THE only alternative to venting on Facebook Messenger to her friends, according to Erin Patterson, about the frustration she was feeling towards her husband Simon in December 2022 was to go out into the paddock of her Leongatha home and tell the sheep.
It was Day 25 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial in the Supreme Court in Morwell on Tuesday this week and Mrs Patterson was in the witness stand again being taken through her evidence by legal counsel for the defence Colin Mandy SC.
Mr Mandy asked Mrs Patterson why she had said what she said about her husband Simon and his parents to the Messenger chat group on December 6, 2022.
He repeated several of the messages and asked her what she felt about it now.
Message: “Simon's dad contacted me this morning to say that he and Gail had tried to talk to Simon about the matters I raised and to get his side, but he refused to talk about it other than to signal he disagreed with what I said. Beyond that he won't talk about it. So, Don said they can't adjudicate if they don't know both sides and Simon won't give his side (Emoji).”
Message: “So, he said all that he can ask is that Simon and I get together to pray for the children (Emoji Emoji), this family I swear to fucking god.”
“I was hurt and frustrated and a little bit desperate,” said Erin in court on Tuesday.
The chat group, she said had been going for about four years, discussing everything, nothing was off-limits.
“It was a venting space for all of us… I felt validated and understood,” said Mrs Patterson in answer to Mr Mandy’s questions.
“Even if you take the emojis out about praying, they supported me. They became a cheer squad for your problems, if that makes sense?”
She said she regarded the messages as private at the time but now wished she had never said it.
“I wish I never said it. I feel ashamed about it. I wish the family had never heard it, they didn’t deserve it,” she said, becoming emotional in the witness box as the tears started to flow.
Mr Mandy followed that exchange by reading another message.
Message: “I'm sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get involved in their son’s personal matters are overriding that so fuck’em.”
“Yes, I said that,” said Erin, continuing to cry.
“I needed to vent. I needed to get it out. The only alternative was to go out into the paddock and tell the sheep. I regret saying it.”
“Did you mean it?” asked Mr Mandy.
“No. I was blaming Simon, but it wasn’t the family’s fault. It wasn’t even all Simon’s fault, I played a part in it too,” said Erin.
“I reflected on it a lot in New Zealand and I recognised it was wrong to involve Gail and Don and I should have approached it differently with Simon.”
Earlier, Mr Mandy had asked Erin about the issues which caused the relationship to sour late in 2022, around child support payments, school fees and doctor’s fees and involving Simon’s parents in the dispute.
Erin said the issue was largely resolved by the time she got back from a holiday in New Zealand with her children, but she went to Gail and Don to apologise anyway, saying she shouldn’t have involved them in it, especially after Gail’s illness.
How did the relationship with Don and Gail go after that? Mr Mandy asked.
“It went back to the way it was before the conflict. They supported us like they always had. There was a Patterson family birthday not long after that, we all got together, it was great.”
“I now want to talk to you about mushrooms,” said Mr Mandy.
He started by asking Erin about her discussions with her Facebook friends about mushrooms as early as 2020 and later the fact that she had purchased a food dehydrator in 2023, showing some of the Facebook photos she had taken and shared about mushrooms being prepared for drying on her new machine.
Erin said, that like many others, she had developed an interest in wild mushrooms during COVID and eventually started eating the ones she found in the paddock at her 3 acre property in Shellcot Road, including field mushrooms and horse mushrooms.
“I cooked one up in butter and it tasted good and I didn’t get sick so I continued to eat them and put them in meals.”
But she remained wary of what might be poisonous or toxic mushrooms, conducting a bit of research after she noticed her dog eating mushrooms.
“Did you always like to eat mushrooms?” Mr Mandy had asked her earlier.
“Yes, they taste good and are good for you,” she said.
Over the course of six years, between the time Simon and Erin Patterson came back to South Gippsland from Quinninup in Western Australia, in September 2013, where they also owned a house, the couple bought and sold five other properties between them, three in Korumburra, one in Mt Waverley and one in Leongatha.
Much of the money for the purchases came from the inheritance Erin Patterson received following the death of her grandmother in 2006 and the deaths of her parents in 2011 and 2019.
Under questioning from Mr Mandy, Erin was asked why she included her estranged husband Simon Patterson on the titles of the Nason Street house, where Simon continued to live after separation in 2015, and also the Mt Waverley and Leongatha properties she bought after that.
“I always thought we would bring the family back together and that’s what I wanted, and I saw it as a way to show Simon that was what I wanted.”
Erin Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder arising out of a family lunch of beef Wellington and death cap mushrooms at her home in Leongatha on July 29, 2023.
Three of her husband’s family members, his mother and father Gail and Don Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson died as a result of eating the mushrooms, while Heather’s husband Ian spent 54 days in hospital.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that what happened on the day was a tragedy and a terrible accident.
The trial continues in its sixth week in Morwell.