What the jury heard today
Here’s a recap of what the jury heard on day 24 of Patterson’s trial.
Patterson entered the witness box to begin testifying in her triple murder trial. Members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, including Ian Wilkinson, were in the court.
The accused said in the months prior to the July 2023 lunch she felt her relationship with the Patterson family, particularly her in-laws Don and Gail, had “a bit more distance”. She said from the start of 2023 her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon, was “functional” and the pair communicated mainly about logistical matters.
Patterson had a “never-ending battle of low self-esteem” for most of her adult life, she told the court. She said around the time of the lunch she was planning to have gastric bypass surgery for weight loss.
Defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC asked his client about the tension in her relationship with Simon, which involved multiple separations between 2009 and 2015. She said the pair “just couldn’t communicate well” when they had a disagreement. “We would just feel hurt,” she said.
The prosecution closed its case on Monday afternoon before Patterson entered the witness box. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The court has adjourned.
The trial will resume from 10.30am tomorrow.
Patterson: ‘We just couldn’t communicate well’
Mandy turns to the couple’s separations between 2009 and 2015.
He asks about tension in the relationship between Patterson and Simon. She says:
What we struggled with over the entire course of our relationship... we just couldn’t communicate well when we disagreed about something.
… We could never communicate in a way that made each of us feel heard and understood.
We would just feel hurt.
Patterson says the tension in the relationship did not extend to arrangements for their son. She says:
They were adult problems. They’re not problems for a child.
Patterson says in April 2009 the couple set off on another road trip. She says Simon wanted to resume travelling.
She says:
We decided to put everything in a storage unit... and do the top half of Australia.
… We followed the coast up north. We didn’t have any time pressures.”
She says they met Simon’s brother, Michael, and his partner, Tanya, in Broome before heading along the Gibb River Road.
She says the couple arrived in Townsville in November 2009.
Mandy asks how Patterson was feeling at this point.
She says it became “a lot harder” travelling with their young son. She says:
I’d had a gutful.”
Patterson then flew back to Perth. Simon flew back five to seven days later, the court hears.
Patterson says the couple lived separately for two to three months. She says:
The separation was over by the end of January 2010.
Patterson rented a “little cottage” for her and their son in Perth while Simon stayed in a caravan park, she says.
Court hears about the weeks after the birth of Patterson’s son
Patterson’s son was born in 2009, the court hears. She says the birth was “very traumatic” and an emergency caesarean was performed.
Patterson appears to become emotional as she recalls the birth.
She says her son was in the neonatal ICU ward during the hospital admission. Patterson says when medical staff said her son could be discharged, they wanted her to remain in hospital for her recovery.
I remember having a conversation with Simon about it and I was really upset.
She says Simon told her: “You can just do it. Let’s just leave.”
Patterson then discharged herself against medical advice, the court hears.
She says Don and Gail visited the young family in Perth a few weeks after their son was born.
She says Gail was “gentle and patient” with her and gave her advice about how to interpret her son’s cries.
Updated
Patterson’s parents were in Russia on her wedding day, court hears
Patterson and Simon were married at the Korumburra Anglican church, she tells the court.
Mandy asks if there was a reason they didn’t get married at the Korumburra Baptist church.
She says she wanted Ian and Heather Wilkinson to be able to enjoy themselves and not have jobs to do on the day.
Mandy asks where Patterson’s parents were on her wedding day.
“In Russia, on a train,” Patterson replies.
Patterson says Simon’s cousin, David, walked her down the aisle.
The couple began a road trip across Australia after their wedding, the court hears.
They settled in Perth at the end of 2007 after visiting multiple countries in Africa, Patterson says.
Patterson, who was 33 at the time, says she wanted to settle down and start a family.
Updated
Patterson and Simon married in 2007, court hears
Patterson and Simon were part of a bible study group, she says.
The pair were engaged in February 2007 and married in June 2007, the court hears.
Patterson says from 2006 to early 2007, she lived in a town near Korumburra. Simon lived in Melbourne at the time, the court hears.
Mandy asks if she had a lot to do with Don and Gail at the time.
