Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker
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Speaker 1: the news from the Australian.
Speaker 2: From the Australian, here's what's on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 2: Christopher Michael Dawson will stay in jail. He has lost
Speaker 2: an appeal against his conviction for the murder of his wife, Lynnette.
Speaker 2: That case was made famous by our podcast The Teacher's
Speaker 2: Pet and has ended in another humiliation for Dawson. Today,
Speaker 2: the moment Rinn's family found out Dawson would stay in
Speaker 2: jail and what his next move might be. Hello, Oh,
Speaker 2: hy Marilyn, it's Claire. Hi, Claire, how are you?
Speaker 3: That is the longest law and tired seventh running.
Speaker 2: Living just moments after a momentous decision. The latest twist
Speaker 2: in the story of Christopher Michael Dawson. I rank Greg
Speaker 2: and Marilyn Simms, the brother and sister in law of
Speaker 2: the wife Chris murdered in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 4: Lynnett Well waiting for the judges to come out. They're
Speaker 4: verdict if you want to call it.
Speaker 3: That very tense and it's the longest minute I've had
Speaker 3: in my life.
Speaker 4: Waiting and listening.
Speaker 2: To call Greg and Marilyn relieved would be an understatement.
Speaker 2: Greg and Marilyn are the guardians of Lynn's memory, along
Speaker 2: with the rest of her family. They're the ones who
Speaker 2: have kept the flame alive for forty two years as
Speaker 2: their suspicions grew that their bright, warm, devoted Lynn did
Speaker 2: not voluntarily leave her family as her husband claimed, but
Speaker 2: had been murdered in cold blood. Greg and Marilyn had
Speaker 2: liked and trusted Chris, Lynn's handsome, football playing teacher husband.
Speaker 2: They were deeply confused and upset when he told Lynn's
Speaker 2: family in nineteen eighty two that Lynn had gone away
Speaker 2: for a break and that Lynn had told him not
Speaker 2: to worry about her. By the time the Australians investigative
Speaker 2: podcast The Teacher's Pet, created by our colleague Headley Thomas,
Speaker 2: was released in twenty eighteen, Greg and Marilyn were convinced
Speaker 2: Chris was a murderer. They'd seen an inept initial police investigation,
Speaker 2: then a competent investigation led by Detective Damian Lohne, then
Speaker 2: to coroners recommend charges against Chris, and then the heartbreak
Speaker 2: of prosecutors steadfastly declining to charge him. In August twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, the family finally got the conviction they believed
Speaker 2: was right.
Speaker 5: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge the diner about eight
Speaker 5: January nineteen eighty two at Bayview or elsewhere in the
Speaker 5: state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynette Dawson.
Speaker 5: I find you guilty.
Speaker 2: And then the sense of dread returned as Dawson launched
Speaker 2: an appeal against that murder conviction.
Speaker 6: Teacher's pet killer Chris Dawson has begun an appeal against
Speaker 6: his conviction for murdering wife Lynette more than four decades ago.
Speaker 6: A seventy five year old former rugby league star once
Speaker 6: a court to overturn his conviction for killing his wife
Speaker 6: Lynette in nineteen eighty two. His legal team claims here's
Speaker 6: the victim of a miscarriage of justice and that it
Speaker 6: was unreasonable for the trial judge to find him guilty.
Speaker 2: I spoke to Greg and Marilyn in me the early
Speaker 2: afternoon on Thursday, shortly before or the New South Wales
Speaker 2: Court of Criminal Appeal handed down its decision. They were
Speaker 2: nervous then and by the time the two pm hearing
Speaker 2: clicked around, they told me they had knots in their stomachs.
Speaker 2: The judges swept into the room and took their seats
Speaker 2: for what turned out to be a lightning quick sitting
Speaker 2: of the Court of Criminal Appeal, New South Wales's highest court.
Speaker 2: The judges words are being read by voice actors.
Speaker 7: I propose the following orders. One grant leave to appeal,
Speaker 7: two dismiss the appeal. I publish my reasons, Justice Pain.
Speaker 8: I agree with the orders proposed by Justice Adamson, and
Speaker 8: I publish a note of my reasons.
Speaker 9: I agree with Justice Adamson and with the supplementary observations
Speaker 9: of Justice Pain, and I publish my concurring judgment. The
Speaker 9: orders of the Court will therefore be one grant leave
Speaker 9: to appeal, two dismiss The appeal. Court is now adjourned.
