This was published 9 months ago
The jury has left the courtroom to begin its deliberations.
One juror swore an oath and the others took an affirmation not to discuss the evidence with others outside the jury.
“Whatever verdicts you reach ... they must be unanimous verdicts,” Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale told the group.
“I now ask you to retire and consider your verdicts.”
Accused killer Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder.
Two men have been balloted off the jury in the final step before deliberations can begin, reducing the panel of 14 jurors to 12.
At the start of the trial, in late April, the jury comprised 10 men and five women before one man was discharged, leaving nine men and five women.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale today told the jurors they weren’t to interact with their colleagues who were balloted off until after the trial.
“Can I say a very warm thank you to those people who will be balloted off,” he said.
After five days of instructing the jury, Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale has reached the third and final part of his charge.
This, Beale said, related to the fact the jury must come up with a unanimous verdict when deciding the charges against accused killer Erin Patterson.
“You must all agree on it,” he said.
“To find the accused guilty of charge one, you must all agree she is guilty of that offence. In exactly the same way if you are to find her not guilty.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale is moving onto part two of his charge. He joked to the jury that he’s reached page 329 of his 365 pages of his instructions.
After a break, he began outlining the list of issues that are up to the jury to decide.
They are summarised below:
“The prosecution has to prove intention,” Beale told the jury.
An accused person is presumed to be innocent unless, and until, they are proven to be guilty, Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale has reminded the jury.
“That is absolutely fundamental,” Beale said.
He said the prosecution had to satisfy the jury that Erin Patterson was guilty of the charges she faced, and that the accused woman didn’t have to prove anything.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale is now taking the jury through the four elements of the charges of murder and attempted murder.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder.
Beale told the jurors that to find the prosecution had proven Patterson was guilty of murder, they had to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt of four elements:
The final alleged lie the prosecution argues Erin Patterson told her lunch guests was that she was planning to have gastric bypass surgery, Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale has told the jury.
The prosecution alleges Patterson lied to her guests when she told them at the July 29, 2023 lunch that she had an upcoming medical procedure, or upcoming appointment booked, for gastric weight loss surgery.
In her evidence, Patterson told the jury she hoped her family could help with logistics around her children and wouldn’t have to tell them the real reason.
“Gastric bypass surgery. I had an appointment for early September, yes,” she told the jury.
Erin Patterson’s alleged lie about her having cancer is now the focus of Justice Christopher Beale’s instructions to the Supreme Court jury.
Beale said the accused woman, in her evidence, told the jury that she’d thought she had ovarian cancer years earlier. Patterson said in her evidence: “I led them [her lunch guests] to believe I might be needing treatment regarding that in the next few weeks or months.”
Beale told the jury that Patterson later said in her evidence: “I didn’t say that I received a diagnosis, no.”
Ian Wilkinson, the sole surviving guest, said that at the July 29, 2023 lunch, Patterson told the group she had cancer and while no specific course of treatment was outlined, he understood that maybe the treatment wasn’t yet specified.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale is instructing the jury about the alleged lies Erin Patterson told her lunch guests before she had them over for a beef Wellington meal on July 29, 2023.
The prosecution alleges Patterson lied about the reason she hosted the lunch when she said, in her evidence, to the jury that “the kids and I had such a good time seeing Nanna and Papa on the 24th of June [2023].”
Simon Patterson, in his evidence, said his estranged wife approached him at church and told him it was important he be at the lunch as she had important medical news and wanted advice on how to break it to her children.
“And would I be able to come,” Simon Patterson said. “She said she was keen for it not to be with the kids. Because she wanted to talk about this … serious matter.”
Welcome to our coverage of day 40 of the triple-murder trial of accused mushroom cook Erin Patterson in Morwell, where Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale is in the final stretch of giving his directions to the jury.
“Today you will be retiring to consider your verdicts,” Beale told the jury.
In a criminal trial, a judge’s directions to a jury – known as a charge – are their final instructions about what jurors need to consider when deliberating their verdict.