Dramatic events took place in the NSW Supreme Court when former football hero Chris Dawson was convicted of killing his wife in 1982. His relationship with his young babysitter lover, JC, served as the basis for this conviction.
Chris Dawson was found guilty of killing his wife just after 3 o’clock, shackled, and led out the courtroom while his twin brother protested loudly in the rear.
“I am sure he determined to kill his wife,” said Justice Ian Harrison, adding that there was also a financial motivation due to the possibility of losing his assets in early 1982.
According to him, “the evidence does not indicate how Lynette Dawson was murdered or where her corpse is right now.”
He said that the accused made up a number of falsehoods about his wife being alive after she vanished and about how much he missed her later.
It took little over four and a half hours for the family of Lynette Joy Dawson, a 33-year-old woman who disappeared without a trace, to get the answer they had been searching for for 40 years.
Justice Ian Harrison ruled Dawson guilty of murder even though he was not convinced that he “induced any of the bruises on Lynette” or that he “was physically hostile towards her.”
Lynette Dawson’s death, the fact that she hasn’t been seen or heard from since about January 8, 1982, and the fact that she didn’t leave her house on her own own were all proven to him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Additionally, he was certain without a shadow of a doubt that JC, Dawson’s babysitter from school, was the object of Dawson’s “possessive obsession.”
In the midst of great expectation from both the accused’s supporters and Lyn Dawson’s siblings, NSW Supreme Court judge Ian Harrison SC entered court 13A at Queens Square in Sydney at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
The 74-year-old defendant sat in the first row of the court with his brother Peter, twin Paul, and other supporters.
The family of Lynette Dawson sat in the first row in pink.
Justice Harrison referred to some of the defence testimony offered by Chris Dawson during the trial as being “fanciful, ludicrous, and false” in his written reasons for finding Chris Dawson not guilty.
Justice Harrison said, “I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynette Dawson did not leave her house willingly and that she never called Christopher Dawson after January 8, 1982.”
His Honor characterised Dawson as “an unfaithful and abusive guy” during a summary of the crown case.
The court also declared that Lynette Dawson’s purported sighting in Gladesville, only months after her disappearance, was a “fiction” and that Ross Hutchins, one of Chris Dawson’s relatives, had fabricated it.
His Honor dismissed any further reported sightings and said, “I am certain that none of the sightings were real.”
He said, “I am persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynette Dawson is deceased, that she passed away on or around January 8, 1982, and that she did not willingly leave her house.”
She loved her children dearly and was not mentally disturbed.
She remained positive. She continued to refer to her adulterous spouse in a loving manner.
It seems improbable that she would get out of her husband’s automobile and decide to vanish forever. The idea is ridiculous.
Chris Dawson listened for more than four hours as Justice Harrison called his defense’s arguments “ludicrous” and “full of falsehoods” as he sat erect on the witness stand.
Justice Harrison said calmly that he was prepared to accept “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Chris Dawson’s testimony that he had received a call from Lyn in a swimming pool the day after his wife vanished was “a falsehood.”
Additionally, Justice Harrison concluded that Chris Dawson’s claims of his wife calling him after she vanished were “beyond a reasonable doubt” falsehoods.
“Lynette Dawson is not acceptable to me,” would keep in touch with the person who was “the cause for her leaving,” according to Justice Harrison. “The disagreement… is just ridiculous,”
The court deemed the schoolgirl JC’s testimony to be mainly trustworthy and her narrative of being groomed for a sexual connection to be plausible. JC was the schoolgirl babysitter with whom Chris Dawson had an affair.
He said that Dawson’s claim that their sexual connection did not resume until April of 1982 ‘cannot be genuine.’
He concluded that JC’s testimony had not been tainted by her eventual divorce from him since “she had been swept up” and was “confused and conflicted,” as he put it.
However, Justice Harrison disregarded JC’s and Robert Silkman’s testimony that the accused had discussions with them about hiring “a hitman” to kill Lynette Dawson.
According to Justice Harrison, the Crown had shown beyond a reasonable doubt that Chris Dawson had made the decision to end his relationship with his wife and start a new one with JC.
“I’m satisfied that Mr. Dawson was driven insane by his love for JC and his anxiety about losing her. He made the decision to divorce his wife and start a new life with JC,’ he claimed.
“That doesn’t proof he killed his wife,” you may say.
He characterised as questionable the testimony of two women who recounted accounts of Lynette Dawson’s alleged abuse by the accused.
He said that the Teacher’s Pet podcast had an impact on the ladies.
