WEBVTT - Chris Dawson’s ‘good character’ questioned 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:07.200 From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Kristinaviot. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.280 It's Wednesday, May fifteenth. Treasurer at Jim Chalmers handed down 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.360 his third federal budget on Tuesday night. 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:20.520 Speak of this government, and this budget delivers for every 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:25.520 Australian a tax cut for every taxpayer, wages growing in 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.880 every industry, a better deal for every working parent, a 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:31.960 fair ago at every checkout. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.040 The Treasurer is forecasting a bigger than expected surplus this 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.199 year to the tune of nine point three billion dollars, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:41.760 and Labour's going big on cost of living relief, committing 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.600 almost eight billion dollars to subsidies and rent assistance. That 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.800 means every Australian will get a three hundred dollars subsidy 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.559 to help with energy bills. But the Treasurer says it 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.240 won't send inflation soaring again. But there's no such thing 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.400 as a free lunch. And the Treasurer will run combined 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.320 deficits of more than one hundred twenty two billion dollars 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.360 over the next four years to accommodate the spending. And 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.119 with the federal election on the horizon, the government has 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.600 carved out almost seven billion dollars for campaign spending, and 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.400 Chalmers's unique economic strategy could see it called sooner rather 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.600 than later. You can read our experts detailed reporting and 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.560 analysis of the federal budget right now at the Australian 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:25.800 dot com dot au. Chris Dawson didn't get a fair go. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.320 That's the contention of the barrister representing the former rugby 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:31.840 league star in the appeal against his conviction for the 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.360 nineteen eighty two murder of his wife Lynn. Public defender 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:40.080 Belinda Rigg argued Dawson's good character deserves greater consideration, but 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.760 the three Supreme Court justices hearing the appeal aren't so sure. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:52.680 That's today's episode. When Justice Ian Harrison convicted Chris Dawson 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.440 for the nineteen eighty two murder of his first wife, Lynn, 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.880 he did so on a circumstantial case. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.640 The evidence not reveal how mister Dawson killed Lynette Dawson. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:04.960 It does not reveal whether he did so with the 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.560 assistance of anyone else or by himself. It does not 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.960 reveal where or when he did so, nor does it 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.680 reveal well and at Dawson's body is now The charge 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.480 of murder in this trial is unsupported by direct evidence. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.400 The case against mister Dawson is wholly circumstantial. 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.480 That means there was no body, no crime scene, no weapon, 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.639 or no eyewitness that could prove beyond a reasonable doubt 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.880 that Dawson committed the crime. When a prosecutor is running 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.200 a circumstantial case, like Craig Everson was in twenty twenty 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.000 two when Chris Dawson was brought to trial, they have 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.720 to instead rely on other types of evidence like witness testimony, 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.840 police statements, official documents, video footage, and contemporaneous notes or 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.080 correspondence to prove it. This huge body of evidence is 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.480 known in the law as strands of a cable, or 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.160 links in a chain, or threads in a rope. Basically, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.400 it means each thread isn't neces necessarily capable of proving 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.760 a case on its own, but they're more powerful, sometimes 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:11.520 even undeniable, when they're all woven together. Chris Dawson's case 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.520 was heard by a judge alone. That's what the former 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.480 rugby league star wanted. He argued in the run up 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.400 to his Supreme Court trial that the publicity generated by 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:24.200 The Australian's investigative podcast The teacher's pet meant he wouldn't 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.160 get a fair trial if the decision were in the 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.480 hands of a jury. But the thinking is that judges 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.160 aren't as easily swayed as regular joe's like you and 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.120 I and so. In hearing the case alone, Justice Harrison 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:44.040 had to determine the truth of those threads himself. On Tuesday, 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.720 Belinda Rigg, SC, the public defender representing Chris Dawson in 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.120 his appeal, argued that Justice Harrison got it wrong when 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.880 he accepted that Lynn died on that weekend in early 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:58.800 January nineteen eighty two. Remember, Chris Dawson has always maintained 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.080 he received a phone call for from Lynn on Saturday, 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.960 January nine, while he was working as a lifeguard at 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.520 the Northbridge Baths. He claims she said in that call 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.560 she was going away for a few days to clear 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.880 her head. Rig had previously argued there was a reasonable 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.919 possibility that's what happened, because Lynn was confident her beloved daughters, 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.760 then just at four and two years old, would be 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.560 well cared for by Dawson, who she said was every 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.479 bit the doting dad. But rig argued that the fact 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.600 of Lynn's death, the thread wasn't born out by the 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.719 evidence presented at trial. There are no phone records to 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.160 show that a long distance phone call was received at 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.680 the kiosk at the baths. The teenage attendant who answered 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.080 the phone says she can't remember who was on the 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.760 other end or if it was the call. Dawson says 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:50.360 he took Lynn's mum, Helena Simms, and his friend Philip Day, 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.120 who were also at the bards on that day, didn't 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:59.800 see or hear Dawson take the call. Over the course 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.000 of more than two hours on Tuesday morning, Belinda Rigg 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.719 covered a lot of ground. Some of it was reiterating 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.320 arguments made on Monday, but there was some newness there too. 