How Erin Patterson's Defence is Painting a Picture of Family Love in Mushroom Trial

The defence in Erin Patterson's triple murder trial is building a narrative of a loving mother who had close relationships with her alleged victims. Colin Mandy SC presents evidence of Erin's deep connection with in-laws and lunch victims Don and Gail Patterson, portraying them as supportive in-laws who "treated her like a daughter."

• Defence characterises Erin as a devoted mother of two with good character
• Evidence suggests Erin moved from Western Australia to Victoria to be closer to Don and Gail
• Simon Patterson testified that Erin and his parents had "loving and respectful relationships"
• Special bond highlighted between Erin and Don, sharing interests in knowledge, books and science
• Defence emphasises continuing relationship between Erin and in-laws even after separation from Simon
• Jury deliberations expected to begin Wednesday next week

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Day 35 of the Trial

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to day 35 of Erin Patterson's triple murder trial in the Supreme Court in Morwell, regional Victoria. My name is Lisa and I'm here today to give you a perspective of what the defence is saying to the jury. So I've actually got the transcript here and I thought we could go through it and see what her lawyer, mr Mandy Mr Colin Mandy, sc, is arguing and trying to persuade the jury. Now it looks like the jury won't be sent out until possibly Wednesday of next week. So we shall see, won't we? Anyway, while I have you here, can you please go to my website and sign up for my newsletter to get a bonus or two? That would be fantastic. It's mushroommurdertrialcom. Okay, so we know. Ms Erin Patterson has pled not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, and this is from yesterday, which is day 34. So, starting at the beginning, this is Mr Mandy. Of course I'm not going to go all the way back to childhood, you would be glad to know.

Speaker 1: 1:20

Erin Patterson, you know, is a mother of two, devoted, good mum. You've heard that many times. She is a person of good character. She was close with the Patterson family and had been from the very earliest days of her relationship with Simon. The evidence is she always had a good relationship with Gail and Don, a close relationship. They treated her like a daughter. They came and visited Simon and Erin in Western Australia shortly after the birth of their son and Erin said about that visit at page 2152, quote I remember being really relieved that Gail was there, because I felt really out of my depth. I had no idea what to do with a baby and I was not confident, and she was really supportive, gentle and patient with me, and those of you who have had experience of mothers with young children some of that might ring true. Did she give you advice? She did About what? About helping settle him after a feed? About trying to interpret his cries? She gave me good advice about just relax and enjoy it. You don't have to stick to this timetable, this schedule. Just relax and enjoy your baby.

Speaker 1: 2:44

And when they left Western Australia, what Aaron wanted to do was to come back to Victoria to be closer to that support network. That's the evidence. It was isolating being in Western Australia, so that's what they did. Simon's evidence at 318. One of the reasons he gave evidence quote to the jury that in 2012 or thereabouts the family made the decision to move back to Victoria from Perth, from Western Australia. Quote Simon. That's right, yep, mr Mandy. And one of those reasons for that is that Aaron wanted to be closer to your parents Simon yes, mr Mandy and your wider family so that there could be support for the son. And he answered yes. And the daughter who was about to be born said Simon. And then there's Aaron's evidence at 2163.

Speaker 1: 3:44

We'd gone back to Victoria once or twice while we were in Western Australia and Simon and the child just loved being with his cousins and Nana and Papa. So we wanted firstly to come back for him, but secondly, I was trying and ending up being pregnant with their daughter and I wanted to be near Donna and Gail. When we had the daughter and I said so, you said in your answer just before that your son wanted to be near Nana and Papa. Yes, said Erin. Mr Mandy, did you mean Donna and Gail? Obviously she did. Yes, I did mean that. So part of the reason to move back was to be closer to these people that you mentioned a pretty clear passage of evidence consistent with needing and wanting the support of don and gail, loving them. And then simon patterson gave a fair bit of evidence about that on that topic. So 241 and to 244 of the transcript and I'm mentioning the pages so that when you look at the transcript later of my remarks you'll know where to find these passages.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Can I ask you some questions? These questions and answers, about Erin's relationship with Don and Gail. Your parents Do you agree? From your observation, they loved Erin. This is Simon. Erin loved them. She seemed to. Yeah, mr Mandy, and you only observe them to have loving and respectful relationships with each other. Simon, yeah, that seemed to be the case. Yep, that is Mr Mandy's saying Don and Gail with Erin, with Don and Gail. Simon says yeah, that's how it appeared to me.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Quote I think he gave evidence before that Erin and Don were particularly close, simon, yes, because they shared a love of knowledge, knowledge generally, facts, do you agree with that? And his answer was Simon, yeah, more than facts. And I said I was going to list some more things. And then I did Books, yes, science, yes, inquiring, curious minds, enjoy, enjoyed talking to each other about various things, Simon, they did. Erin sought Don's advice about things. Erin, I have known her to do that. Yes, and trusted his advice. I think so, and you will remember the messages in December which have some prominence in this trial Erin seeking advice from Don about how to deal with that topic, and they were ultimately, for various reasons, an important part of her support network.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Simon, I think for some time that was true. They were active and involved. This Mr Mandy Grandparents to the children, simon, they were, mr Mandy there was. There were Jitsi meetings and you'll remember the evidence about that, and on it goes. He recalled his cousin walked Erin down the aisle. He's got Matt there. Oh, he clarifies His cousin Matt walked Erin down the aisle when they got married. David, sorry, thank you, quote even after your separation, erin had been to many lunches at Don and Gail's house with Simon and the kids. Yes, okay, that's what I've got for you at the moment.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate it so much. We're going to stick together and get to the end. How does that sound? More information go to my website mushroommurdertrialcom. You can contact me there. Subscribe to the newsletter. It's the number one newsletter in Liam Gather. Could I say that? I don't know, I'm just talking crap. I'm tired. But thank you so much and if you would like to support me, go to buymeacoffeecom. Thank you to everyone who's done it. I am so grateful because we are at the pointy end of this trial and I do need coffee, so that's brilliant. Thank you for your support, everyone. Don't forget to follow this podcast on your preferred platform. Don't forget to follow this podcast on your preferred platform. Don't forget to follow this podcast on your preferred platform and leave a review. That would be fabulous as well. So, thank you, have a wonderful day and I will keep you up to date. Bye.