Key events
Erin Patterson says she does not remember ever visiting website iNaturalist
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC takes Erin Patterson to a digital report of a computer that police seized from her house a week after the lunch.
The court previously heard that electronic records from the computer showed it had been used to visit webpages listing sightings of death cap mushrooms on the citizen science website iNaturalist in May 2022.
Patterson says she does not remember ever visiting iNaturalist.
Rogers says Patterson was familiar with the website because she entered it as the search term on the search engine.
“I would have to disagree,” Patterson says.
Asked about her interest in death cap mushrooms, Patterson says she only wanted to know whether they grew in South Gippsland.
The court has previously heard that a URL visited minutes afterwards on the same computer on 28 May 2022 appeared to show an order for food had been placed at the Korumburra Middle Hotel.
Rogers says Patterson placed this order.
Patterson says “I don’t know.”
Erin Patterson cross-examined about evidence regarding weight loss surgery appointment
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC says on Friday Erin Patterson told the jury she had a pre-surgery appointment for gastric bypass procedure for weight loss at the Enrich clinic in Melbourne. She said it was booked for September 2023.
Rogers says the clinic provides services in cosmetic surgery.
“I don’t know,” Patterson says.
Rogers says Patterson cancelled the September appointment.
Rogers puts to Patterson: “The Enrich clinic does not offer gastric bypass surgery … Agree or disagree?”
“I don’t know,” Patterson says.
Rogers says the clinic also does not offer appointments for gastric bypass surgery or gastric sleeve surgery.
“I don’t know,” Patterson says.
I’m a bit puzzled.
Rogers says the appointment had “nothing to do with gastric bypass surgery”.
Patterson says it “would have been related to weight-loss surgery”.
I was looking into liposuction as well.
Rogers says Patterson’s evidence that she had an appointment at the clinic for gastric bypass surgery was a lie.
Patterson says it “wasn’t a lie”.
That’s what my memory was.
The jurors have entered the room in Morwell.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC is cross-examining Erin Patterson, who is dressed in a dark paisley shirt.
While we wait for proceedings to begin, here is a recap of what the jury heard on Friday:
1. Erin Patterson said she could not recall accessing posts about death cap mushroom sightings on the citizen science website iNaturalist in May 2022.
2. Patterson said on 1 August 2023 – three days after the lunch – she realised foraged mushrooms may have been in a Tupperware container storing store-bought mushrooms and used in the beef wellingtons. This occurred after her estranged husband Simon Patterson asked if she used a dehydrator to poison his parents, Erin said. She agreed she did not tell anyone about this realisation.
3. Under cross-examination, Erin denied that the purpose of the fateful lunch on 29 July 2023 was to discuss advice about a medical issue she had. Erin acknowledged she told Simon about “some medical stuff” when she invited him to the lunch about two weeks prior.
4. Erin says the medical issues referred to gastric bypass surgery for weight loss she was planning to have. She said she had a pre-surgery appointment booked for this.
5. Erin said she felt “ashamed” about a message she sent to her Facebook friends in December 2022 where she wrote “fuck em” in relation to her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson. She rejected the prosecution’s suggestion that messages in a group Facebook chat reflected her true feelings towards Don and Gail.
Welcome to day 29 of Erin Patterson’s triple-murder trial
Patterson, who began testifying on Monday afternoon, will return to the witness box for a fifth day.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC will continue cross-examining Patterson.
The trial, which is in its sixth week, will resume from 10.30am.
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 is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The attempted murder charge relates to Heather’s husband, Ian.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
