Key events
Patterson asked about lies in messages about medical appointments
A text message from Gail to Patterson on the same day is shown to the court. It said:
Hi Erin. Just wondering how you got on at your appointment today? Love Gail and Don.
Patterson replied the next day – 29 June 2023 – and said the appointment “went ok”. She also said she had a needle biopsy of the lump and would return for an MRI the following week.
Patterson agrees this was a lie.
“I didn’t have an appointment and I didn’t have a needle biopsy,” she says.
She agrees she also did not have a scheduled MRI appointment.
Rogers asks if Patterson anticipated Gail would convey the information about her medical appointments to Simon.
“The answer to that is no because I wouldn’t expect her to tell him any of that,” Patterson says.
Patterson admits she had no ‘legitimate’ medical issue to discuss at fateful lunch
Rogers shows the court a diary entry from Gail Patterson on 28 June 2023. The entry reads “Erin – St Vincent’s arm lump.”
Patterson agrees it was a reference to her.
Rogers says she told Gail prior to 28 June 2023 that she had a lump in her elbow and needed to go to St Vincent’s on this date for an appointment.
“You did not have a lump in your elbow on 28 June 2023,” Rogers says.
“That’s true,” Patterson replies.
“You did not have an appointment at St Vincent’s on 28 June 2023,” Rogers says.
“No, I didn’t,” Patterson says.
Rogers says Patterson had no medical issues to discuss at the lunch.
“I didn’t have a legitimate medical reason. That’s true,” Patterson replies.
Patterson is asked why she accessed cancer information
Rogers puts to Patterson: “I suggest you accessed these images of information about cancer in May 2023.”
“I don’t think I did,” Patterson says. “It was something I was quite worried about in late ‘21, early ‘22.”
Rogers says:
I suggest you used this information from the internet for the purpose of educating yourself on ovarian and brain cancer symptoms. Agree or disagree?
“I think I did do that at one point,” Patterson replies. She says she did this in 2021 and a period going into early 2022. Patterson denies she used this information to tell a more convincing lie about cancer.
Rogers asks why she did it.
Patterson says:
I was concerned I had ovarian cancer. I was concerned I had something wrong with my brain.
Rogers says Patterson used the cancer information to allow her to have a reason for inviting her lunch guests. Patterson says:
I didn’t use any reason when I invited them. I just invited them.
Patterson asked about screenshots of cancer information
Rogers takes Patterson to photos, modified in May 2023, that were found on a Samsung tablet police seized from Patterson’s house.
One photo includes text about ovarian cancer. Rogers says the text in the screenshot outlines what happens to the brain of someone with ovarian cancer.
“I suggest you conducted an internet search on this topic,” Rogers says. Patterson agrees.
Patterson says she doesn’t know if she took a screenshot of this.
Another photo shows text about “stage four ovarian cancer”.
Rogers suggests this was an internet search conducted by Patterson. She agrees. Patterson says she doesn’t know if it was a screenshot of this search.
Another photo shows text about brain lymphoma. Patterson says she also does not know if this image is a screenshot.
Patterson is asked about Facebook message with emoji
Rogers takes Patterson to a Facebook message she sent in a group chat on 6 December 2022.
In the message, Patterson said her in-laws were refusing to adjudicate in a dispute between her and Simon over child support payments.
She also wrote: “This family I swear to fucking god.”
Rogers says Patterson used the “eye roll emoji” after she wrote that Don and Gail’s advice was that Patterson and Simon should pray together.
She takes her to another message and says Patterson has used the “eye rolling emoji”.
Patterson says it is just an emoji with a “straight mouth”. She says: “I don’t know what I’d call it.”
Rogers says Patterson was “mocking” Don and Gail’s advice, including their suggestion that the couple should pray for their children.
Patterson says she was frustrated.
Patterson asked about religious views
Rogers takes Patterson to her prior evidence that she is a Christian.
She says Patterson’s Facebook friend Christine Hunt told the trial the accused said she was an atheist and struggled with Simon coming from a religious background.
Patterson says she did not feel close to Hunt. She says she did not share “anything personal” in the Facebook group chat with Hunt after 2021.