She says:
I did. They would often invite me over for a meal. Probably almost monthly.
Patterson says when she first met Simon she was a “fundamentalist atheist”.
Patterson says on the trip in early 2005 she attended a church service at the Korumburra Baptist church. She says it was the first church service she had attended.
I remember being really excited about it.
I was really looking forward to it.
Patterson says Ian Wilkinson was delivering the sermon.
I had what’s best can be described as a spiritual experience. I’d been approaching religion as an intellectual exercise up until that point. Does it make sense? Is it rational?
I had a religious experience there.
She says in the first half of 2005, Patterson and Simon spent a lot of time going on camping groups with others. She says they became “a lot closer” during that time before they began dating in July 2005. She says:
We continued to do a lot of camping.
Updated
Patterson asked about early relationship with Simon
Mandy turns to ask Patterson about how she came to meet Simon.
Patterson says the pair met in 2004 when they both worked at the Monash city council. She says she was employed by the RSPCA and based at the council.
Patterson says the pair were friends from November 2004 to July 2005.
That was when we started dating.
Patterson met Simon’s parents, Don and Gail, in early 2005. She says at the time, Simon wanted to go camping “every weekend”. Patterson says Simon typically went camping with friends outside work and invited her along on a trip.
While on a camping trip, the group stayed at Don and Gail’s house in Korumburra.
Updated
Patterson felt ‘more distance’ in relationship with wider family, court hears
Patterson is asked about her Leongatha home. She says she “wanted it to be a house where the children grew up”.
She says she wanted to “grow old there”.
“Or I’d hoped,” she says.
Mandy asks Patterson about what was not going well in her life in 2023.
I had felt for some months that my relationship with the wider Patterson family and particularly Don and Gail perhaps had a bit more distance and space between us. We saw each other less.
Partly it was a consequence of I no longer lived in the same town as Don and Gail.
I’d come to have concerns that Simon was not wanting me to be involved too much in the family. Perhaps I wasn’t being invited to so many things.
Mandy asks Patterson about her relationship with Simon in July 2023. Patterson says it was “functional”.
We didn’t relate on friend things, banter, like we used to. That changed at the start of the year.
He asks how Patterson felt about herself physically in July 2023. She says:
I’d been fighting a never-ending battle of low self-esteem for most of my adult life.
She says she was planning to have gastric bypass at the time of the lunch.
Updated
Patterson asked about life before the mushroom lunch
Mandy asks about Patterson’s son’s issues at his previous school.
A reminder that Patterson’s children and their schools cannot be named due to a suppression order.
Mandy asks about the care arrangements for Patterson’s children.
She says they both lived with her full-time.
They could see Simon whenever they wanted to and practically what that meant was [our daughter] spent a big part of Saturday afternoon and evenings with Simon.
She says her daughter and Simon sometimes did “extra things” like going to the beach or local pool.
But [our son] was only seeing his dad at church or at youth group.
Patterson says at the start of 2023 she had been accepted into a bachelor of nursing and midwifery at Federation University. But she deferred this due to her daughter’s health issues, Patterson says.
She says this was in control by mid-2023 and she was planning to start the degree in early 2024.
Updated
Patterson questioned about life in July 2023
Mandy begins to examine his client. He says he will start by asking Patterson about her life in July 2023.
“In July of 2023, how were your children?” he asks.
She replies:
My children had just recently settled into a new school.
They had been there for a couple of weeks at the end of July.
She says they were coping “a lot better than I expected” and quickly made new friends.
Patterson called to give evidence
The jury has returned to the courtroom in Morwell.
“I call Erin Patterson,” Mandy says.
Patterson, who is sitting in the witness box, is wearing a paisley-patterned long-sleeve shirt and dark coloured pants.
Updated
Our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci, is in the courtroom in Morwell.
Members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, including Ian Wilkinson, are in the court. Wilkinson is the sole surviving guest from the lethal lunch hosted by Patterson on 29 July 2023.
There are no spare spots in the 40-seat room.
Erin Patterson to give evidence
Erin Patterson will take to the witness box and give evidence in her triple murder trial.
Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, has told the court his client will testify.
