Erin Patterson argued with her estranged husband about a late invite to his mother’s birthday party in the months before she allegedly murdered her.
On Friday, Simon Patterson again faced the woman accused of killing his parents Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.
They died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in a pastry dish during a lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive the lunch, with Patterson charged with attempted murder over his alleged poisoning.
The jury was shown a series of text messages sent between the couple on October 14 and 15 the previous year.
In them, Patterson lashed out at Simon after he sent her a late invite to his mother’s 70th birthday party.
‘Seems that my invite tomorrow is a bit of an afterthought and not even from your parents so I might pass thanks,’ Patterson complained.
She told Simon she would rather not go somewhere she was not welcome.
‘What I reckon is everybody forgot to actually invite me to this thing and I feel very very hurt about that,’ she wrote.
Simon assured Patterson his parents wanted her to attend the party.
‘I ask that you consider mum’s feelings. They’d love you to be there,’ Simon insisted.
After some back-and-forth Patterson eventually agreed to come along with their two children.
Simon told the court he believed his wife ‘suffered from mental illness – post-natal depression, especially after [our son] was born.’
Dressed in a brown, cotton jumper, Patterson glared in Simon’s direction as he gave evidence for the second day running.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Simon told the court his relationship with Patterson at the time of his mum’s party suffered from ‘a lot of tension’.
In another tough day in the witness box, Simon was again brought to tears when asked to watch a video of his father performing a scientific experiment with his son.
Titled ‘Rocket Car’ the video showed Don Patterson attempting to power a toy car with a rocket.
But instead of rocketing forward, the rocket simply smoked out on the spot.
‘It’s working but why isn’t it going?’ a voice could be heard saying, turning Simon’s tears to a broad smile.
The court heard Patterson had ‘hated hospitals’ throughout her relationship with Simon.
The jury had previously heard Patterson had been reluctant to remain at hospital after the deadly lunch.
Her children had also been afraid of hospitals due to some previous bad experiences which saw a tube inserted into her daughter and doctors bungling an x-ray on her son.
‘They’re arguing with me now saying I might have to go to Dandenong…this doctor is not listening to me and being a bit mean about it,’ she texted Simon after attending hospital after the fateful lunch.
In another message, she texted: ‘I’m going to Clayton. Squeaky wheel.’
‘I feel nauseous and sore tummy,’ she texted later.
In a series of exchanges, the couple were seen talking about potassium levels and how the children had progressed while in hospital.
The jury has heard Patterson invited her in-laws over for the deadly lunch to tell them about a false cancer diagnosis and ask for advice on how to tell the children.
On Friday, the court heard Patterson had a history of discharging herself against medical advice.
Her barrister Colin Mandy, SC asked Simon if Patterson often complained about being unwell without substance.
‘No,’ Simon responded.
He told the court Patterson struggled with sleep apnea and was told by her that she had been diagnosed with something like multiple sclerosis.
Asked about Patterson ever mentioning ovarian cancer, Simon claimed it was news to him.
‘Erin’s never told me she was concerned about ovarian cancer,’ he said.
The jury continued to be shown examples of the couple squabbling leading up to the lunch.
In a message sent on November 22, 2022, Patterson sent Simon a terse message asking him to pay an anaesthetist bill from their son’s surgery.
‘Can you please pay this? I paid a surgeon an out-of-pocket fee a couple of days ago,’ she asked.
Simon responded the Department of Human Services had instructed him not to pay anything for the kids after he agreed to pay her child support.
‘So I cannot pay that, I’m afraid,’ he told her.
Patterson insisted the money wasn’t for her, but the anaesthetist.
‘That’s exactly the kind of thing they explicitly instructed me not to pay,’ he told her.
‘She was saying she’d seen other people, they end up double-paying, and they get really upset, and it actually creates problems in the relationship. So it was on that basis,’ Simon said.
As tension increased between the couple, the jury heard Patterson had gone to Simon’s parents asking for help.
In a message by Simon to Erin, he confronted her about that meeting.
‘Mum and dad told me you asked them over,’ he wrote.
‘I understand there are two main issues. 1: How (our son) is going. 2: Finances for our kids.’
Simon suggested getting in a mediator to help the couple communicate better.
He told the court Erin had become ‘extremely aggressive’.
‘Erin’s and my communication about it wasn’t working. From my point of view Erin was being extremely aggressive, so I thought a mediator would help us communicate about it,’ he said.
He will continue to give evidence on Monday after the jury was allowed to go home at the lunch break.
Before allowing them to leave, Justice Christopher Beale again warned the jury not to be tempted to talk about the case or seek out any information on it.
The trial continues.