Erin Patterson vented about her in-laws to online mates in the months leading up to the fateful lunch that claimed their lives.
On Thursday, Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry was taken through a series of Facebook messages allegedly sent by Patterson seven months before the deadly lunch.
In the messages, Patterson described her in-laws as a ‘lost cause’ and exclaimed ‘f**k them’.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to killing three lunch guests and the attempted murder of Pastor Ian Wilkinson on July 29, 2023.
Patterson showed no emotion at the back of courtroom four of the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Victoria’s east., where her Supreme Court hearing is being held.
Mr Fox-Henry was able to recover the Facebook messages from a Samsung phone seized by police upon her arrest the following month August 2023.
The jury was told that Patterson had been in an online conversation with participants Danni Barkly, Jenny Hay, Bronwyn Rap and Joy Korrs in the weeks before Christmas of 2022.
The court has already been told Patterson’s relationship with her husband Simon had taken a turn for the worse around that time after Simon listed himself as separated on his tax return.
The trial heard on Thursday that seven months before the deadly lunch, Erin Patterson (pictured in April) described her in-laws as a ‘lost cause’
Senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry is pictured arriving at Latrobe Valley law courts on Thursday
Patterson had also wanted child support and the school fees paid.
‘Simon’s dad contacted me this morning to say that he and Gail had tried to talk to Simon about the matters I raised and to get ‘his side’ but he refused to talk about it other than to signal he disagreed with what I said,’ she told her online chums.
‘Beyond that he wont talk about it. So Don said they cant adjudicate if they don’t know both sides and Simon wont give his side. So he said all he can ask is that Simon and I get together to pray for the children.
‘This family I swear to f**king God.’
The jury are no strangers to Patterson’s online friends, with each of them previously appearing at the trial to answer questions.
In one message, Patterson pondered if Don and Gail Patterson had ‘any capacity for self-reflection at all’.
‘I mean clearly the fact that Simon refuses to talk about personal issues in part stems from the behaviour of his parents and how they operate,’ she wrote around December 6, 2022.
‘According to them, they’ve never asked him what’s going on with us, why I keep kicking him out, why his son hates him, etc. It’s too awkward or uncomfortable or something. So that’s his learned behaviour. Just don’t talk about this s**t.’
Don Patterson (left) has asked Erin Patterson to pray in order to save her relationship with his son SImon. He is pictured with wife Gail Patterson
Patterson claimed his father-in-law’s solution to her relationship problems with his son was to ‘pray’.
‘Don rang me last night to say that he thought there was a solution to all this. If Simon and I get together and try to talk and pray together,’ she wrote.
‘And then he also said, Simon had indicated there was a solution to the financial issues if I withdraw this child support claim?!’
The jury has previously heard Simon eventually paid Patterson a little under $40 a month in child support after changing his relationship status on his tax return.
‘My head nearly exploded and I was like, what, what? I’m sorry, what?? And Don goes, oh sorry, just ignore what I’ve said,’ Patterson told her mates.
‘I don’t want to get involved. So anyway, I sent a group message to them all last night saying how Simon is behaving is unconscionable and asking me to withdraw the child support plan is wrong and disadvantages me and his children, and how dare you, etc.
‘Don messaged to say that he and Gail don’t want to get involved in the financial things. But just hope we will pray for the kids.’
Patterson claimed she told her in-laws she wanted them to be accountable for the decisions their son made concerning their grandchildren.
Erin Patterson in the days after that fateful lunch
Patterson’s barrister Sophie Stafford questioned a council investigator over one specific Asian grocer he had visited
‘I would hope they care about their grandchildren enough to care about what Simon is doing,’ she wrote.
‘Don said they tried to talk to him, but he refused to talk about it, so they’re staying out of it, but want us to pray together.
‘I’m sick of this s**t. I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing, but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable, and not wanting to get involved in their son’s personal matters, are overriding that. So f**k them.’
Patterson claimed she had become so frustrated with her in-laws she no longer intended to read any of their messages to her.
