What the court heard on day three of Erin Patterson trial
Day three of Erin Patterson’s murder trial has wrapped up.
Here are five things the court heard today:
1. Text messages shown to the court revealed Erin had texted Simon on the eve of the mushroom lunch, saying she had she spent a “small fortune” on buying eye fillet steak for her “special meal” of beef wellingtons. She said she hoped Simon would change his mind after he turned down the invitation.
2. Simon recalled Erin saying she had conducted a “blind taste test” with her daughter by putting dehydrated mushrooms in muffins. He told the court Erin remarked it was “interesting” that their child preferred the muffin that contained mushrooms given she didn’t like mushrooms.
3. Jurors also heard details about Erin’s relationship with Simon’s parents. He told the court Erin was particularly close with his father, Don.
4. Asked about Erin’s self-esteem, Simon said his estranged wife was “not particularly happy with how she is.”
“I don’t think she has high self-esteem,” he told the court.
5. Simon recalled Erin’s mixed plate collection at her home in Leongatha. Under cross-examination, he described her collection, saying there were some plates that matched and a single colourful plate.
We’ll be back tomorrow to live blog day four from 10.30am.
Thanks for following along.
Updated
Simon agrees child support was assessed at about $40 a month, the court hears.
“It was hardly anything,” he says.
Simon agrees up until this point he had been paying for the children’s school fees.
Mandy asks Simon about child support authorities advising him to stop paying school fees.
Simon tells the court he was advised he would be “double paying” if he paid Erin child support and paid the fees. He says this was before he knew the child support amount would only be $40 a month.
Simon agrees this created some friction between the couple.
Updated
