12.47pm
Trying to say sorry in text messages from abroad
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The jury is hearing more about an exchange of text messages between Erin and Simon Patterson in December 2022.
On December 9, 2022, the court heard, Simon sent a text saying he had learnt more about the financial side of things and he believed he and Erin could sort out their differences.
On December 16, 2022, Erin Patterson sent a video of the children in New Zealand riding a toboggan on the North Island that they had first visited in 2013, when Erin was pregnant with her second child.
She told the court they would go back every time they went to New Zealand, but that visit was the first time their daughter was finally old enough to ride.
Patterson said she knew Simon would be very happy to see the footage.
The court heard Simon texted back to thank her and compliment her camera work.
Erin Patterson said that at the time, the child support issue had been sorted out, and the school issue was close to being resolved in the new year and did not require any further discussion.
“I remember sending those messages, actually,” she told the jury.
“It reminded me of the happy holidays that Simon and I had there and I felt sad about the way we had finished conflict before we left for New Zealand.”
Patterson said she was trying to say sorry to Simon and that she wished her communication was better.
“He seemed to have taken it very graciously,” she said.
12.48pm
Erin Patterson’s early weigh-ins and a lifetime of body image struggles
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Growing up, Erin Patterson would be asked to get on the scales to make sure she wasn’t putting on too much weight.
It is a small detail about her upbringing that she has told the jury as she speaks of a lifetime battle with body image issues.
“I tried every diet under the sun,” she said.
Her eating habits had been a rollercoaster over the years. She said she went to the extreme of barely eating when she was young, before bingeing in her adult life. “Eating everything you can get your hands on before feeling sick,” the court was told.
Erin Patterson is visibly distressed as she speaks about her poor relationship with food and her private binge-eating habits.
Using a tissue to dab her watery eyes, Patterson told the court she had engaged in binge-eating since her mid-20s and would engage in the behaviour while the children were at school and Simon was at work.
“In some intense periods it could be daily,” she said. “It could vary in intensity.“
Leading up to July 2023, Erin said she would engage in binge-eating two or three times a week on average, maybe a little bit more.
Accused killer cook Erin Patterson has conceded death cap mushrooms were in a beef Wellington she fed her lunch guests after telling a jury she often foraged for fungi and enjoyed buying exotic varieties because they tasted better.
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