Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Donald Patterson by serving that meal?
No? I didn't.
Did you intend to harm him in any way?
No?
Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Gail Patterson by serving that meal? No? Did you intend to cause her any harm at all? No? Did you intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Heather Wilkinson by serving that meal?
No? I didn't.
And did you intend to cause her any harm at all?
No?
And did you intend to kill Ian Wilkinson by serving that meal? No?
I didn't.
Did you intend to cause him any harm at all? No?
I didn't.
There were some emphatic denials from Aaron Patterson in court today. As her defense barrister Colin Mandy brought her three days of evidence in chief to an end. But it wasn't the end of her time on the stand, because Crown Prosecutor Nannette Rodgers had our own set of questions for the woman accused of triple murder.
I suggest that you deliberately used foraged mushrooms in the beef Wellington that you'd serve to your guests on Saturday, the twenty ninth of July.
No, that's not true.
I also suggest to you that those foraged mushrooms were death cap mushrooms.
I didn't deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the meal.
It was a day dominated by the prosecution's cross examination of Erin, and we'll break it down in this episode. I'm Brooke Greebert Craig, and this is the Mushroom Cook. We just finished day twenty six of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and court reporter Laura Passella joins me in our makeshift podcast studio.
Let's get this episode underway.
As we mentioned at the start of the episode, today the jury mostly heard the prosecutions cross examination of Aaron, and there was a lot of rapid fire questions from doctor Rogers.
Yes it was, mister Mandy. Didn't take very long today to finish Erin's evidence in chief, so by eleven thirty doctor Rogers had risen to her feet and asked Erin her first question.
Here's an exchange between Aaron and doctor Rogers from today in court, voiced by actors.
So to sum up in relation to your so called cancer diagnosis, your claim to various people that you had been diagnosed with cancer before the lunch was deliberately false. Yes or no?
I didn't make that claim.
You told this lie. I suggest as part of your efforts to get the lunch guests and Simon to attend your lunch correct or incorrect? Incorrect, And I suggest to explain why the children were not present correct or incorrect?
Incorrect.
You knew you didn't have cancer, however, correct, that's true, but you needed, I suggest, to appear to have a good reason to invite your guests to lie lunch at your house, because it was so out of the ordinary for you to do this. Agree or disagree?
Disagree?
Do you say that it was ordinary for you to have people over to your house for lunch.
No, it wasn't ordinary, and it.
Certainly wasn't ordinary to invite Ian and Heather, was it.
That's true. They hadn't been for lunch at my house before.
I suggest that you never thought you would have to account for this lie about having cancer because you thought that the lunch guests would die.
That's not true, and.
Your lie would never be found out. Correct or incorrect, That's not true.
Doctor Rogers reminded the court of Ian Wilkinson's evidence from the second week of the trial where he said that Aaron had announced at the lunch that she had cancer and that she had undergone a diagnostic test that showed a tumor. But Erin told the court today that she did not make those statements at the table. She did agree, though, that she wanted the guest to believe she would be having treatment for cancer, but she denied ever telling them
that she had a diagnosis. Erin admitted yesterday in her evidence in chief that she misled the guests when she told them she might need upcoming treatment to hide the fact that she was planning to have gastric bypass surgery due to the body image issues she had developed over her life. She explained that she misled them because she was too ashamed to tell her guests she was planning to have that surgery.
Let's move on. Aaron was asked many questions today about mushrooms, including whether she saw a post on citizen website I Naturalists and this post was about death cap mushrooms cited in Locke. Here's her exchange with doctor Rogers.
I suggest that you saw Christine McKenzie's post that she posted on I Naturalists on eighteenth of April twenty twenty three about death cap mushrooms at Locke. Do you agree or disagree?
I disagree.
I suggest that you then went to Locke on the twenty eighth of April twenty five, twenty three. Do you agree or disagree?
I don't know if I did go to lock that day or not.
I'm going to suggest that you went to lock on that day to find death cap mushrooms. Agree or disagree?
Disagree.
The jury were then shown an image of yellow tinged mushrooms laid out on a dehydrator tray on a set of electronic scales.
These mushrooms in image one of Exhibit eighteen are the death cap mushrooms that you found at lock on twenty eighth of April twenty three. Agree or disagree?
Disagree?
I suggest that you were weighing these mushrooms, these death cap mushrooms, so that you could calculate the weight required for the administration of a fatal dose for one person agree or disagree, disagree, and the weight required for five fatal doses for five people. Agree or disagree disagree.