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.320 Justice Ian Harrison found Chris Dawson was motivated to kill 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.600 his first wife by an obsession with the teenage babysitter 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.920 known as j C. The pair later married and had 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.960 a child together. He found Dawson was terrified of losing 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.400 the teenager who'd also been his student, and saw his 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.040 wife as a roadblock to that relationship. But on Tuesday, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.880 Belinda Rigg told the court Dawson would have carried on 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.560 with j C even if he was still married to Lynn, 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:43.160 and that it was JAC who wanted out. We've used 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.960 voice actors to bring you the words spoken in court. 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.280 Lynette was never an impediment as far as JAC was concerned, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.560 and he demonstrated himself to be well prepared to lose 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.440 his relationship with his wife if JAC would continue the 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.200 relationship with him. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.799 In the final moments of her submission rig swung big. 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.480 She suggested the better elements of Dawson's character had been 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.320 overlooked by Justice Harrison in twenty twenty two, and implored 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.359 Justices Julie Ward, Christine Adamson and Anthony Paine not to 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:14.160 do the same. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.880 On the issue of the reasonableness of the verdict. The 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.000 applicant's character is something which is required in our submission 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.800 to be taken into account, and we've set out in 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.040 detail in the written submissions the evidence that bears upon 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.480 that issue of his good character. 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.280 Justice Adamson responded just in. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:37.000 Terms of that good character, he didn't have any criminal convictions. 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.880 But when one looks at the evidence of JC and 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.640 how he conducted himself as a married man, as a 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:49.320 teacher with students under his authority, one might think that 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.600 the good character was not entitled to be given any 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:53.400 particular weight. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.039 Dawson claims he dropped Lynn, who didn't drive, at a 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.680 bus stop in Mona Vale, on Sydney's North Beaches on 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.560 the morning of Saturday, January nine. It was later that 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.599 day that he says she called him at the baths 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.680 to say she needed some time away. JC testified at 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.480 trial that Dawson allowed her to wear and keep items 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.240 of Lynn's clothing after he moved her into the family 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:19.960 home at Bayview. Her wedding and engagement rings were also 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.400 left there and later made into a new wedding set 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:27.240 for JC. That wasn't lost on Justice Julie Ward, who 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.320 said it was convenient that Lynn wasn't wearing the rings 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.760 when Dawson alleges he took her to the bus stop. 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.640 Belindaregg had one more hand to play on Tuesday, before 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.720 clearing the floor for Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield to make 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.720 his submissions, she attempted to tender more than seven hundred 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.200 pages of material relating to Chris Dawson's declining mental health. 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.760 Hatfield objected to the tender. He said he was concerned 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.000 it would be used in some kind of opaque attack. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.000 On the prosecution case run by Craig Everson in twenty 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:01.480 twenty two. 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.640 If it's going to be suggested that something improper occurred 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.200 or there was bad faith by the trial Crown in 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.520 how he conducted the matter, then that should be made 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.440 clear and we should be able to respond with proper 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.120 submissions directed at it. 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.760 Rick responded that the material, which included medical assessments made 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.680 by a doctor and a psychologist following Dawson's incarceration, was 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:30.040 important in understanding his current circumstances and the ongoing impact 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.440 of the long delay in bringing charges. But Justice Julie 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.959 Ward said a large chunk of time had already been 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:41.200 dedicated to Dawson's so called forensic disadvantage and rejected the 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:47.800 tender coming up what the Crown Prosecutor has to say 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:52.200 about Chris Dawson's version of events. Subscribers to The Australian 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.400 get access to this kind of in depth reporting and 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.400 analysis twenty four to seven, even when it happens on 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.160 the same day as the federal budget. Also breaking news alerts, 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.800 newsletters and live events. Check us out at the Australian 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.080 dot com dot au. We'll be back after this break. 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.360 When he opened his submissions on Tuesday. Crown Prosecutor Brett 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.760 Hatfield got right to the point, we've used voice actors 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:33.480 to bring you the words spoken in court. