Erin says when they separated permanently in 2015, they wrote down the assets they owned and “divided it down the middle”.
She says no lawyers were involved.
Patterson says at the time the couple owned two properties. She says the couple each took over a remaining loan to Simon’s siblings and their partners.
Patterson reflects on the permanent separation:
Patterson says the family continued to go on holidays together after the separation.
She says they went to Queensland, New Zealand, South Africa and “a lot of time” at her mother’s house in Eden, NSW.
Mandy asks about Patterson’s relationship with Simon’s parents,DonandGailPatterson, after the couple’s permanent separation.
Her voices appears to break as she answers:
Erin Patterson started up a second-hand bookstore in Western Australia
Opened in 2011, she says this involved travelling around the state and collecting books.
Erin says her and her sister were the beneficiaries of their mother’s estate after she died in 2019.
This allowed her to buy a home in Mount Waverley and Leongatha, she says.
Mandy turns to Erin and her estranged husbandSimonPatterson’sdecision to move back toVictoriafrom Western Australia in 2013.
Erin says the couple chose to come back to Victoria to allow her son to be close to his cousins and his grandparents,DonandGail Patterson.
She says the family stayed with Don and Gail for a “good six weeks” when they first returned.
Erin and Simon’s daughter was born in 2014.
Patterson’s defence lawyer asks her about her inheritances
She confirms her grandmother died in 2006 and she was one of a large number of beneficiaries.
First distribution of the estate was about February 2007 and the last was towards the end of 2015, Patterson says.
BarristerColin MandySC asks what the money allowed her to do.
“It did allow us to buy a home. When we settled in Western Australia without a mortgage,” she says.
Patterson said the couple helped her estranged husband Simon’s siblings and their partners purchase their homes with loans of around $400,000.
She says the amount and timing of paying the money back was up to them. The loan was subject to inflation but not interest, Patterson says.
The jury has entered the courtroom in Morwell
ErinPattersonis continuing to give evidence in her triple murder trial.
While we wait for today’s proceedings to get under way, here’s a recap of what the jury heard on Monday:
Patterson entered the witness box to begin testifying in her triple murder trial. Members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, includingIanWilkinson, were in the court.
The accused said in the months prior to the July 2023 lunch she felt her relationship with the Patterson family, particularly her in-lawsDonandGail, had “a bit more distance”. She said from the start of 2023 her relationship with her estranged husband,Simon, was “functional” and the pair communicated mainly about logistical matters.
Patterson had a “never-ending battle of low self-esteem” for most of her adult life, she told the court. She said around the time of the lunch she was planning to have gastric bypass surgery for weight loss.
Defence lawyerColinMandySC asked his client about the tension in her relationship with Simon, which involved multiple separations between 2009 and 2015. She said the pair “just couldn’t communicate well” when they had a disagreement. “We would just feel hurt,” she said.
The prosecution closed its case on Monday afternoon before Patterson entered the witness box.
Welcome to day 25 ofErin Patterson’s triple murder trial.
Patterson, who began testifying on Monday, is expected to continue giving evidence.
We’re expecting the trial to resume from 10.30am once the jurors enter the courtroom in Morwell.
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 regionalVictoria, on 29 July 2023.
She is accused of murdering her in-laws,DonandGail 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.