In the one Thaggy Police Station. There's a small interview room with white walls and a light brown table. It was in this room that police first interviewed Aaron Patterson over the deadly mushroom lunch.
This is a DVD recorded interview between detective Leading Senior Constables Stephen Eppingstall and Aaron Patterson of lean Gatha, conducted at the one Thaggy Police Station on Saturday, the fifth of August twenty twenty three.
Erin, wearing a light brown sweater, answered the questions from the detectives.
I'm sure you understand too that I've never been in a situation like this before, and I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because i wanted to help that side of things as much as possible because I do want to know what happened. So I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from.
Today in court, she fought back tears as the jury was played the video of that interview. I'm Brooke Greever Craig, and this is the mushroom cook. I'm back for day twenty of Aaron Patterson's murder trial, and I'm here in morewell with my colleague court reporter Laura Passella.
What a massive day we've had.
Yes, it was a huge day in court. We heard Aaron's record of interview that was done on August five, a week after the lunch. This record of interview was played in court when Constable Eppingsteel took to the stand and gave evidence. As we mentioned in yesterday's episode, he is the informant on the case.
That's right Brook And today, when the record of interview was being played to the jury, Aaron had her own screen in front of her where she could watch along as well. I was sitting in court today not too far from the dock where Erin is seated, and when you looked over at her, you could tell that at
certain points she did start to become emotional. There was one point where she looked up at the ceiling of the dock and it appeared that she was fighting back tears as she was watching herself answer the detective's questions.
In the video, Aaron is seated to the right hand side, while Constable epping Stall is with one of his colleagues and they're seated to the left. Aarin begins the interview by confirming her full name and her home address.
The interview starts with the exchange you heard at the top of the episode, before Constable epping Stall starts asking Arin some more detailed questions which concern their investigation. Two points that are touched on pretty early on in the record of interview concern the foraging of mushrooms and the dehydrator. These are some of the exchanges they had. These are their words, it's not their voices.
Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to the mushrooms and where they've come from. Is it something you have done in the past foraging for mushrooms?
Never?
Ever?
Never?
And later he asked, do you know anything about a dehydrator in your No? Do you own a dehydrator?
No. I've got manuals of lots of stuff I've collected over the years. I just keep them all.
The defense conceded in its opening address that Erin has foraged for mushrooms before, and she did own a dehydrator, which she later dumped at a local tip after the lunch, Defense barrister Colin Mandy told the jury at the beginning of the trial that it was their case that Aaron panicked after the lunch because she was overwhelmed by the fact that these four guests had become so ill because
of food she had cooked them. But mister Mandy made it clear to the jury that while Aaron admits she lied about foraging for mushrooms, she denies that she ever deliberately sought out deathcat mushrooms.
Now back to the interview, Aerin was also asked about her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Pattison and his family.
Can you describe to me the relationship with your ex partner Simon. I would like to understand why you had his parents and the uncle and aunt.
Over for lunch because I've got no other family. They've always been really good to me, and I try to maintain those relationships despite what is happening with Simon. I love them a lot. They've always been really good to me, and they always said to me that they would support me with love and emotional support even when Simon and I were separated. I really appreciated that my parents are
both gone, my grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got and they're the only grandparents that my children have, and that's really important to me. I think Simon hated that I still had a relationship with them.
I love them.
Nothing that's ever happened between us, nothing he's ever done to me, will change the fact that they are good, decent people that have never done anything wrong.
In the interview Erin was also asked questions about her hospital visit.
That's right. Constable Eppingstall asked Erin about her presentation to lene Gatha Hospital two days after the lunch on July thirty one, and asked her questions about why she had left. Five minutes later. Erin told him that she went to hospital because she was really dehydrated and thought she might need saline. But then she said that she found out from the doctors they wanted to send her to Melbourne
for treatment. She told Constable epping Stall. When you've got animals at home and children who have multiple after school activities, you can't just drop everything and go to Melbourne overnight. She explained to him that she went home, fed the animals and packed her daughter's ballet kit. Erin told Constable epping Stall that when she arrived at leeing Gatha Hospital, she spoke with doctor Chris Webster, who has given evidence
in this trial. She said she told him that he shouldn't worry about her because she was just a gastro case and she wasn't urgent. But she recalled that doctor Webster realized who she was and informed her that the lunch guests were sick. He told her that he was concerned that they had eaten death cat mushrooms. She said that later that morning, doctor Webster finished his shift and passed her on to another doctor who gave her some
medication to protect her liver. It was during the time she spent at lean Gatha Hospital that she conveyed information to police about where they could find the leftovers of the lunch. Constable Eppingstall said that it was to Erran's credit that she provided the pin code to her front gate and directed police to where exactly they could find those leftovers. After questions about the leftovers, Constable Eppingstall told Erin that they would be completing the interview and the
video stopped playing. Constable Eppingstall will return to the witness box tomorrow and answer more questions from Crown Prosecutor Jane Warren before he's cross examined.
