Erin ‘never actually asked’ about condition of lunch guests after meal, court hears: Trial day three, as it happened

Simon told the court that Erin had been “extremely aggressive” about the issue and that he had suggested to use a mediator to resolve their issues.

“I could see that Erin and my’s communication about it… it wasn’t working. And, yeah, I guess, from my point of view, Erin was being extremely aggressive. And so I thought a mediator would probably help us communicate about it,” Simon told the jury.

“My understanding was I was going to be asked by child support to pay a certain number of dollars to Erin, and then she would be responsible for paying things like school fees and doctors’ fees, and that was based on the advice that I received from the child support people.”

They exchanged the following messages after the family visited Monash Medical Centre.

Simon: We’re waiting to get seen, no symptoms, which is encouraging. We’re keen to see how you’re going. The kids have had numbing cream put on their hands and arms, preparing for the blood test.

Erin: I feel nauseous and sore tummy but they gave me [medication]. I’m in a room somewhere and keen to see kids when I can. [One of the children] hates blood tests.

Simon: Sounds like you’re well looked after. Kids waiting for their tests. Not sure how long this will take.

Erin responded that it wasn’t about paying her, but the anaesthetist.

Simon: That’s exactly the kind of thing they explicitly instructed me not to pay.

Simon said the department had told him not to pay for things he would have usually paid for, particularly school fees, to avoid paying twice.

“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.

Further text messages were also shown about pick-up arrangements for the children, play dates, flying lessons, and technicalities around running the livestream at church.

I’m sorry I lashed out. I was feeling very hurt and lashed out. It’s no excuse. I’d like to not do that again

Simon responded: “You’re as far off the mark as you possibly could be on this, you already have the facts, however, of course, you’re free to choose to think whatever you want to despite them.”

Several hours after that initial message exchange, Simon said he understood why Erin was “mad” at him but asked her to consider Gail’s feelings. “I know they would love you to be there because they’ve been talking about this and losing sleep over this,” Simon said.

About an hour later, Erin messaged Simon again to apologise her remarks.

“I’m sorry I lashed out. I was feeling very hurt and lashed out. It’s no excuse. I’d like to not do that again,” she said.

Simon responded by apologising for raising his voice.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice and my tone, too. I wouldn’t call what either of us did shouting, but I’m sure we’re referring to the same thing, no matter what you call it,” he texted.

Simon told the jury the issue of the birthday invitation had caused a lot of anguish for his parents.

“Mum and Dad were really stressed about it. They had genuinely believed that they’d invited Erin to the lunch. I think they thought Dad had invited her to the lunch. That’s what happened,” Simon said.

He said the conversation had occurred around the time that he and Erin had been discussing child support arrangements following changes to his tax return status.

The jury heard that at the time, there was a lot of tension between Simon and Erin, and between Erin and Simon’s parents, Don and Gail.