Erin Patterson’s two children have given evidence in their mother’s supreme court murder trial. The boy and girl spoke in video statements recorded by police two and a half weeks after the fatal lunch in 2023. Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder.
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00:00In a week when the jury in Erin Patterson's Supreme Court murder trial heard for the first time from the only surviving guest of the mushroom lunch, in-laws of Erin Patterson and the doctors and nurses who treated her and her guests, it was the evidence of her two children that brought the accused to tears.
00:22Erin Patterson was highly emotional as the jury was played the pre-recorded testimonies, appearing visibly upset at some points and rocking backwards and forwards slightly. She also nodded in agreement when her children recounted some details.
00:36The relationship between Erin and Simon Patterson was laid bare, with their eldest child saying things had deteriorated before the fatal lunch.
00:45It's just all very negative, the then 14-year-old told police. I know Dad does a lot of things to try to hurt Mum, such as messing around with the school.
00:55Ms Patterson's son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was quizzed about events just over a fortnight after the fatal meal.
01:02He said his mother was building Lego after the lunch, and described clearing empty lunch plates from the table.
01:09His great-uncle, Ian Wilkinson, had told the jury earlier in the week that the host plate was a different colour to the others.
01:16They were white plates, 15 centimetres in diameter, the boy said.
01:21Were they all just plain white, police asked.
01:24Yes, he replied.
01:25The teen also said he wasn't sure if his mother liked mushrooms, but described her seeing them on a walk in the Curranborra Botanic Gardens during COVID.
01:35I remember Mum took a picture of them because she thought they looked nice, he said.
01:39The court heard earlier in the day from Erin's then nine-year-old daughter, who described eating leftovers for dinner on the Sunday.
01:46How did you know it was leftovers from the lunch, she's asked.
01:50Mum told me, she replied.
01:52I remember I was asking what we were having that night.
01:55She said she was making leftovers from yesterday's lunch.
01:59The trial resumes next week.