Patterson denies messaging in the group chat that she was an atheist.
“I suggest that’s an untruth,” says Rogers.
Patterson says she did not post this.
Patterson asked about ‘mushrooming’ and ‘foraging’
Rogers says Patterson lied to Stuart at Monash Health when she said she did not go “mushrooming”. Patterson says she would have asked Stuart what she meant by the phrase. She says it is not a phrase she would have used.
She says “mushrooming” could mean a couple of things, including “foraging” and “other uses of mushrooms” that are not eating.
Under questioning by Rogers, Patterson says she uses the word “foraging” to refer to picking and eating.
Patterson denies she deliberately used foraged mushrooms in the beef wellington meal on 29 July 2023.
She says she did not deliberately put death cap mushrooms in the lunch meal.
Court resumes
The jurors have returned to the courtroom in Morwell.
Court adjourns
The court has adjourned for a lunch break.
Patterson’s cross-examination will resume from 2.15pm.
Patterson is asked about conversation with doctor about ‘mushrooming’
Rogers says Prof Rhonda Stuart, a doctor at Monash Health, testified that she had asked Patterson while she was in hospital in the days after the lunch if she had been “mushrooming”. She also asked Patterson if she used any other fungi besides store-bought ones in the beef wellington, the court heard.
Stuart said Patterson replied “no” and said she only used mushrooms from Woolworths and an Asian grocer, the court hears.
Rogers says: “Do you accept Prof Stuart asked you if you had been mushrooming?”
“I accept that’s what she said,” Patterson replies.
Patterson says she cannot remember the conversation with Stuart.
Rogers suggests Patterson lied to Stuart. Patterson says she was only asked about what was in the beef wellington.
“Nobody was interested in what I did months, years ago,” Patterson says. “I would have answered any questions in that context.”
Patterson says at the time she understood Stuart was only asking her questions about the beef wellington dish.
Patterson says she picked wild mushrooms on or after 28 April 2023 and prior to beef wellington lunch
Rogers takes Patterson to evidence by Dr Laura Muldoon that in a conversation with Patterson on 31 July while at Monash hospital, Patterson denied using wild mushrooms in the beef wellington.
Patterson says: “I think I did say that.” She says she did not think it was a lie at the time.
Under cross-examination, Patterson says she did pick wild mushrooms prior to 29 July 2023 – the day of the fateful lunch.
She says she did pick wild mushrooms on or after 28 April 2023 and prior to the lunch.
She says she did so at her Leongatha home, at Korumburra botanic gardens and from the “rail trail coming out of Leongatha”.
Rogers suggests Patterson lied to Muldoon. Patterson says she was only asked if she put wild mushrooms in the beef wellington meal.
Erin Patterson asked about Facebook group chat messages
Rogers returns to Patterson’s formal police interview. She takes Patterson to her answer where she denied she had foraged for mushrooms or “anything like that”.
Patterson says this was a lie.
Rogers takes Patterson to conversations she had with her Facebook friends in a group chat, including the wide-ranging topics they messaged about.
Rogers says: “Do you agree you never told any of these Facebook friends you had foraged for mushrooms?”
“I don’t know if I did or I didn’t,” Patterson says. “I don’t know if I told them or not.”
Rogers asks if Patterson discussed cooking wild mushrooms with her Facebook friends.
“I don’t know,” she says. Patterson says it was a group chat that had run for four years and she cannot remember everything the women talked about.
Rogers says one of the Facebook friends, Jenny Hay, has testified that Patterson never discussed foraging for wild mushrooms in the group chat.
Patterson says Hay “might be right”.
Patterson: ‘I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible’
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC says Erin Patterson dehydrated mushrooms, including ones she knew to be death cap mushrooms.
“No, that’s not correct,” Patterson says.
Rogers puts to Patterson:
You lied about dehydrating food and mushrooms because if you told the police the truth that would implicate you in the poisoned lunch. Agree or disagree?
Patterson says:
I agree I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible.
Rogers says to Patterson:
I suggest you had been dehydrating death cap mushrooms on or after the date of purchase of the dehydrator for the purpose of putting into the beef wellingtons you served up to your four guests at the lunch.
