Key events
Here’s a recap of what the jury heard today
The trial has been adjourned for the day. Here is a recap of what the jury heard on day 21 of Patterson’s trial:
1. Jurors were shown Erin Patterson’s Woolworths purchase history, which included two items of 500g sliced mushrooms bought on 23 July 2023 in Leongatha.
2. Jurors were shown text messages between Patterson and her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, in which the pair discussed medical appointments for Patterson, including a needle biopsy on 28 June 2023. Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall said obtained medical records found no appointment matching this.
3. Eppingstall said no cancer diagnosis for Patterson was found on the Victorian cancer registry database.
4. Police never located a phone connected to Patterson that the prosecution labelled “Phone A”, the court heard.
5. The jury was shown screenshots of webpages, including death cap mushroom sightings on the iNaturalist website. The URLs, which Eppingstall copied and pasted into a web browser in December 2024, were extracted from a computer seized from Patterson’s house in August 2023.
We’ll bring you live updates tomorrow from 10.30am.
Detective agrees text messages consistent with Patterson Googling symptoms
Under cross-examination by Erin Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall agrees the text messages are consistent with Patterson being very concerned about her health and Googling her symptoms.
Under questioning by Mandy, Eppingstall says he understands Patterson had previously discharged herself from a medical setting.
Mandy shows a discharge at own risk form for Patterson dated 24 January 2015.
The jury is then shown Signal messages between Erin and Simon Patterson from 4-5 January 2022.
Mandy says this is while Patterson was on a trip to Tasmania.
On 4 January 2022, Simon writes: “How’s your back today?”
Erin replies on the same day:
It’s getting better each day. It’s my heart that’s troubling me. I’m struggling with the energy to do basic things like get in and out of the car and after I have a shower I need to lie down and rest because the whole ordeal exhausts me …
Later that day Erin messages Simon:
It feels like my heart is working overtime to deliver oxygen to my body and not doing it very well. I’m breathing so hard after everything I do.
Simon replies:
Holy crap, that sure is a whole lot more extreme than “low energy.” That’s making it really difficult to do normal life …
On 5 January 2022, Erin messages Simon:
I’ve been reading a lot about echocardiograms, which is the ultrasound of the heart that I need, that I’m scheduled for at korumburra [sic] hospital on Feb 3rd …
Notes from an appointment with a doctor on 11 October 2021 say Patterson has experienced “worsening swelling in feet”.
A “complete history” of Patterson at Leongatha Healthcare is shown to the jury.
It says her father had pancreatic cancer, her paternal and maternal aunts had ovarian cancer and her daughter had a benign ovarian mass at six months.
Mandy then shows Eppingstall some of Patterson’s medical records between 2021 and 2023.
Eppingstall says they “look like medical records” and says he cannot remember reading this record.
One page shows a consultation on 21 October 2021 with a doctor in Leongatha.
The notes say “Erin worries about ovarian cancer. Has been googling her symptoms, thinks her symptoms have be suggestive of ovary [sic] cancer – US Ovaries …”
US refers to ultrasound, the court hears.
The next note says some results were received and were “fine”. The notes say an “MRI” has been booked for 6 November.
Mandy asks Eppingstall about the evidence he obtained of various health records for Patterson.
He asks Eppingstall about records in 2023 that related to ovarian cancer or a complaint about this.
Mandy asks if any records prior to this showed Patterson was concerned about ovarian cancer.
He says a March 2023 record showed she attended Leongatha Health and got a self-administered test. Mandy says this is for cervical cancer.
Eppingstall says police found no records that indicated Patterson’s concern about ovarian cancer.
Lead detective being cross-examined
Warren has concluded examining Eppingstall.
Patterson’s defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, has begun cross-examining Eppingstall.
He begins by asking whether Patterson has any prior criminal history.
Eppingstall says she does not.
Another screenshot shows the term “inaturalist” searched in Bing.
The next screenshot shows the homepage of iNaturalist as of December 2024, Eppingstall says.
Eppingstall says he attended the Korumburra Middle Hotel to inquire about purchases made by Patterson in May 2022.
He said the venue found a home delivery for a family meal on 28 May 2022.
It was delivered to Patterson’s home at the time in Korumburra, the court hears.
The next screenshot shows a reported death cap mushroom sighting in the Melbourne CBD posted to iNaturalist on 18 May 2022, Eppingstall says.
Another screenshot shows a Google search of the term “Korumburra middle pub”.
The next screenshot shows the website of the Korumburra Middle Hotel.
The first screenshot shows a world map with red dots indicating death cap mushroom sightings posted on iNaturalist as of December 2024, Eppingstall says.
Eppingstall says the second screenshot shows the “observation” section of the iNaturalist websites and is zoomed into the Victoria area.
On the right-hand side is a list of recent death cap sightings as of December 2024, Eppingstall says.
Court shown screenshots of webpages found on computer seized by police
Prosecutor Jane Warren asks Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall about a report for the Cooler Master computer that detectives seized from Erin Patterson’s house on 5 August 2023.
Warren asks Eppingstall about the “Chrome web visits” listed in the report.
It shows several URLs for the citizen science website iNaturalist on 28 May 2022.
Eppingstall says he put all the URLs listed in the report into a web browser and took screenshots of the webpages.
He says this was done on 9 December 2024.
Jurors are shown the screenshots of the webpages Eppingstall found.
Justice Christopher Beale tells jurors the images are screenshots taken in 2024 and “it’s being put in evidence because of alleged activity by the accused on these pages on 28 May 2022”.
He reminds jurors about previous evidence that information on a webpage may have changed between 2022 and 2024.
Prosecutor Jane Warren asks Eppingstall about call records for the mobile phone number ending “783”.
She says Simon Patterson previously gave evidence that he told Erin Patterson on 30 July his parents were unwell after the lunch. He says he could not be sure if he also mentioned Ian and Heather, Warren says.
Simon said the accused told him on this date she had experienced diarrhoea which was quite frequent, Warren says.
The jury is shown call records, with some rows highlighted.
One highlighted call was on 30 July 2023 at 11.08am. Eppingstall says the call records show a phone call from Simon to Patterson.
It indicates the phone connected … The call duration was six minutes and 18 seconds.
Another highlighted call at 2.23pm shows a call from Simon to Patterson lasting six minutes and 6 seconds, Eppingstall says.
The jurors are back in the courtroom.
Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall is continuing to give evidence.
The court has adjourned for a lunch break.
The trial will resume at 2.15pm.
