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Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Friday, December six. Anthony Albanezi has proposed exempting giant

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Speaker 1: salmon farms in Tasmania from federal environmental laws on a

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Speaker 1: national interest basis. That's a scoop in the Australian, where

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Speaker 1: we've been covering the stout over a rare endangered fish

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Speaker 1: species that could blow up the salmon industry. Fitter Dutton

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Speaker 1: says he'll cancel half the government's offshore wind zones, saying

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Speaker 1: the giant turbines would jeopardize the environment, tourism and the economy.

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Speaker 1: Both those stories alive now at the Australian dot com

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Speaker 1: dot au. Christopher Michael Dawson is appealing his conviction for

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Speaker 1: the unlawful carnal knowledge of a sixteen year old girl

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Speaker 1: who was his pupil in nineteen eighty Dawson, previously convicted

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Speaker 1: for the murder of his wife, Lynette Simms, says he

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Speaker 1: he's not guilty and that the New South Wales District

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Speaker 1: Court Chief Judge made errors of law in the trial.

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Speaker 1: Today Dawson's grounds of appeal. Before we begin, there's some

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Speaker 1: swearing in this episode. Did you catch that? It's Christopher

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Speaker 1: Michael Dawson in twenty twenty three, reacting to his conviction

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Speaker 1: for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a teenager who was

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Speaker 1: his student in the early nineteen eighties. Dawson had already

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Speaker 1: been convicted of the nineteen eighty two murder of his wife,

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Speaker 1: Lynette Simms, and he was appearing via videolink wearing prison

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Speaker 1: greens before the New South Wales District Court to hear

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Speaker 1: Judge Sarah Hugget convict him of this second defense.

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Speaker 2: I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the

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Speaker 2: offense charged and find him guilty.

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Speaker 1: When Dawson thought the video link was turned off, he

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Speaker 1: let rip that string of expletives, clearly audible in the court.

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Speaker 1: The complainant in this matter is a woman whom we

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Speaker 1: can only identify as ab. She was the Dawson family

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Speaker 1: babysitter in the early nineteen eighties and was Dawson's student

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Speaker 1: at Chromer High where he was a sports teacher.

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Speaker 3: One of his favorite stories, and it might have been

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Speaker 3: one of mine too, is that he'd seen me in

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Speaker 3: the playground when I was in year ten, fifteen years old,

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Speaker 3: and he thought to himself, Oh, I'd really like to

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Speaker 3: get to know her. She's beautiful. It softened me. I

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Speaker 3: felt special because he'd said that.

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Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the words of ab during

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Speaker 1: her evidence at trial.

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Speaker 3: I just remember lying there on the bed in anticipation, shaking.

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Speaker 3: I was told to keep it a secret, part of

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Speaker 3: the grooming process, I would say, to get me to

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Speaker 3: trust him.

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Speaker 1: Now Dawson, who has always denied any wrongdoing, is appealing

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Speaker 1: the district court conviction.

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Speaker 4: The verdict of guilt was unreasonable.

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Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the first of four grounds

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Speaker 1: of appeal on behalf of Dawson. He'll be represented by

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Speaker 1: barrister Stephen Odger's sc A Silk specializing in criminal appeals.

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Speaker 1: This trial was all about timing. Exactly when did Dawson

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Speaker 1: first have sex with the girl. She says it was

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Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty, when she was sixteen and a student

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Speaker 1: in his class. Dawson admits he had sex with the

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Speaker 1: girl while she was a teenager. Bard says it was

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Speaker 1: the following year after she turned seventeen and was no

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Speaker 1: longer in his class. He was in his early thirties.

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Speaker 1: In early nineteen eighty two, Dawson's wife, Lynnette disappeared and

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Speaker 1: ab moved into the family home. The pair later married

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Speaker 1: and had a baby, then divorced. She later became a

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Speaker 1: witness against him in both the murder and carnal knowledge proceedings,

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Speaker 1: saying she was horrified by the dawning realization that Dawson

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Speaker 1: had murdered Lynnette to be with her. That distinction in

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Speaker 1: age is important because if Dawson is telling the truth,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't a crime. The relevant law was that the

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Speaker 1: age of consent for sex was sixteen, but there was

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Speaker 1: a special exception for teachers and pupils. In that case,

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Speaker 1: a female student had to be seventeen to consent to

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Speaker 1: sex with her teacher.

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Speaker 4: The trial judge ered in failing to take into account

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Speaker 4: evidence relevant to the issue of the date sexual intercourse occurred,

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Speaker 4: other than with respect to the credibility of the complainant.

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Speaker 1: These are Dawson's continued grounds of appeal.

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Speaker 4: The trial judge ered regarding the application of the burden

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Speaker 4: and standard of proof. The trial judge ered in relying

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Speaker 4: upon questions asked by defense counsel in cross examination of

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Speaker 4: prosecution witnesses as indicating the defense case.

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Speaker 1: The judge Sara Huggart, who has since been promoted to

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Speaker 1: Chief Judge of the District Court, said this in her

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Speaker 1: sentencing remarks, which the Court allowed us to broadcast.

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Speaker 5: The victim did not tell anyone because the offender told

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Speaker 5: her to keep its secret. The offense was committed in

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Speaker 5: circumstances where the offender had engaged in conduct in the

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Speaker 5: lead up to committing the offense that could be characterized.

