.

Some radio pieces have been on the BBC. Brook, You've been doing a piece with the Washington Post, was it, Yes?

I spoke to a journalist from the Washington Post, so he did an online story about the trial.

There was a piece in the paper about a youtubeer in America getting hundreds of thousands of subscribers. What have you been noticing, Laura.

There's also been a lot of content on TikTok, some videos being produced by journalists but also influencers. There was a girl who came down to court. I think it was in the first week. She said she was an influencer and she came along to record a video for her followers on what it was like to sit in on the trial.

Ugh, influencers, All right, we'll move on.

Dows doesn't like this time.

I'm still working on my typewriter, so you know, all these things are new to me.

So last week we found out more about the timeline of the trial after Justice Christopher Bill spoke to the jury about it. Dows, can you talk our listeners through what we can expect over the coming weeks.

So the trial is going to go a little bit longer than we first anticipated, but we haven't got that much to go. We will hear the end of Aaron Patterson's testimony, so she'll finish her cross examination, and then they'll go back to her lawyer. They'll ask some more questions to finish it off. Then she'll be excused from the stand. She'll go back to the dock. Then what happens is that they have closings, so both sides, the

So I think it's fair to say that a few of us will be camping outside the law courts, right.

Yes, and who knows how many days.

Will be there for that's right. Verdicts are stressful because you don't know when they're coming back, and when they do, it's quick, so you've got to get there and you've got to be ready.

But rest assured, we will be here and we'll be giving you all the latest updates in the case. But for now, head to the mushroomcook dot com dot au for more