Aaron Patterson is guilty and is awaiting a sentence for her crimes.

Meanwhile, another legal standoff is on the horizon.

I'm Brook Greevert Craig and this is the Mushroom Book.

Hi Laura, nice of you to join me after three weeks off the mics.

Yes, it was lovely to have a break, but I'm excited to be back here to talk about a development.

Yes, so Aaron Patterson's lean Gatha home has been restrained by authorities.

Yes, so this is very legally complicated, but I really try to break it down so our listeners understand.

So, of course we all know that about a month ago Aaron was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

She hasn't been sentenced yet.

That will happen in the coming months, but there are some other legal processes that can start happening in the background.

And one of the things the prosecution is looking at is how the victims and their families can be compensated.

So when we talk about the victim in this case, ian As, the only guest to survive the lunch, was the only victim who was physically harmed by Aaron's heinous actions.

But when we think about this case more broadly, there were people around Don and Gale and Heather and Ian who were also very hurt by what she did.

Don and Gale had four children, and so did Heather and Ian, and all of those children, which include Aaron's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, would have felt immense pain and grief in the wake of their deaths, and they also stand to be compensated for what has happened.

So we know that Aaron owns this house in Lee and Gutha.

It was obviously the center of this lunch and she has owned it for a few years.

But now, like you say, it's been restrained by the court, which means she's not allowed to sell it.

She's actually not allowed to do anything with it.

And when you say restrained by the court, what does that look like in particular.

Yeah, that's a great question.

So about two weeks ago the prosecution applied for that restraining order and that requires them to go to court, but it's not necessarily the same court the trial happened in this matter was going to be heard before a completely different judge, and they told her they wanted to restrain her home, so it could eventually be sold off and that money be given to the victims, but.

That potential compensation may be opposed by Eron's defense lawyers.

Is that right, Laura, Yes, And that's primarily because Erin maintains her innocence, So no paperwork yet has been lodged for an appeal, but we are expecting Erin to appeal both her conviction and the eventual sentence that she will be handed, So it makes sense that a defense team will oppose these compensation orders because they don't want any of this money to go to the victims until Erin has had a chance to fight this appeal.

And her lawyers took out a mortgage over the property.

They did, and this is where things start to get a little bit murky.

So the house has been restrained, which means pretty much right now nothing can happen with it.

Erin will be sentenced in the coming months and then those applications for compensation may be lodged.

But we actually don't know yet if any applications will be lodged.

We don't know if Ian or his children are seeking money, and we also don't know if Simon and his siblings are seeking money.

But if those applications are made and they are granted by the court, what would usually happen is the house would be forfeited.

It would then be sold and the proceeds from that sale would be distributed amongst all of the victims.

But that mortgage you mentioned does kind of get in the way of that process.

The mortgage was taken out by the law firm that defended erin a trial.

We didn't talk about the firm too much, but the firm is called Duke and George and they were the ones that were helping out defense barristers Colin Mandy and Sophie Stafford.

Because it's not just the barristers who represent and accused.

There's a whole team of lawyers that are working on the case in the background.

So essentially, her lawyers have taken out a mortgage so they can get paid.

Yeah, it's like an insurance policy.

They're not done representing erin yet, but at the very end, when it's time for them to get paid, they would have taken out this mortgage to make sure that that can occur.

But it remains to be seen how this will play out in court.

It's unclear who will actually get the first bite of the cherry when it comes to the proceeds of this sale.

So will it be Ian and the other victims' families or will it be the law firm that represented Erin.

And does this happen in other cases?

Yeah?

It does.

This is pretty standard.

We had another high profile case in Victoria recently, the trial of Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, who was found guilty of one count of murder.

Before his trial took place, his home in Caroline Springs was also restrained by authorities.

But it does seem that the timing of these restraining orders can differ.

In Greg Lynn's case, his house was restrained before the trial started, But here we saw it occur her after the convictions had come down.

And why do you think that happened.

It's hard to know, and I feel like I would only be speculating.

But because of the timing of the restraining order, it did mean that Dougan George were able to get that mortgage on the home.

If Aaron's house was restrained months ago when she was initially charged with murder, then she wouldn't have been allowed to put any sort of mortgages over her property.

Because, like I said at the top of the episode.

Restraining orders prevent you from dealing with your property at all.

So the timing has actually meant that the law firm have had a chance to get in early.

But it remains to be seen how that mortgage will play out when it comes time to potentially hand down that compensation.

And I know this would just be speculation, but do we think that Aaron would not be happy that this restraining over her house has occurred.

I can imagine she wouldn't be pleased, but it probably was something that her law firm had worded her up about.

They probably told her a long time ago that this was something she should expect since it does happen in other cases, and it was maybe just a matter of time that it happened in hers.

That's true, and during the trial we did hear that Aaron saw this house as her final home.

It was a place where she saw her children growing up, then going off to UNI, and then coming back, and it was also a place that she saw herself growing old.

So we know that she really did love this home and.

We believe it was her last remaining asset.

Our listeners will remember during the trial that there was a lot of evidence around all of the homes she had purchased in the past and then sold off.

Yes, just to remind our listeners, she had the property in Nasan Street in karam Bara.

She also had two properties in Lcotte Road in karam Burra, and she also had a property in Mount Waverley which we know sold for more than one million dollars after she was charged.

And speaking of prices, the Lee and Gatha Holme is also estimated to be worth more than one million dollars.

So that's the major development for today.

At the top of the episode, Laura, you did mention about Aaron appealing.

Can you explain what is brewing in the background.

I wish I actually had more to say on this, but we don't know too much at this stage because Aaron's defense team can't actually file and appeal until she's been sentenced.

But whenever that does happen, they'll have twenty eight days to get their paperwork in to the court and say we want to appeal on these grounds and that process can then get underway.

And speaking about sentencing, when will she be sentenced?

I don't feel like I'm being very helpful here because we don't know that either we expect her to be sentenced in the coming months, but we don't have the date for that yet because first she has to face something called a pre sentence hearing.

So I feel like we're working backwards here a little bit.

But the appeal is what happens at the very end before that will be the sentence.

But the next step in the road is, like I said, the pre sentence hearing, and this will be an opportunity that Ian and the others will have to provide victim impact statements to the court.

And these can be very powerful statements that can either be read in court by the people themselves or can be read by the prosecutors.

But it's their opportunity to explain to Justice Christopher Beale how these murders have affected their lives.

They can be some of the most emotional days we experience as court reporters because you're sitting there in this court room only meets away from these victims as they painfully make their way through these statements.

And that's the reason why some people don't choose to read them themselves in court.

It can be much easier to allow the prosecutor to do that.

But either way, you're still hearing in their own words that raw emotion and the impact that these crimes have had on them.

So the victim impact statements will be the center of the prosecution's submissions as they argue Erin should be sentenced to life behind bars.

But when it comes to the defense they are likely to tender psychiatric reports and other material that they will argue are the reasons that Erin should be served a minimum sentence.

Essentially, they're saying that at some point in the future she should be released from jail to live out the rest of her.

Days, and that will be happening in Melbourne and not more Well.

Is that right.

That's my understanding.

It hasn't been confirmed yet by the court, but Erin's right to have her trial heard in more Well pretty much ended when those verdicts came down.

The jury has been discharged, so we don't need them anymore.

So, as I said, I believe that will be taking place at Melbourne in the Supreme.

Court, and we don't know when that particular hearing is happening.

We don't know yet, but we should find out soon.

The parties will be in court next week and will be able to tune in and they should be discussing when that hearing can take place.

So you and I will be back on the mics then hopefully see you then