Speaker 2: In other words, the judges accepted Chris Dawson could appeal
Speaker 2: to The court heard the appeal and rejected it. His
Speaker 2: conviction for Lynn's murder stands. The judges published reasons made
Speaker 2: it crystal clear. First Justice Anthony Payne.
Speaker 7: I have no doubt about the applicants guilt.
Speaker 2: Justice Julie Ward.
Speaker 9: The circumstantial case against the applicant was compelling, and there
Speaker 9: is no reasonable doubt as to the applicants guilt. No
Speaker 9: substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred. Justice Christine Adamson.
Speaker 7: None of the arguments advanced on behalf of the applicant
Speaker 7: causes me to doubt the applicant's guilt of murder.
Speaker 3: We are extremely happy and the law has done the
Speaker 3: right thing in our minds.
Speaker 2: And what do you hope Chris Dawson does now?
Speaker 4: I hope he sits back in his cell and enjoy
Speaker 4: us in the next twenty years.
Speaker 8: Yes, and we both feel that this way for the
Speaker 8: end he.
Speaker 4: Will keep here all girl. As far as a game,
Speaker 4: we're very.
Speaker 8: Grateful that justice has been done as far as we're
Speaker 8: concerned twice over now, and hopefully if he's going to
Speaker 8: proceed any further, we just hope that whoever has to
Speaker 8: make the decision as to whether he's allowed to proceed
Speaker 8: any further really thinks carefully about using the public purse enough.
Speaker 8: I think this money needs throw other very worthwhile causes
Speaker 8: as well.
Speaker 2: This should be the last time we see Christopher Michael
Speaker 2: Dawson in a courtroom, but it won't be this humiliation.
Speaker 2: His appeal flatly rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal
Speaker 2: means Dawson should finally accept the decision of Justice Ian
Speaker 2: Harrison of August twenty twenty two. It's still possible he
Speaker 2: could appeal to the High Court of Australia. The High
Speaker 2: Court doesn't hear every case. First, Dawson would have to
Speaker 2: persuade the Public Defender's Office to take his appeal. To
Speaker 2: be heard by the High Court, he would first have
Speaker 2: to see special leave to appeal, and would have to
Speaker 2: demonstrate that it was a matter worthy of the High
Speaker 2: Court's consideration. The Court says bluntly on its website, only
Speaker 2: cases of major importance are heard by the High Court.
Speaker 2: Usually that means the case raises some new point of
Speaker 2: law that hasn't been considered before, or is of high
Speaker 2: public importance, or that a High Court hearing is essential
Speaker 2: to clarify a question of law that has been decided
Speaker 2: in inconsistent ways by lower courts. The Court might hear
Speaker 2: something that involves the question of the administration of justice.
Speaker 2: That is a case that is highly significant, not just
Speaker 2: for one person, but for a whole legal system. Dawson
Speaker 2: has tried this before and failed during the years in
Speaker 2: which he was fighting the Crown's right to take him
Speaker 2: to trial at all. He sought to have the whole
Speaker 2: case thrown out. The Supreme Court rejected him, so he
Speaker 2: went to the Court of Criminal Appeal, which also rejected him.
Speaker 2: He then sought special leave to appeal to the High
Speaker 2: Court and was knocked back. Dawson also has another criminal
Speaker 2: conviction for the unlawful carnal knowledge of a sixteen year
Speaker 2: old schoolgirl who was in his class when he was
Speaker 2: desperate to get rid of Lynn and be with the girl. Indeed,
Speaker 2: after Lynn's disappearance, Dawson married the former pupil. In twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three, the New South Wales District Court found Dawson
Speaker 2: guilty of the carnal knowledge offense and sentenced him to
Speaker 2: three years imprisonment. He could, of course also appeal that
Speaker 2: conviction and sentence. What are you guys going to do now?
Speaker 8: I think probably failed if the fifthhone courts have already
Speaker 8: had dozens of texts, just just so lovely to have
Speaker 8: the support the people in Australia and possibly the world
Speaker 8: have just been so behind this and behind this conviction,
Speaker 8: holding and with value very much the support and comfort
Speaker 8: we've received from so many people far and wide, lots
Speaker 8: of people very invested in this story, Claire.
Speaker 2: So here's how Chris Dawson tried to get out of
Speaker 2: the murder conviction where Justice Harrison found he killed Lynn
Speaker 2: sims on or about the eighth of January nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 2: Dawson had five grounds. First, that Dawson suffered a significant
Speaker 2: forensic disadvantage in defending himself when the matter was finally
Speaker 2: brought to trial forty years after Lynn vanished from Sydney's
Speaker 2: northern beaches. That means evidence like statements, records and receipts
Speaker 2: have disappeared or been destroyed, and it makes it a
Speaker 2: lot harder for Dawson to back up his version of events.
