The judge presiding over Christopher Michael Dawson’s two-month murder trial has said that he will make an effort to render the decision in the case rather swiftly.
In closing remarks at the conclusion of the trial on Monday, NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison thanked the crown attorneys and Dawson’s legal counsel for their support and pledged to publish his conclusions as soon as feasible.
I’m hoping to be able to offer my opinion fairly soon. I can guarantee you that doesn’t imply tomorrow, he added.
Dawson, 73, is accused of murdering his wife Lynette Dawson in January 1982 so he could have an unfettered relationship with one of his high school students, known as JC, while retaining full ownership of assets like his home in Bayview, Sydney.
In her final remarks, Dawson’s attorney Pauline David urged the court to acquit her client, claiming that the circumstantial evidence used by the Crown did not establish Mrs. Dawson’s true fate after she vanished in 1982.
“Your Honor, the only verdict that is open is a not guilty verdict,” she stated.
The attorney conceded that Dawson’s extramarital relationship with JC in late 1981 would have deeply affected his then-wife, but he insisted that it was this that prompted her to leave and leave the house.
We assert that, despite their relationship—however inappropriate—the defense position is that it does not qualify him as a murderer.
The court heard that even though Mrs. Dawson had made arrangements for the future with her family in late 1981, including commissioning portraits of her two daughters and planning a surprise birthday celebration for her mother, she still made the decision to leave and stop communicating with everyone.
According to Ms. David, the departure of Dawson and JC over Christmas 1981 in an unsuccessful attempt to go north from Sydney and begin a new life in Queensland was a key event that might have affected Mrs. Dawson’s perception of her future within the family.
The lawyer explained how Dawson and JC’s interaction initially appeared to be appropriate and reasonable for a student and teacher.
Claims by JC that Dawson had picked her out and groomed her were rejected. Ms David explained that the school teacher did eventually care about his student, however, with the pair eventually marrying in 1984.
‘It started more as an appropriate relationship. It went further, but the fact that they ultimately married, we say, demonstrates that it was a relationship that involved caring and love.’
She asserted that testimony had been tainted by witnesses’ unfavorable opinions of Dawson or by their exposure to The Teacher’s Pet podcast or their conversations with its journalistic creator, Hedley Thomas, and that the court would reject evidence that Dawson was violent or abusive towards his wife.
Justice Harrison noted that disputes did not produce a murderer while talking about neighbor Julie Andrew’s testimony of a dispute between the Dawsons that was overheard by their backyard trampoline.
If domestic disputes between spouses were a sign of a person’s propensity to kill their spouse, then wouldn’t we all be at odds with one another, didn’t he speculate?
The court heard testimony that Dawson was an honorable guy who was troubled by the accusations against him and who had been referred to by his twin brother Paul Dawson as one of the least violent individuals in the world.