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.
Updated
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.
Updated