“The defence will call Erin Patterson,” he said.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The court is on a short break. The trial will resume at 3.30pm.
Updated
The court is now hearing an agreed statement of facts being read by prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC.
Rogers said the agreed facts included that analysis of fingerprints found of the dumped dehydrator matched Patterson’s fingerprints.
The analysis was conducted by a fingerprint specialist, the court hears.
Updated
Warren asks Eppingstall about the target for searches conducted by police when a warrant is executed.
Eppingstall says police aim to seize “all electronic items”. He says this can be anything that stores data including tablet devices, phones and USB sticks.
Warren shows the court room a photo of a black item on the windowsill in Patterson’s home. The photo was taken by police during the search of the Leongatha property.
She asks Eppingstall if it is the mobile phone that has been referred to as Phone A.
Eppingstall says it is a matter for the jury.
This post was amended at 6.55pm AEST 2 June to clarify that a photo was taken by police during the search, not a phone.
Updated
Warren takes Eppingstall to Patterson’s discharge at own risk form from a hospital admission in 2015.
She then takes Eppingstall to a medical form of Patterson’s from Leongtha hospital. The document says it was printed on 31 July 2023.
She notes Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon, is listed as her next of kin. The address for Simon is listed as Patterson’s Leongtha property.
Warren asks if Simon lived at this address in 2023.
“No m’am,” says Eppingstall.
Jury returns from lunch
The jury is back in the courtroom in Morwell.
Mandy concludes the defence’s cross-examination.
Prosecutor Jane Warren is re-examining Eppingstall.
The jury will be back in the court room from 2.15pm when the trial will recommence.
What the jury heard on Friday
Here’s a reminder of what the jury heard on Friday.
Erin Patterson called Gail Patterson the “best mum-in-law anyone could ever ask for” 14 months before she allegedly murdered her.
During the cross-examination of Eppingstall last week, Mandy showed the court messages between Patterson and her in-laws, Don and Gail. One exchange between Patterson and Gail from May 2022 was shown to the jury.
Gail wrote to Patterson:
Happy Mother’s Day Erin. May God bless you. Love Don and Gail.
Part of Patterson’s reply said:
Happy Mother’s Day to the best mum-in-law anyone could ever ask for!
The jurors are on a break.
We’ll bring you more updates once they return to the courtroom.
Mandy shows the court call records of a sim card ending in the digits “783”.
He says that between 12.01am and 1.45pm on 5 August 2023, these records indicate that “this sim card has lost its connection to the network”.
Eppingstall agrees.
Mandy says the next time the sim card connected to the network was at 1.44am on 6 August 2023.
“Yes, sir,” Eppingstall replies.
Mandy says it is an example of the “limitations” of what can be extracted from call records.
Mandy is showing the jury a flow chart which shows three sim cards police investigated.
Eppingstall previously told the court there were three phones police believed Patterson used – two Samsungs and a Nokia. He said one of the Samsungs, referred to as phone A, had never been recovered.
Mandy says the chart demonstrates one sim card was used across several mobile phones from 2019.
Mandy says in early 2023, Patterson’s son’s sim card went into a phone, referred to as phone B.
Updated
Mandy then shows Eppingstall photos police took during another search of Patterson’s home in November 2023.
One photo shows white shelves that were photographed by police in August 2023.
Mandy says some items seen in the first search are no longer visible.
Eppingstall says the shelf has been rearranged.
Mandy takes Eppingstall through photos taken by police of Patterson’s house during a search on 5 August 2023.
The photo shows plates in the dishwasher and on the kitchen bench.
Mandy says it shows two black dinner plates, two white plates, some red and white plates and a “colourful” striped plate.
Lead detective in case continues to be cross-examined
The jurors have entered the courtroom in Morwell.
Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is cross-examining Eppingstall.
Updated
Welcome
Erin Patterson’s trial is entering its sixth week.
We’re expecting Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the officer in charge of investigating the fatal lunch, to continue giving evidence today.
While we wait for today’s proceedings to get under way, here’s a reminder of what the jury heard last week.
Our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci, was in Morwell last week and reported from inside the court room.
