Erin Patterson has returned to the witness box, starting day 25 of her trial by telling the jury about an inheritance she was given from her grandmother after she died in 2006.
Patterson’s defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, is asking about who received the inheritance.
Next to Patterson in the witness box is a paper cup, a jug of water and a box of tissues. You can also see a pair of dark-coloured glasses resting on the wooden box to her right.
She is speaking into a microphone that records her evidence.
A court sketch of Erin Patterson.Credit: Anita Lester
Patterson confirmed she was one many beneficiaries of that estate, which was distributed over a number of years. She said the first of the distributions was in February 2007, and the last was towards the end of 2015.
“There were a number of commercial companies that needed to be sold,” she said.
Patterson said the funds had allowed her to travel internationally and to buy a home to settle in when they were in Quinninup, Western Australia.
“We were able to help out Simon’s siblings with loans as well to help them buy homes,” she said.
The court heard the loans were in the order of $400,000 each.
Tucking her brown hair behind her right ear, she said the payments covered inflation with no interest.
“I started a second-hand bookstore,” Patterson said. “I spent months travelling around south-west Western Australia collecting books.”
That was through estate sales and from libraries getting rid of stock, she said.
“I painted the inside, I brought about 30 or 35 bookshelves from IKEA and put them together. And I got things like internet and phone put on,” she said.
She operated that bookshop for about a year. The jury heard Patterson’s father died in 2011 and her mother in 2019. Patterson said she got access to some of her mother’s estate, which allowed her to buy the Mount Waverley property and a block in Gibson Street, Leongatha.
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