Let's move on to another witness we heard from today, Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell, who is also from the homicide squad. He told the jury he conducted a search at Erin's home in lean Gatha with Constable epping Stall on August five, on the same day as her record of interview.
The jury heard that the search warrant on August five was executed at around eleven forty When the detectives arrived at Erin's home, Erin was told that this search warrant was in connection with the death of two people, and the court heard in response, she asked who died. Sergeant Farrell told the court that it was his recollection that when Erin was told about the deaths, she expressed surprise.
The court heard at the time of the search, Erin's two children were home, as well as the family dog. Constable Farrell explained that he was the team leader that day, which meant it was his job to physically conduct the search, while some of his colleagues took photos of the items that were seized and recorded a video of the search as well.
So what was actually found during the search, then.
I'll start with the kitchen the jury were shown several photos of both the kitchen and the butler's pantry, and the photos showed almost step by step how police went about this search. A instruction manu a for a sunbeam dehydrator was found in one of the kitchen drawers, a set of kitchen scales was found in the butler's pantry, and then a best selling recipe tin eats cookbook called Dinner was spotted on the kitchen bench. Sergeant Farrell said a piece of tissue had been used as a bookmark
and the cookbook had been spattered with food remnants. The court heard that Erin had conversations with detectives about this cookbook and she confirmed she had used a recipe inside to make the beef Wellington. The jury was shown photos of that recipe today. It runs over about six pages and on one page you can see a photo of a latticed beef Wellington log.
Now, the jury were told a video was filmed of Aaron's house and stills of that video were shown to the jury, and these were stills of plates inside her home.
That's right. Farrell conceded that no photos were taken during the search. Warrant of any plates in Aaron's house, so they had to resort to using these stills from the video. There was a range of plates shown that included those on the kitchen bench, those in a drawer, and some that were in the dishwasher. He was asked about some of the plates in the dishwasher and he said that from the still, it appeared they had a red top
with a dark bottom. He conceded that none of these plates were seized during the search and.
Were any other room searched.
Sergeant Farrell said that detective searched one of the children's bedrooms. In that room, they seized a Cooler Master computer, a Samsung mobile phone, and a Samsung tablet. Our listeners may remember that these devices were examined by Senior Digital Forensics Officer Sharman Fox Henry, who also works for Victoria Police, and Sergeant Farrell even said that at the time of the warrant, the tablet was in possession of Eron's daughter and had to be taken from her.
And besides from Aaron's record of interview, another video was shown to the jury today.
That's right, and this was a very short video. It only ran for about a minute and a half and It was taken at the very end of the search warrant, where Sergeant Farrell could be seen talking to Erin about her mobile phone. He explained to her that the only outstanding item that they were yet to collect was the phone she was currently using. In the video, he asks her if he can have a look at the phone
and she said of course. She could then be seen handing him the phone and he asked in response whether or not it required a pin code. She said that it was either a four digit or a six digit code and said she didn't know exactly which one. During his evidence, Sergeant Farrell also said that a search warrant was executed at one of Erin's properties in Mount Waverley, but he told the court that nothing of note was found.
And finally we heard again from Senior Public Health Advisor Sally n Atkinson. She took to the stand and gave further evidence today.
Yes, she completed her evidence in chief today and spoke about the report that the Department of Health handed down after their investigation had concluded. She told the court that the investigation established that it was highly unlikely that the commercial food chain had been contaminated with death cat mushrooms. She said the risk to public health was deemed to be very low and the Department of Health had deemed
it an isolated event. Miss Atkinson told the court that only one Asian grosser stocked dried mushrooms, similar to the description that Erin had provided her, but she said this product was notably larger.
So, Laura, they are all the witnesses that we heard from today, But you told me that Adura actually got left out of the courtroom.
That's right, And I don't think you could have seen what was happening from the overflow room, Brook. But in court towards the end of the day, when Constable epping Stall was giving evidence, there was a short break and the jury left the room. But when they came back in, someone realized that only thirteen of them were sitting in the jury box. They realized they'd actually left one of
the jurors behind. Laughter filled the courtroom when the jury forewoman went to the door to the jury room to try and get him, and then had trouble trying to open the door, but eventually they recovered him and all fourteen jurers continued listening to the evidence, and all fourteen jurors will be back in court tomorrow to continue hearing from Constable epping Stall, who the prosecution said today would be the last witness they call before they formally close their case against Erin.
Looking forward to it. Thanks Laura, Thanks Brooke. To stay updated on this case, go to the mushroom book dot com dot au