A FEATURE of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial in the Supreme Court at Morwell over the past six weeks has been the phones.
Specifically, Erin Patterson’s mobile phones.
Where they went and when, who had them, when SIM cards were swapped in and out, when they pinged on local communication towers, when they were “factory reset” and ultimately the mysterious disappearance of ‘Phone A’.
However, unless you’re a senior lecturer in telecommunications, multimedia engineering and digital forensic science at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide, like the expert witness in the case, Dr Matthew Sorell, and even then, it has been hard to follow.
Among the things we know is that there were at least four phones; a Samsung Galaxy A70 (Phone A), a Samsung Galaxy A23 (Phone B), a Nokia 1.3 smartphone and an Oppo R15 phone with upwards of two phone numbers switched around at various stages, including the main phone SIM ending in 783 and another ending in 835.
There was, however, some form of closure during Day 26 of trial on Wednesday this week.
We heard from Erin Patterson that the Samsung Galaxy A70 phone, which she used to take some of the mushroom photos during the COVID period, seen in evidence on Wednesday, had been given to her son in February 2023 after he damaged his own phone. Erin bought a new one at the time, the Samsung Galaxy A23.
But Erin’s son also damaged the Samsung Galaxy A70 in May 2023, when he slipped and fell into some mud on a school camp, so much so that it was set aside and not used for a time.
It wasn’t until August 2, 2023, that Erin realised, in her evidence on Wednesday, that Phone A could still be used and she switched her 783 SIM into it from the A23 (Phone B) which got the 835 SIM.
While police collected a number of devices during their search of Erin Patterson’s home on Saturday, August 5, 2023, taking Phone B being used by Mrs Patterson at the time, they allegedly didn’t find the previously damaged Phone A handset, which according to Erin, they left on a window sill near the charging station, as well as the Nokia which was left in a basket.
When she got home later that evening after the interview at Wonthaggi with the police informant in the case, Detective Stephen Eppingstall, she took the 783 SIM out of Phone A and put it into the Nokia.
As she allegedly explained to child protection officer, Katrina Cripps on Friday, August 4, 2023, she was wanting to change her phone number after an exchange with her husband Simon, in the hospital on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, about what had allegedly happened to his parents.
“I was becoming concerned about Simon's behaviour and his allegations,” Erin Patterson told the court on Wednesday that she said to Ms Cripps.
But by Sunday, August 6, 2023, Erin decided to keep the 783 number because Child Protection was involved, and she would need to continue contacting Simon.
The 783 SIM was swapped back into Phone A.
However, according to Mrs Patterson, by the time police returned for their second search on November 2, 2023, principally to find Phone A and the 783 SIM, the phone had been chucked in a skip bin in September “with a lot of other broken stuff” during an annual spring clean.
If you can’t follow that, don’t worry, even the principal players in the Erin Patterson trial have struggled to get their heads around what happened to the phones.
The plates, the plates, the plates
The issue of the dinner plates used on the day of the mushroom lunch, on Saturday, July 29, 2023 is more black and white, well, actually it’s black, white and grey.
On the evidence of Erin Patterson, in the witness box on Wednesday this week, there were no grey plates, as alleged by the only other survivor of the meal of beef Wellington and death cap mushrooms, Pastor Ian Wilkinson.
“What plates did you use to serve up the food?” asked defence counsel Colin Mandy SC.
“Just the dinner plates I had, a couple of black ones, a couple of white ones, one that's red on top and black underneath and a plate I've got that [child] made at kindergarten,” said Erin.
So, that’s six plates but reportedly only five were used, for Erin and her four guests; Don and Gail Patterson, both deceased, Heather Wilkinson also deceased and her husband Ian who survived a 54-day ordeal in hospital.
The sixth beef Wellington went into the fridge directly on the oven tray, according to Erin, to be pulled out for a Sunday dinner of leftovers for the kids.
“Did you own any other dinner plates?”
“No, I didn't.”
“Did you own any grey plates?” No.
“And do you remember which plate you had?” No.
The evidence of Erin Patterson is at odds with what Ian Wilkinson said on Day 6 of the trial under questioning by prosecutor Jane Warren.
“Can you describe the plates please?”
“Yes, there were four large, grey dinner plates and one smaller plate, a different colour. It was an orangey-tan sort of colour,” said Mr Wilkinson.
“What colour were the four large dinner plates?” she repeated.
“They were a grey colour.”
He said Erin picked up the smaller, odd coloured plate and took it to her place at the table.
And despite a terrible night of vomiting and diarrhoea at her Korumburra home in the early hours of Sunday, July 30, 2023, according to Simon Patterson, his late aunt Heather summoned up the strength to also ask him about the plates.
“'I noticed Erin served herself her food on a coloured plate, which was different to the rest,” she is alleged to have said to Simon on his evidence.
She allegedly repeated it on the way to the Leongatha hospital.
“She mentioned the coloured plate again. She asked me, 'Is Erin short of crockery? Is that why she would have this different kind of coloured plate that she served herself with?” Mr Patterson told the court on the third day of the trial.
The truth about the apparently conflicting accounts is a matter for the jury.
The trial continues in the Supreme Court in Morwell.
Erin Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder arising out of the family lunch of beef Wellington at her Leongatha home on Saturday, July 29, 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges maintaining that what happened on the day was a tragedy and a terrible accident.