“That’s not correct,” Patterson replies.
Erin Patterson denies travelling to Loch to look for death cap mushrooms
Rogers says Patterson saw retired pharmacist Christine McKenzie’s post on the citizen science iNaturalist on 18 April 2023 about death cap mushrooms in Loch.
“I disagree,” Patterson says.
Rogers says the accused then went to Loch on 28 April 2023.
Patterson says: “I don’t know if I did go to Loch that day.”
Patterson denies that she went to Loch on that day to find death cap mushrooms.
She denies that the photo of mushroom caps are the death caps she found at Loch on 28 April 2023. Paterson also denies that the photo shows death cap mushrooms.
Patterson denies she was weighing the mushrooms to determine the fatal amount to administer.
Erin Patterson says mushrooms in photo are not death caps
The jury is shown another photo with mushroom caps on a tray.
Rogers says mycologist Dr Thomas May gave evidence that the mushrooms were consistent with death caps.
Rogers says:
I suggest to you that these were death caps that you foraged on or after 28 April 2022. Correct?
Patterson replies:
No, that’s not correct.
Jurors updated on timeline of Patterson trial
Justice Christopher Beale has spoken to the jury about the timeline for the remainder of the trial.
Erin Patterson’s trial is in its sixth week. Beale reminds jurors he previously estimated the trial would run for six weeks.
“I’m not going to put a figure on how much time is left to run in this trial,” he says.
He says Patterson’s evidence will “probably” run into early next week.
After Patterson has completed evidence, there will be legal discussion between parties in the absence of the jury, Beale says.
He says one topic is whether there will be any more evidence in the case and what directions Beale will give the jury before they deliberate.
Those discussions will take a couple of days.
After all the evidence is completed we will then hear closing addresses from the prosecution and defence.
This will be followed by Beale’s directions to the jury, called the judge’s charge. Beale says this could take a couple of days.
He says the jury can take “all the time you need” when they begin deliberating.
Patterson shown photos of electronic scales
Erin Patterson is shown photos of electronic scales.
One photo, showing kitchen scales underneath mushrooms laid on a tray, was extracted from a tablet police seized from Patterson’s house. Another photo of digital scales was taken by police during a search of Patterson’s house on 5 August 2023 – a week after the lunch.
Rogers asks Patterson how many electronic scales she owned on 5 August 2023.
“I don’t know. At least one,” she says.
Patterson says daughter expressed surprise about muffins containing dried mushrooms after blind taste test
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC turns to prior evidence that Erin Patterson told Simon she conducted a blind taste test with muffins cooked using dehydrated mushrooms. The court previously heard she remarked that their youngest child, who did not like mushrooms, preferred a muffin with dried mushrooms in it.
Under questioning by Rogers, Patterson agrees she did the blind taste test and says afterwards she told her daughter the muffins contained mushrooms.
“I said to her surprise there were mushrooms in it,” Patterson says.
Rogers asks what else Patterson put mushrooms in. She says she put them in spaghetti, lasagne, stews and brownies.
Patterson says: “I was trying to get extra vegetables into my kids’ bodies.”
Rogers says there is evidence from Patterson’s Facebook friends that she told them she had been dehydrating mushrooms. Erin says she used the dehydrator for other foods and believes she told her Facebook friends about this.
She says she used the appliance “to dry apples, bananas … quite a lot of different types of fruit”.
Rogers asks if she took photos of fruit she dehydrated.
“I don’t remember. I might have,” Patterson says.
Rogers takes Patterson to a Facebook message, sent in a group chat, where she wrote she had been “hiding powdered mushrooms in everything”.
Patterson says she used a Thermomix to blend the mushrooms.
Rogers says:
I suggest you were testing how you could hide mushrooms in food without someone noticing.
Patterson:
I was seeing if I could put mushrooms into my kids’ food.
Rogers says she was trying to do so without them noticing.
“Yes, that’s fair,” Patterson says.
Asked if she was only using the dehydrator for mushrooms, Patterson says, “I disagree.”