Eron told the jury yesterday that she made six beef wellingtons and put one in the fridge when she was plating up today, Doctor Rogers asked her whether she intended to serve one of those six beef Wellingtons to Simon if he had turned up to the lunch. She replied that if he had come, she would have given him a beef Wellington too, but she again denied deliberately putting
death cat mushrooms in any of the beef Wellington's. On the topic of Simon, doctor Rogers also took Erin to some of his testimony, where he said that Erin had told him she had done a blind taste test with their daughter by hiding dried mushrooms in muffins to see which one she would like more. Eron told the court today that it was true that she was putting dried mushrooms in her children's food, including spaghetti, lasagna, stew, and brownies, and she explained that she was trying to get extra
vegetables into her children's bodies. Doctor Rogers suggested that she was actually trying to see if she could successfully hide mushrooms in food generally, but Erin said it was only in really to her children's food.
Doctor Rogers also questioned Erin about the dehydrator she bought from a store in lean Gatha about twelve seventeen pm on April twenty eight. Erin admitted that she dumped this dehydrator at the Kunwarra tip four days after the lunch on August two. Here's what was set in court.
And you agree that they were your fingerprints found on your dehydrator.
Correct.
You took the dehydrator to the transfer station because you had been using it to dehydrate mushrooms, hadn't you, Yes, and not just any old mushrooms, death cap mushrooms in fact. Correct.
I didn't know that i'd done that, and you knew.
That they were death cap mushrooms that you had been dehydrating. Correct.
No, I didn't know that, and you were very keen.
To dispose of any evidence which might connect you with the possession of death cap mushrooms.
No, I didn't know they'd been in it.
That's why you rushed out the day after your release from Monash to get rid of the evidence. Correct. No, you lied to police about never owning a dehydrator because you knew you had used the dehydrator to prepare deathcat mushrooms to include in the lunch. No, I didn't know that you lied because you knew if you told the police the truth, it would implicate you in the deliberate poisoning of your four lunch guests. Correct.
No, no, it's not true.
Aaron told the jury yesterday about a conversation she had with Simon while they were at Monash Medical Center on August one. She said that he accused her of poisoning his parents using the dehydrator. When she was asked to explain why she dumped the dehydrator, she said after that exchange with Simon, she was scared about the conversations that might flow with people from child protection, and she was
scared that authorities would blame her for making everyone sick. Later, during the proceedings today, doctor Rogers asked Aaron about messages she sent her online friends in December twenty twenty two about Don's response to an ongoing child's support dispute with Simon. In the messages to her friends, Erin said that Don couldn't adjudicate because he didn't know both sides, and Simon wouldn't give his side. She said that Don told her that all he could ask is that Simon and her
get together and pray for the children. Before she then said this family, I swear to foking God in this message. There were three emojis that Aaron sent, one after the reference to Simon not giving his side, and two after the reference to praying for their children. These messages were shown to the court today on screens, but they were
not screenshots of the messages themselves, but rather extracts. I don't think any of us foresaw there would be in exchange about emojis in this trial, but that's what took place today. Here's what was said.
I suggest to you that these are eye roll emojis, but you disagree with that.
I think there's a better eye roll emoji than these that actually makes it clear that eyes are rolling. I can't see anything about eyes rolling in there.
By inserting these emojis, I suggested that you were mocking their advice to you.
Correct, No, that's not true, and.
Part of your mockery was the religious components of their advice. Do you agree?
No, I don't. I wasn't mocking. I was frustrated.
Even though these emojis are right next to the phrases pray together and pray for the kids.
They are.
Doctor Rodgers will continue her cross examination of erin tomorrow, Laura. The jurors actually found out more about the timeline of the trial today, didn't they.
Yes, that's right, So we're nearly at the end of the sixth week and at the beginning of the trial. Just as Christopher Biale indicated to the jury that the trial would only be about six weeks so today he turned to the jurors to offer them an update. He said that Erin would most likely continue giving evidence until early next week, before legal discussions would be taking place
in the jury's absence. He then said that after that there would be the closing addresses from both the prosecution and the defense, which would likely bring them to the end of next week. Then after that, he said, they would be hearing from him directly when he delivers his judge's charge or his instructions to the jury, and that
would also take a couple of days as well. Justice Bale then said to them that the brute would then go on the other foot because none of them could tell him how long it would take them to deliberate a verdict, but he said when that time came, they should take all the time they need.
I'm sure the jurors appreciated getting that timeline. Just like we did, and just like them, we'll be here for the duration of the trial, bringing you all the latest updates in the case. For now, head to the mushroomcook dot com dot au for more