Erin Patterson faces a new court battle over her wealth. Photo / NewsWire
Held accountable for the cold-blooded murder of three in-laws, Erin Patterson may soon face a new court battle over her wealth.
But according to her husband, Simon Patterson, the convicted triple-murderer was never particularly bothered by money.
And she had little reason to be – for the majority of her adult life she was a wealthy woman after inheriting millions from her family.
Giving evidence at her trial, Simon said a year after they began dating in 2005, Patterson’s grandmother died, leaving behind a substantial estate when she was 32.
Paid out in regular instalments over an eight-year period, he estimated her share of the inheritance totalled about A$2 million ($2.22m).
Patterson received a further sizeable inheritance from her mother Heather Scutter’s estate after her death in 2019.
“I think both of us think money was; money has not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions,” Simon said.
He said the couple used part of the inheritance to travel around Australia and overseas after their wedding in 2007 and to buy and sell properties in Western Australia and Victoria.
The windfall allowed Patterson and her family a life most would be envious of – with regular trips to New Zealand and an extended holiday to Africa.
“I was comfortable financially, such that I could afford to go to university and I didn’t need to work a full-time job at the same time,” she told the jury.
In the witness box, Simon agreed Patterson was “very generous” to his three siblings, each receiving large loans to purchase their family homes without interest.
Instead, the couples were expected to pay back their loan as they could with indexation.
In the years after their final separation in 2015, Patterson and her husband remained financially intertwined, with both their names listed as joint owners on several properties.
In about January 2021, they began to divide assets, with Simon taking the former family home in Korumburra.
Patterson took full ownership of a unit on Lyons St in Mount Waverley, a home on Shellcot Rd in Korumburra and her under-construction home on Gibson St in Leongatha.
The Shellcot Rd home was sold after Patterson moved into Gibson St – where the fatal lunch occurred – and she sold the Mount Waverley unit six weeks after her arrest for about A$1m.
Patterson bought the Gibson St block in 2019 for A$260,000 ($288,000) and enlisted Simon to help design what she expected would be her forever home, moving in 2022.
“I saw it as the final house, meaning I wanted it to be a house where the children would grow up … and I’d grow old there,” she told her trial.
But a year later, Patterson would find herself in custody after the poisoning murders of Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt Heather Wilkinson.
An order, made by Justice Michelle Quigley on July 23, states that “no person shall dispose of or otherwise deal with the property” at 84 Gibson Street, Leongatha.
It further states it is “likely” that an application for restitution or compensation would be made against Patterson.
The restraining order was sought by the Director of Public Prosecutions, who argued the property was considered “tainted” by Patterson’s crimes.
Under Victoria’s Sentencing Act 1991, victims of a crime can apply for restitution or compensation.
Orders for compensation, of an amount a court sees fit, can be made for pain and suffering experienced, for medical and counselling expenses, or for any other expense incurred as a direct result of the offending.
An application for a compensation order must be made within 12 months of a guilty verdict or conviction by a victim or on a victim’s behalf.
During a pre-sentence hearing, the Supreme Court was told 28 victim impact statements had been written, including from four generations of the Patterson and Wilkinson families.
Patterson’s remaining wealth, aside from what was spent on her top-tier defence team, will likely be sought as compensation to members of those families.
Proceedings related to the restraining order over the property are listed to return to the Supreme Court in November for a directions hearing.
On Monday, Patterson was jailed for life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years over the murder of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
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