Speaker 2: Here's what Dawson's barrister, at Belinda Rigg SC said about
Speaker 2: that in court. She's referring to the account of the
Speaker 2: late Sue Butler, who said she saw someone who looked
Speaker 2: like Lynn Simms getting into a car at a fruit
Speaker 2: market on the New South Wales Central Coast. Belinda Riggs's
Speaker 2: words are being read aloud by a voice actor.
Speaker 1: That's a very clear example of a deceased person whose
Speaker 1: evidence was crucial. That very type of detail has been
Speaker 1: lost because of the delay. All we have is an
Speaker 1: impoverished hearsay account from her former husband.
Speaker 2: Rigg said Justice Harrison got it wrong when he failed
Speaker 2: to find a significant forensic disadvantage existed, and that he
Speaker 2: should have taken it into account when considering the evidence
Speaker 2: presented at Dawson's ten week trial. But the three judge
Speaker 2: bench said Justice Harrison did adequately consider the fact many
Speaker 2: witnesses were now deceased and unable to give evidence in court.
Speaker 7: I consider that, for the reasons given by the trial judge,
Speaker 7: his honor was correct to consider that the unavailability of
Speaker 7: Philip day, Ellen, McBay, Ross Hutchin and Sue Butlin did
Speaker 7: not cause significant forensic disadvantage to the applicant.
Speaker 2: They also said the unavailability of paperwork like bank statements,
Speaker 2: phone records and employee rosters didn't put Chris Dawson so
Speaker 2: far behind the eight ball that he couldn't have mounted
Speaker 2: a solid defense at trial.
Speaker 7: No error of process or result has been established.
Speaker 2: The second and third round of Chris Dawson's appeal are
Speaker 2: two sides of the same coin. They say Justice and
Speaker 2: Harrison was wrong to find that Chris Dawson's lies were
Speaker 2: evidence of his consciousness of guilt. Basically, that means Harrison
Speaker 2: found Dawson knew he was guilty and so told a
Speaker 2: bunch of lies about Lynn's purported whereabouts in order to
Speaker 2: cover his tracks. The public defender for Dawson, Belinda riggerc
Speaker 2: argued Harrison gave inadequate reasons for relying on those lies
Speaker 2: as evidence of Dawson's guilt. Rigg also argued Crown Prosecutor
Speaker 2: Craig Everson didn't rely upon those lies as part of
Speaker 2: his case, and so Harrison shouldn't have. Either. Justices Ward,
Speaker 2: Adamson and Paine agreed. They said the language in Justice
Speaker 2: Harrison's judgment was ambiguous, the trial judge's reasons revealed error
Speaker 2: and did not comply with Section one hundred and thirty
Speaker 2: three to two of the Criminal Procedure Act or the
Speaker 2: common law obligation to give reasons. Okay, deep breath here,
Speaker 2: this is complicated stuff. The accepted rule is that a
Speaker 2: lie can only be used as an implied admission of
Speaker 2: guilds if the prosecutor relies on the lie for that purpose.
Speaker 2: So a judge or jury in this case of judge
Speaker 2: can only find a liear's consciousness of guilt if the
Speaker 2: prosecutor has also put it that way, and the prosecutor
Speaker 2: has to prove a few key things. The lie has
Speaker 2: to be deliberate, it has to be a lie told
Speaker 2: because the accused knew the truth would implicate the mi
Speaker 2: me offense, and it's made clear to the judge or
Speaker 2: jury that there may be other reasons for the lie.
Speaker 2: And this is where Justice Harrison made a mistake. According
Speaker 2: to the Court of Appeal, they said Justice Harrison took
Speaker 2: the lies that the Crown Prosecutor said were consciousness of guilt,
Speaker 2: but also referenced other lies by Dawson and didn't make
Speaker 2: clear which ones he thought were consciousness of guilt. This
Speaker 2: was an error in his honor's reasoning. The fourth ground
Speaker 2: of Dawson's appeal was that the evidence proving Lynn was
Speaker 2: dead after January ninth, nineteen eight two was inadequate and
Speaker 2: the Crown prosecutor didn't prove Dawson's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,
Speaker 2: But the Court of Criminal Appeal judges backed Justice Harrison.
Speaker 7: Having reviewed all of the evidence, I am not persuaded
Speaker 7: that the verdict of guilty of murder was unreasonable. None
Speaker 7: of the arguments advanced on behalf of the applicant by
Speaker 7: Miss Rigg causes me to doubt the applicants guilt of murder.