In contrast, he claimed that he had verified Julie Andrew’s testimony of witnessing Chris Dawson shoving Lynette Dawson up against a trampoline and yelling at her just before she vanished.
The court ruling was attended by so many reporters and supporters that a second courtroom had to be opened to make place for everyone.
The accused’s identical twin brother Paul attended court for the first time during the trial, and there was a short altercation outside the court between a cameraman and the twins’ elder brother, Peter.
Chris Dawson had spent the previous seven weeks on bail while Justice Harrison thought over his choice before leaving his Sunshine Coast home in Queensland to go to Sydney for the ruling.
While watching his former side, Easts Rugby Union, play in the grand finals on Sunday at Coogee Oval, Dawson wore a club jersey and welcomed his daughter Shanelle to his house.
Paul, Dawson’s identical twin, and Dawson both played rugby league with Easts before transferring to the Newtown Jets in 1972.
Justice Harrison presided over a judge-only trial and will soon offer a detailed explanation of his reasoning.
According to Mr. Dawson’s defence, his years of playing rugby may have left him with a brain impairment in addition to a shattered hip.
The verdict is also significant for Lyn Dawson’s family, who spent a great deal of time and energy trying to bring justice to the 33-year-old mother of two young girls who vanished on January 8 or 9.
Pat Jenkins, Lyn’s sister, Greg Simms, Lyn’s brother, Renee Simms, and David Jenkins, the missing woman’s niece and nephew, all had to put their lives on hold for the duration of the 10-week trial, the following weeks as Justice Harrison deliberated, and, in fact, the void decades since Lyn vanished.
His Easts fan polo shirt is quite old, and the weekend’s outcomes weren’t a sure sign of what was to come.
In the third grade, Easts defeated Sydney University; in the same division, they drew 13 all with longtime rival Randwick; and in the first grade Colts, they defeated Randwick 21-17.
According to Daily Mail Australia, Dawson is not a member of the club and hasn’t visited East’s clubhouse since 2009.
Shanelle, the oldest daughter of Mr. Dawson, who was four years old when her mother vanished, was seen loading her vehicle as she left his home on Sunday after publicly declaring how much she still loves her father.
Four years prior, Shanelle had sobbed on live television, saying, “I’ll be honest: It’s not looking good for my father.”
Chris Dawson, who was detained and accused of killing Lyn Dawson in late 2018, pleaded not guilty and has consistently maintained his innocence.
The popular podcast The Teacher’s Pet, which was played throughout the drawn-out trial, was about Lynette Dawson’s disappearance from her Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC stated throughout the trial that Mr. Dawson’s motive for killing his first wife and disposing of her corpse was to have a “unrestricted connection” with a student identified in court as JC, who was hired to watch their teenage children.
The court heard testimony that Mr. Dawson, who was twice JC’s age, fell head over heels in love with her, had a sexual relationship with her, and finally moved her into the family home after Lyn disappeared.
Lynette Dawson’s corpse has never been discovered, and according to Mr. Everson’s circumstantial evidence, the accused killed her before or after seeing Lyn’s mother at the pool and picking up JC from northern New South Wales.
The trial heard two different claims of Mr. Dawson proposing that he hire a hitman to murder Lyn, one from JC, who later became his second wife, and the other from a former Newtown Jets teammate.
JC frequently testified in court that Mr. Dawson had “groomed” her before “installing” her in the home and the bed where she became “a sex slave” and also served as his housekeeper and the mother of his two daughters.
All of Lyn’s possessions, including her wedding and engagement rings, clothing, eyewear, and nursing credentials, were in the home.
Lynette Dawson’s friends, coworkers, neighbours, and a coworker all testified that they had seen her with bruises, heard her say her husband had beaten her, or had actually seen him do it.
Pauline David, the defence attorney for Mr. Dawson, said that the young mother had just up and left and had left of her own free choice even though she had not been in touch with her mother or other family members since January 1982.
Ms. David listed five reported sightings, including one in the Gladesville neighbourhood of Sydney, one while working at a hospital, one at a hotel close to Lake Macquarie, and one when Princess Diana and Prince Charles were on their 1983 royal trip.
Lyn Dawson may have “established a new life,” encountered misfortune and subsequently passed away, or even committed suicide, according to Ms. David’s speculation.
The family of Lyn Dawson noted that they would never give up looking for her remains, despite the trial’s completion and Justice Harrison’s ruling.
David Jenkins, a nephew, tweeted over the weekend that on Tuesday, “after 40 years, we’ll find out if the evidence against Lyn’s (the suspected killer’s) murderer was strong enough.”
In either case, until Lyn returns home, this isn’t over.