AFTER five days of cross-examination and a gruelling eight days in total in the witness stand, it was all over for Erin Patterson just before lunch on Day 31, Thursday, June 12.
It was a significant moment in the so-called “Mushroom Murder Trial” now into its seventh week in the Supreme Court in Morwell.
Essentially, all the evidence is in. We now wait for the closing remarks by Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC and defence counsel for Erin Patterson, Colin Mandy SC, with the jury deliberations and verdict to follow.
But sit tight, it will be some days yet before we know the outcome of a trial that has captivated world attention.
Dr Rogers' cross-examination of Erin Patterson finished with a flourish at 11.36am on Thursday, making three formal accusations against her including that Mrs Patterson deliberately concealed death cap mushrooms in the meal of beef Wellington she prepared for her guests on Saturday, July 29, 2023 with the intention of killing them.
“I suggest that you deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms in 2023.
“I suggest you deliberately included them in the beef Wellingtons you served to Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson
“And you did so, intending to kill them; agree or disagree?" said Dr Rogers.
“Disagree,” said Erin Patterson.
Erin Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder arising out of the family meal at her home in July 2023, where it has been agreed that the beef Wellingtons served to the guests contained death cap mushrooms.
Mrs Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges maintaining that what happened on the day was a tragedy and a terrible accident.
It was left to Colin Mandy SC, defence counsel for Mrs Patterson to conduct a brief re-examination of his client
He first asked Mrs Patterson about an appointment she had made for September 13, 2023, at the Enrich Clinic, now located in South Yarra, confirming that the appointment wasn’t a pre-surgery appointment for a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve procedure, as Mrs Patterson had indicated.
"I was of the impression that they offered treatments for weight loss including surgeries like gastric bypass and other things like liposuction and anywhere in between,” said Mrs Patterson, noting that she had never actually had a consultation with the clinic, prior to making contact with them in April and May 2023.
"That was going to be my first one and my understanding was we would discuss my needs, and the treatments they offered. What would best suit me and schedule it in."
Asked by Mr Mandy what her understanding of the services they offered when she booked the appointment, Mrs Patterson said “the full range”.
“I understood them to be offering liposuction, and I also believed they offered the full range of weight loss surgery treatments like the bypass and the sleeve. I think they're two different types of things.”
“Why did you cancel the appointment?” asked Mr Mandy.
“It was a difficult time,” said Mrs Patterson. “A very difficult time.”
“And do you accept now from this material that you were mistaken about the fact that Enrich Clinic offered gastric bypass surgery?”
Mrs Patterson agreed.
She ultimately cancelled that appointment on September 11.
Mr Mandy also asked his client why she made six beef Wellingtons, when only five people sat down to the meal.
Mrs Patterson offered a practical explanation.
She said she purchased five double packs of fillet steaks from Woolworths in Leongatha, used three of them and popped the other two packs, that is, four other steaks in the freezer.
There were also some questions about allegations made by the prosecution, that in the 4000 pages of messages between Erin and her estranged husband Simon between June 12, 2021 and December 29, 2022, there were no mentions made about foraging for mushrooms.
He also asked Mrs Patterson about 600 pages of messages between her Facebook Messenger Friends and herself, which the prosecution also claimed had no references to foraging for mushrooms.
Mrs Patterson said in the period of time covered by the message exchange with Simon, there had been only one brief mushroom season, during which she might have gone looking for mushrooms on only a handful of occasions.
In any case, she never talked to Simon about what they were having for dinner.
On the claim that there were no references to foraging for mushrooms in the 600 pages of Facebook Messenger exchanges between the friends, it was revealed that only eight of those pages of messages were entered into evidence, for the period between December 5, 2022 and December 19, 2022, well outside mushroom season.
Asked how productive a time it was for mushrooms by Mr Mandy, Erin Patterson said: “Not very productive at all.”
Mr Mandy also addressed claims made by the prosecution that the Patterson’s daughter did not have a ballet lesson on Monday night, July 31, 2023, for which Mrs Patterson claimed she had to leave the Leongatha Hospital to pack a ballet bag.
According to Mrs Patterson, there actually was a special extra lesson scheduled that evening for the mid-year concert.
Mr Mandy produced a message recovered from Simon Patterson's phone indicating that he had contacted the local ballet school and cancelled the lesson as Mrs Patterson had asked him to do.
Erin Patterson started to cry in the witness box while answering questions about her daughter’s ballet schedule.
She also cried while answering questions about not wanting her son to miss out on his flying lesson on the Sunday after the beef Wellington lunch.
Asked by Mr Mandy why she was so keen to get to the lesson, Mrs Patterson broke down.
"Because he was really passionate about it, and he'd had a lot of cancelled lessons so I just didn't want to disappoint him," Mrs Patterson said as the tears flowed.
Following the inclusion of some agreed facts, the jury was given its leave and the next two days are expected to be taken up by legal preparations ahead of the closing addresses by the parties, likely to start early next week.
There has been no official announcement about when the jury deliberations are likely to start but it could be more than a week away.