Speaker 2: Coming up what the Court of Appeal found about what
Speaker 2: happened at Northbridge Bars stay with us. The final ground
Speaker 2: of Chris Dawson's appeal was that a miscarriage of justice
Speaker 2: occurred when Justice and Harrison found Chris Dawson guilty of
Speaker 2: the murder of lind Sims. This was all about the
Speaker 2: fine detail of what happened at Northbridge Barns, the public
Speaker 2: ocean pool where Dawson worked as a lifeguard on the
Speaker 2: day after Lind's disappe ahearance. Dawson has always claimed he
Speaker 2: took a phone call from Lynn when he was working
Speaker 2: at the baths on January ninth, nineteen eighty two. Dawson
Speaker 2: had taken his two young daughters there on that hot
Speaker 2: January day and recruited Lynn's mum, Helena, and a friend,
Speaker 2: Philip Day, to help look after them. He said he'd
Speaker 2: drop Lynn at a bus stop in Mona Vale earlier
Speaker 2: that day, and she'd joined them at some point in
Speaker 2: the afternoon. Then Dawson says he received a call from
Speaker 2: Lynn at the kiosk at the baths saying she was
Speaker 2: going away for a while. But after forty long years,
Speaker 2: the people who were at the Bath's on that day
Speaker 2: couldn't remember if the call happened, or if it did,
Speaker 2: if it was Lynn on the other end, Just as
Speaker 2: Harrison found this story of Dawson's was a lie, but
Speaker 2: there was no phone call and Dawson knew it. Vers
Speaker 2: is the point the public defender argued with. Rigg said
Speaker 2: Harrison was wrong in his interpretation of this alleged lie.
Speaker 2: Rigg also said the Crown had not actually proved Lynn
Speaker 2: was dead on this day on Thursday. Justice's Ward Adamson
Speaker 2: and Payne found no miscarriage of justice occurred.
Speaker 7: I am satisfied that in rejecting the north Bridge Bard's
Speaker 7: phone call and other evidence relied upon by the applicant
Speaker 7: as indicating that the deceased might be alive after the
Speaker 7: evening of eight January nineteen eighty two or the morning
Speaker 7: of nine January nineteen eighty two, the trial judge had
Speaker 7: regard to the whole of the evidence as sufficiently indicated
Speaker 7: by his honors reasons Lynn's story has really touched people.
Speaker 8: It really has. And I think we've all said this
Speaker 8: case has just been such a land mark case and
Speaker 8: it continues to be. There's just it'll go down in
Speaker 8: history as I don't note putting benchmarks and making venchmarks.
Speaker 8: I think the future law and pretty astounding.
Speaker 4: I think the best thing that we've done. We've had
Speaker 4: the arrest, we've had all the thoughts of eels and
Speaker 4: all that sort of thing, and then we've had the trial.
Speaker 4: We've had a guilty verdict, We've got Linn's Law into operation,
Speaker 4: and we're going just shit back and say we've done
Speaker 4: the best we can and go from there, and now
Speaker 4: we can try and live our lives again.
Speaker 8: Let's hope and pray we can. Yeah, let's hope we're
Speaker 8: free to move on.
Speaker 2: Now these three eminent I disagree with you that Chris
Speaker 2: did kill in Yeah.
Speaker 4: I'm just having goosebumps and shivers there. Yeah.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it'll eat home soon.
Speaker 4: But it takes in a lot of thinking sitting here
Speaker 4: tonight watching the news, and when it comes on we'll
Speaker 4: just go, oh, bugger, thanks great.
Speaker 3: There's always somebody who comes back in relation to it.
Speaker 3: But we know we've got this one and now let's
Speaker 3: hope he just has enough sense to say. I've tried
Speaker 3: to get out of it. They won't listen to me.
Speaker 3: I'll just do my time.
Speaker 2: Who had the best Aussie song of all time? Was
Speaker 2: it Daddy Cool, Yothy Yindi or Akadaka. Andrew McMillan and
Speaker 2: Alan Howe have whittled the long list of brilliant Australian
Speaker 2: made tunes down to just sixty in honor of the
Speaker 2: paper's sixtieth anniversary. You can read the full list of
Speaker 2: the best Australian songs of all time right now at
Speaker 2: the Australian dot com dot au. Thanks for joining us
Speaker 2: on the front this week. Our team is Kristin Amiot,
Speaker 2: Lea Sammagluo, Joshua Burton, Jas the League, Tiffany Dinmak, Matthew
Speaker 2: Condon and meet Claire Harvey.