Key events
Justice Christopher Beale begins to outline the evidence of digital forensics expert Shamen Fox-Henry, from Victoria police’s cybercrime unit.
He reminds the jury that Fox-Henry gave evidence about the data found on several devices police seized from Patterson’s house a week after the beef wellington lunch.
Jury arrives
The jury has entered the court room in Morwell.
Jury to enter court room at 2:15pm
The jury will enter the court room from 2.15pm.
Justice Christopher Beale will continue delivering his charge to jurors.
We’ll bring you live updates when the trial resumes.
We’re waiting for the jury to enter the court room in Morwell.
In the meantime, here’s how the trial played out last week during closing submissions:
Our justice and courts reporter, Nino Bucci, was in Morwell yesterday and filed this story on what Beale told the jury:
What the jury heard yesterday
Here’s a recap of what the jury heard on Tuesday:
1. Justice Christopher Beale began delivering his instructions, or charge, to the jury before it retires to consider its verdict later this week. He said the jurors were the “judges of the facts” in the case.
2. The jury should cast aside prejudices and sympathies while deliberating the verdict, Beale said. “The fact Patterson told lies must not cause you to be prejudiced against her,” he said.
3. Beale said Patterson’s trial had garnered “unprecedented media attention” and a lot of public comment. “If any of that has reached your eyes or ears or does so in the coming days … you must be particularly careful not to let it influence you in any way,” he said.
4. If the jury accepts Patterson was of good character they can use it to assess her credibility, Beale said.
5. Beale outlined alleged prior inconsistent statements by witnesses. He said jurors could accept the earlier statement made by a witness or use the earlier statement to assess the reliability of a witness.
Welcome to day 37
Welcome to day 37 of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial.
Justice Christopher Beale will continue instructing the jurors this morning before they begin their deliberations later this week.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, in regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023.
She is accused of murdering her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson. The attempted murder charge relates to Heather’s husband, Ian.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests with “murderous intent”, but her lawyers say the poisoning was a tragic accident.
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