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Speaker 2: As grooming the victim.

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Speaker 6: This included taking active.

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Speaker 2: Steps to become her teacher, singling her out for attention,

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Speaker 2: including choosing her to attend a sports carnival for brackets

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Speaker 2: with another student clothes brackets, during which he sat next

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Speaker 2: to her and put his hand on her knee which

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Speaker 2: made her feel special, telling her she was beautiful, and

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Speaker 2: having her babysit in his home.

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Speaker 6: This occurred in a context.

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Speaker 2: In which the offender knew the victim was experiencing trouble

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Speaker 2: in her home life and that she was somewhat vulnerable.

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Speaker 6: The offender also encouraged the victim to confide in him about.

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Speaker 2: Her problems, and she came to trust him.

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Speaker 1: During the Cunnel Knowledge trial, Dawson was at Long Bay.

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Speaker 1: He initially showed up for court, but then asked if

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Speaker 1: he could watch the trial via video link from jail,

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Speaker 1: as it was exhausting to get on the prison bus

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Speaker 1: in the pre dawn hours with all the other prisoners

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Speaker 1: attending court not to return until well after dark. In

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Speaker 1: her sentencing remarks, Judge Huggart acknowledged time in prison was

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Speaker 1: draining for the now seventy six year old.

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Speaker 2: The offenders mental health deteriorated following his arrest and the

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Speaker 2: associated media and public interest. He experienced a further decline

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Speaker 2: in his mental.

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Speaker 6: Health when he was admitted to custody on thirty August

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Speaker 6: twenty twenty two, having been foundabilty of the murder of

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Speaker 6: Lynette Dawson. Although he reports experiencing taunting by inmates from

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Speaker 6: neighboring wings, apparently the inmates within his wing are supporting.

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Speaker 1: Huggart sentenced Dawson to three years. He's also serving twenty

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Speaker 1: four years for the murder of Lynette. Coming up after

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Speaker 1: the break what happened when Dawson appealed against his conviction

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Speaker 1: for murder. Earlier this year, Dawson appealed against his conviction

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Speaker 1: for murdering his wife, which had been delivered by Justice

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Speaker 1: Ian Harrison of the New Southwheales Supreme Court.

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Speaker 7: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge the donor, about eight

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Speaker 7: January nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the

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Speaker 7: state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynnette Dawson.

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Speaker 7: I find you guilty. The message down mister Dawson will

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Speaker 7: be necessary for you to be taken into custody. You'll

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Speaker 7: have to go.

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Speaker 1: Dawson won't get parole unless he reveals what he did

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Speaker 1: with Lynn's remains, a new piece of legislation named Lynn's

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Speaker 1: Law in her honor.

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Speaker 7: The evidence does not reveal how mister Dawson killed Lynette Dawson.

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Speaker 7: It does not reveal whether he did so with the

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Speaker 7: assistance of anyone else or by himself. He does not

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Speaker 7: reveal where or when he did so, nor does it

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Speaker 7: reveal well in at Dawson's body is now. The charge

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Speaker 7: of murder in this trial is unsupported by direct evidence.

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Speaker 7: The case against mister Dawson is wholly circumstantial. I'm satisfied

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Speaker 7: the unreasonable doubt that the only rational inference that the

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Speaker 7: circumstances enable me to draw is that Lenette Dawson died

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Speaker 7: or on about eight January nineteen eighty two as the

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Speaker 7: result of a conscious and voluntary act committed by mister

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Speaker 7: Dawson with the intention of causing her death.

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Speaker 1: In his appeal against the murder conviction, Dawson's representative of

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Speaker 1: public defender, Belinda Rigesci, claimed he suffered a significant forensic

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Speaker 1: disadvantage because the trial happened so long after the alleged crime.

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Speaker 1: She said, evidence that could prove Lynn war I was

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Speaker 1: alive after January nineteen eighty two had been destroyed or

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Speaker 1: lost to time, memories had faded, and potential witnesses had died.

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Speaker 1: A voice actor is reading the words spoken by Belinda

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Speaker 1: Rigg in court.

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Speaker 8: That's a very clear example of a deceased person whose

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Speaker 8: evidence was crucial. That very type of detail has been

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Speaker 8: lost because of the delay. Rig also submitted Justice Harrison

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Speaker 8: erd when he declared Dawson's lies demonstrated a consciousness of guilt.

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Speaker 8: Although it took forty years for Dawson to be charged,

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Speaker 8: and although he fought it at every level and the

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Speaker 8: trial itself stretched over more than two months, it took

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Speaker 8: fewer than two minutes for the appeal to be dismissed

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Speaker 8: by a three judge bench.

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Speaker 1: Chris Dawson is expected to die in jail, with one

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Speaker 1: judge declaring there is absolutely no doubt he is guilty.

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Speaker 1: The Cardinal Knowledge appeal will be heard on March thirty one,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Thanks for joining us on the front

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Speaker 1: this week. Our team is Kristin Amiot, Jasper leek Leat, Sammaglu,

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Speaker 1: Josh Burton, Tiffany Dimack, Stephanie Coombs and me Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget to come back over the weekend for another

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Speaker 1: of our special arts and culture episodes. This time we'll

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Speaker 1: reveal what it takes to write an award winning novel,

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Speaker 1: and of course join us anytime for Australia's best journalism

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Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot au