A judge has been informed that Lynette Dawson was murdered in 1982 as a result of a crafty husband’s obsession with his teenage sweetheart and babysitter.
Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC contended that Christopher Michael Dawson, now 73, killed his wife on January 8 or 9, 1982, after many attempts to develop a connection with his former high school classmate, known as JC, had failed. The case was heard in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.
‘By now the Crown contends that the accused had his dominoes all lined up and they were ready to fall,’ Mr Everson said during closing submissions.
Before committing murder, Dawson is said to have tried four alternative escape routes from his marriage, including moving in with JC in a Manly, Sydney apartment, paying a hitman to kill his wife, selling the couple’s Bayview property, and going to Queensland with JC to start a new life.
According to Mr. Everson, all of these schemes fell through, proving that a spouse fascinated and besotted with his teenage lover had reached a breaking point and turned to murder.
From the time JC began babysitting for the Dawsons in 1980 to Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance in early January 1982, Justice Ian Harrison was taken through the incidents.
According to testimony given in court, Dawson’s preoccupation with JC led him to publicly attend her high school formal as her date while also shooing away and threatening teenage boys who were attracted to her.
By December 25, 1981, Mr. Everson claimed that Dawson had descended so low in moral depravity that he had returned from his abandoned trip to Queensland with JC and concealed his return from his wife by staying at his twin brother Paul Dawson’s house.
In order to spend time with JC, Dawson allegedly abandoned his family on New Year’s Eve 1981 as well. Dawson is said to have become furious when JC decided to quit their relationship in early January 1982 by travelling to Southwest Rocks with her friends for a vacation.
On January 8, the day of the suspected murder, Dawson allegedly put his hands around his wife’s throat during a marriage counselling session and threatened to dump her if it didn’t work.
The Crown contends Dawson disposed of the body on the night of January 9 after a meeting with family friend Philip Day and Mrs Dawson’s mother Helena Simms at Northbridge Baths.
Dawson asserted that while at the spa, his wife called and requested some time alone. Mr. Everson contended that the call was fabricated, claiming that no one had actually witnessed him answer it or heard what was said.
According to claims, Dawson travelled to Southwest Rocks on the night of January 10, arrived the following day, and then drove back to Sydney with JC to move into the Bayview house.
Mr. Everson claimed that Dawson’s eagerness in making the trip so soon after Mrs. Dawson disappeared revealed his passion for JC and ran counter to his assurances that his wife would return home in a few days.
According to the court, Mrs. Dawson could not have just left the house without giving any prior notice as claimed in Dawson’s account of events. Evidence suggested that following marriage counselling, she was looking forward to her future and that she had remained faithful to her “Chrissy” even while he spent time with JC in late 1981.
Despite Dawson’s defence team contending that she made up claims against him because of a contentious custody dispute when the couple separated in 1990, Mr. Everson encouraged the court to conclude that JC was a credible witness.
Even though JC only reported Dawson’s alleged plans to hire a hitman to murder his wife to the police in 1990, she had previously made the same accusations to her friends and Mrs. Dawson’s family.
‘The conduct of (JC) and the disclosures that she made to those people are consistent with a person coming out of a controlling relationship who was scared and talking about what she knew,’ Mr Everson said.
Dawson has entered a not guilty plea to the murder allegation and has said he had nothing to do with his wife going missing.
The trial continues.