‘I don’t want to hear it. Simon’s will just be horrible and be gas lighting and abusive and it will ruin my day and his parents will be more weasel words about not getting involved,’ she wrote.
Patterson accused Simon’s parents of taking his side, despite their assertions they had not.
‘But by refusing to hold Simon to account, they’ve made it clear his word means more than mine. So that speaks volumes, even if they claim they haven’t taken sides,’ she wrote.
Patterson expressed frustration that Don and Gail had failed to contact her and ask if she was ‘okay’.
Simon Patterson gave evidence at the start of the trial
‘So that tells me their choices. Simon wants to walk away from his responsibilities too, well that’s his choice. Maybe it’s easier if he’s not involved in even paying their school fees,’ she wrote.
‘Means I can choose their school all by myself and don’t have to refer to him. If he wants them to go to a private Christian school, then he can help pay for it.
‘If he doesn’t want me to help, sorry, if he doesn’t want to help pay for it, then I don’t have to send them there, do I? So maybe it just means I have even more freedom about my choices, blessing in disguise.’
Patterson, who her mates previously told the jury claimed to be an atheist, told her friends she hardly attended church anymore.
‘I haven’t been to their church in months, kids go with Simon every second Sunday and came to one with me at Leongatha the other Sunday,’ she said.
In one of the final messages shown to the jury on Thursday, Patterson branded her estranged husband a ‘deadbeat’.
‘His mum was horrified I had claimed child support. Why isn’t she horrified her son is such a deadbeat that I had no choice but to claim?,’ she told them.
Giving evidence throughout much of the day, Mr Fox-Henry further revealed allegations Patterson had searched for death cap mushrooms on a home computer.
Ian Wilkinson enters the court on Thursday. He gave evidence in the first days of the trial
He confirmed the device was a computer sent for analysis after it was seized from Patterson’s home on August 5, 2023.
Mr Fox-Henry told the jury he found a Google Chrome history which revealed a search for www.inaturalist.org/observations and ‘some numbers’ just after 7.23pm on May 28, 2022.
The court heard the URL page was titled: ‘Death cap mushroom from Melbourne Vic Australia’ and included information the sighting was made by an Inaturalist user at Bricker Reserve, Moorabbin at 2.36pm on May 18.
The jury previously heard iNaturalist is an app that was used by experts to identify and upload the location of death caps at Outtrim and Loch.
The jury was also taken to images found on Patterson’s devices including a dehydrator containing mushrooms and images providing information on ovarian cancer.
The jury has previously heard Patterson falsely claimed to have cancer to her in-laws during the deadly lunch.
Mr Fox-Henry said he was aware Patterson’s Samsung phone retrieved by police had been ‘factory reset’ or wiped completely and reset multiple times between December 2, 2022 and August 6, 2023.
In other evidence aired on Thursday, Monash Council Environmental Health Officer Troy Schonknecht provided an insight into his investigation into Patterson’s claims she bought dried mushrooms for the deadly lunch from an Asian grocer on his turf.
Monash Council Environmental Health Officer Troy Schonknecht leaves court on Thursday
The jury saw Mr Schonknecht’s investigation document which listed the businesses he visited and contained photos of mushrooms and packaging he found at those stores.
The businesses listed were: Everyday Asian Supermarket, Golden Grocery, Little Korea, Pacific Asian Oakleigh and Oakleigh Fresh Fruit Barn in Oakleigh.
In Clayton, he visited: Sarawan Spices & Home Entertainment, Hong Kong Asian Food Supermarket, Fresh Fruit Mart, Alishaan India Pty Ltd and Jireh Mart.
Mr Schonknecht said he informed his findings to Victoria Health Department officer Sally Ann Atkinson who, the jury heard, previously spoke with Patterson for several hours about where she sourced the mushrooms.
Patterson’s barrister Sophie Stafford questioned Mr Schonknecht about the mushrooms he found at the Golden Grocery, which had been repackaged into plastic bags and had their own label applied.
The jury has previously heard Patterson described the dried mushrooms she claimed to have purchased from an Asian grocer had come in a bag that was not resealable and had a white label.
The trial continues.
