Chris Dawson fiercely shook his head and his twin brother said “bulls***” after being convicted guilty of killing his wife Lynette.
The instructor was found guilty of murdering his wife in 1982 after 4.5 hours of Justice Ian Harrison delivering his reasons.
Dawson, 74, was seen shaking his head after hearing the decision.
Justice Harrison instructed court officials to handcuff and remove Dawson.
Justice Harrison stated, “Mr. Dawson, you’ll be arrested.”
“Go!”
His identical brother Paul cursed beneath his breath and complained about never being called as a witness, claiming ‘I told her’
Dawson was handcuffed and arrested while limping.
Until sentencing, he’ll stay in Silverwater Correctional Centre.
In his judgement, Justice Ian Harrison stated that losing JC in early 1982 was a motivation for murder: ‘I am sure he decided to kill his wife.’
The evidence doesn’t show how or where Lynette Dawson was slain, he added.
He stated the accused lied about his wife’s whereabouts and about missing her.
Lynette’s brother Greg Simms stated her ‘lover deceived her’
‘This is a milestone in our road campaigning for Lyn, but the trip is not over, she’s still missing,’ he said following the judgement.
We still need to get Lyn home, and we’d beg Chris Dawson to do the proper thing and let us do so.
Justice Harrison ruled Dawson guilty of murder despite not being convinced he ‘bruised Lynette’ or was aggressive towards her.
He was certain Lynette is dead, hasn’t been seen or heard from since January 8, 1982, and didn’t leave her house freely.
He was also certain Dawson ‘had a possessive fascination with’ JC.
Judge Ian Harrison SC entered court 13A at Queens Square in Sydney at 10am on Tuesday amid nervous expectation from the accused’s supporters and Lyn’s siblings.
The accused sat up front with brother Peter, with twin Paul and other supporters at the rear.
Lynette’s family wore pink in her honour.
Justice Harrison called some of Chris Dawson’s trial evidence ‘fanciful, ridiculous, and dishonest’
Justice Harrison stated Lynette Dawson did not leave her house freely and never called Christopher Dawson after 8 January 1982.
His Honour characterised Dawson as “unfaithful and aggressive” during a crown case summary.
‘I am certain beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynette Dawson is dead, that she died on or around 8 January 1982, and that she did not leave her house willingly,’ he added.
She wasn’t mentally disturbed and loved her kids.
She hoped. She still loved her cheating husband.
It’s implausible that she would leave her husband’s automobile and vanish. It’s absurd.
Justice Harrison called Chris Dawson’s defence argument full of falsehoods and ‘ludicrous’ claims for more than four hours.
The court found JC’s testimony mainly truthful and her description of being groomed for a sexual connection convincing.
Dawson’s claim that their sexual connection didn’t resume until April 1982 ‘cannot be genuine,’ he claimed.
He ruled that JC’s testimony was not tainted by her divorce from him years later.
After seven weeks on bail, Chris Dawson left his Sunshine Coast home in Queensland to go to Sydney for the judgement.
The decision is particularly significant for the family of Lyn Dawson, a 33-year-old mother of two who disappeared in 1982.
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.
Chris Dawson, who was detained and accused of killing Lyn Dawson in late 2018, pled not guilty and said he was innocent throughout.
The verdict came down on August 30, 2022.
Following Lyn Dawson’s disappearance, the following happened:
Lynette “Lyn” Dawson, 33, vanishes from her Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982, leaving behind two small kids. Within a few days, the family’s babysitter, a schoolgirl simply known as JC, comes in.
February: Chris Dawson, a teacher and former rugby league player for the Newtown Jets, reports his wife missing six weeks after she allegedly vanished.
The Director of Public Prosecutions subsequently claims that the evidence was not evaluated since no witnesses were summoned in the 2001 inquest that suggested a “known person” be prosecuted with Mrs. Dawson’s death.
2003 – A second inquest interviews witnesses and refers the case to the DPP with a recommendation that a known individual be prosecuted with murder. No charges are brought again.
2010: NSW Police offer a reward of $100,000 for information that results in a conviction.
The prize doubles to $200,000 in 2014.
Strikeforce in 2015 The Dawsons’ whole Bayview block is plotted, and Scriven is created.
Detectives from Scriven want the DPP to examine their evidence brief in April 2018.
May: The Teacher’s Pet, a podcast about Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance, is published by The Australian newspaper. Eventually, 60 million people download it globally.
July – NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller acknowledges that the inquiry into the 1980s “dropped the ball” by the police.
Police search the backyard of the Bayview house the couple was living in at the time of Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance in September, but they come up empty-handed.
Chris Dawson gets detained in the Gold Coast on December 5 and spends the night there.
On December 6, the then 70-year-old is extradited to Sydney, where he is accused of killing his first wife and makes a video connection appearance in court. He is dressed in a polo shirt, shorts, and thongs. Greg Walsh, his attorney, claims that he “strenuously protests his innocence.”
Dawson is granted bail and allowed to return to his Queensland home on December 17.
8th August 2019 – “Someone would have to be living in a cave or be ignorant in the extreme to potentially dismiss the possibility for injustice to a person who gets this kind of media attention,” says Magistrate Michael Allen, warning that certain media coverage of the case might undermine a fair trial.
Magistrate Jacqueline Trad hears testimony from February 11–13, 2020, and then commits Dawson to face trial for murder.
On April 3, Dawson enters a formal not-guilty plea to murder, with the assistance of his attorneys, who are also requesting a permanent restraining order.
In order to give the “unrestrained and clamorous” public discussion about his wife’s disappearance a chance to quiet down before his trial, Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Fullerton allows Dawson just a nine-month pause on September 25.
On June 11, 2021, the Court of Criminal Appeal declines to stop the case permanently.
April 8, 2022 – The High Court supports the lower courts’ judgments to keep the case going.
Following a request by Dawson, Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones orders the trial to continue before a single judge on May 2.
Justice Ian Harrison presided over the trial, which lasted from May 9 to July 11. According to the prosecution, Dawson murdered his wife in order to have an unrestricted connection with JC. The witnesses named by Mrs. Dawson’s attorneys as having seen her alive and healthy after January 1982.
Dawson is convicted guilty of murder on August 30.