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.400 There is not a significant possibility that an innocent person 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.040 has been convicted in this case. 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.920 Hatfield argued that Dawson's version of events that Lynn had 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.160 left the family home at Bayview voluntarily and called him 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.520 at the Northridge Bath to relay her plan to spend 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.960 some time away wasn't credible. The prosecutor worked his way, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.720 sometimes at breakneck speed, through the evidence given by Lynn's 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.200 family members, her friends, her colleagues, and even Jc, the 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.840 teenage babysitter who was installed at Bayview after she disappeared 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.440 in early nineteen eighty two. Hatfield said Lynn never contacted 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.720 anyone but Chris Dawson after January eighth of that year. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.040 Dawson's public defender, Belinda Rigg, argued that the Sims family 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.480 weren't particularly close or in any kind of habitual contact, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.640 but Hatfield said prolific diary entries and letters panned by 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.240 Lynn's mum, Helena, proved the opposite. 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.760 That material does show a very close and regular contact 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.400 between the deceased and her mother. 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.760 What's more, evidence given by Lynn's siblings, Pat Jenkins and 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.280 Greg Simms showed members of the family spoke regularly and 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.120 often spent time together at their parents' home in Sydney's 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:46.560 Eastern suburbs. Hatfield said later that even if her marriage 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:50.120 to Dawson ended, Lynn wouldn't cut contact with her parents 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:54.200 and siblings. Next, Hatfield dealt with Rigg's assertion that it 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.120 was plausible that Lynn would leave the family home knowing 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.520 her children would be in safe hands with their father. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.400 Hatfield pointed to Dawson's decision to send the two children 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.600 to stay with their grandmother, Helena Simms after their trip 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.760 to the Northbridge Bards on January ninth, as evidence he 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.440 possibly wasn't as well equipped as a parent as he'd 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:14.400 have the court believe. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.160 My learned friend's argument is that he was a fantastic 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.400 father and could take care of the kids himself. Why 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.040 the deceased is disappearing off for a few days. Is 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.720 he specifically asking for the children to go to the 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.720 mother's on that day if she is happy leaving the 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.800 kids with him, and then wanting the kids to go 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.880 to her mother's place, but then not contacting her mother. 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:42.680 It seems to be part of the implausibility. 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.400 The prosecutor acknowledged Lynn Simms was upset about the deterioration 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.120 of her relationship and the arrival on the scene of 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.960 the teenage babysittert JC, but he said she was also 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:55.480 committed to her marriage. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.120 If she wasn't leaving when those other things occurred, why 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.520 would she leave when it was looking better after the counseling. 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:07.200 By other things, Hatfield means Dawson's infidelity and his impromptu 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.360 trip to Queensland with JC just before Christmas in nineteen 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.719 eighty one. The pair ultimately returned to Sydney when j 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.959 C became ill. The prosecutor also pointed to various attempts 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.120 by Dawson to leave Lynn, including taking out a lease 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.760 on a property in Manly where he intended to live 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.760 with j C. Hatfield said Dawson's interactions with j C 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.040 were marked by a degree of desperation and obsession. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.200 An affair is an understatement about this relationship. It's not 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.800 an affair. It's an obsessive, possessive relationship with a between 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.800 the applicant, the former teacher of the girl that turns eighteen. 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:46.520 Only at that time. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.840 Where Belinda Brigg attempted to build up Dawson's character in 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.640 her submissions, the prosecutor, Brett Hatfield took a different tack. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.720 He said, Chris Dawson's behavior in the days and weeks 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.560 after Lynn disappeared wasn't what y'd exct sspeck from a 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:01.520 concerned husband. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.600 The applicant conducted himself in a manner which was completely 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:10.080 irreconcilable with any purported belief that the deceased might be 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:16.440 alive or return home. So collecting JC from Southwest Rocks 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:21.240 on the eleventh of January nineteen eighty two, immediately cohabitating 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:25.960 with JC and sharing the matrimonial bed and the evidence 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:27.840 about the clothing and the jewelry. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.280 At that time, Hatfield noted that based on the available evidence, 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.080 Dawson was the last person to see Lynn alive, meaning 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.880 he had both opportunity and motive to kill her on 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.560 or about the eighth of January in nineteen eighty two. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.560 The prosecutor said, proof of life checks conducted in the 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.280 months and years after that date had come up empty. 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.439 All of that, taken together, the prosecutor says, means justice 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.280 ian Harrison's finding that Dawson murdered his wife was reasonable. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:08.960 He'll continue his submissions today, come back to the front 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.600 tomorrow to hear how it all wraps up. And you 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.080 can read about what the government's new federal budget means 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.360 for you at the Australian dot com dot au