WEBVTT - Chris Dawson’s carnal knowledge appeal

0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:15.080
<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, December six. Anthony Albanezi has proposed exempting giant

0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.680
<v Speaker 1>salmon farms in Tasmania from federal environmental laws on a

0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.279
<v Speaker 1>national interest basis. That's a scoop in the Australian, where

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.840
<v Speaker 1>we've been covering the stout over a rare endangered fish

0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:32.120
<v Speaker 1>species that could blow up the salmon industry. Fitter Dutton

0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:35.680
<v Speaker 1>says he'll cancel half the government's offshore wind zones, saying

0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.800
<v Speaker 1>the giant turbines would jeopardize the environment, tourism and the economy.

0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.640
<v Speaker 1>Both those stories alive now at the Australian dot com

0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:49.440
<v Speaker 1>dot au. Christopher Michael Dawson is appealing his conviction for

0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.320
<v Speaker 1>the unlawful carnal knowledge of a sixteen year old girl

0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:57.040
<v Speaker 1>who was his pupil in nineteen eighty Dawson, previously convicted

0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.920
<v Speaker 1>for the murder of his wife, Lynette Simms, says he

0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.600
<v Speaker 1>he's not guilty and that the New South Wales District

0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.880
<v Speaker 1>Court Chief Judge made errors of law in the trial.

0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:16.440
<v Speaker 1>Today Dawson's grounds of appeal. Before we begin, there's some

0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:25.000
<v Speaker 1>swearing in this episode. Did you catch that? It's Christopher

0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.480
<v Speaker 1>Michael Dawson in twenty twenty three, reacting to his conviction

0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.080
<v Speaker 1>for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a teenager who was

0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.080
<v Speaker 1>his student in the early nineteen eighties. Dawson had already

0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.679
<v Speaker 1>been convicted of the nineteen eighty two murder of his wife,

0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.760
<v Speaker 1>Lynette Simms, and he was appearing via videolink wearing prison

0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.840
<v Speaker 1>greens before the New South Wales District Court to hear

0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.520
<v Speaker 1>Judge Sarah Hugget convict him of this second defense.

0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.760
<v Speaker 2>I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the

0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.840
<v Speaker 2>offense charged and find him guilty.

0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.200
<v Speaker 1>When Dawson thought the video link was turned off, he

0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.440
<v Speaker 1>let rip that string of expletives, clearly audible in the court.

0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.680
<v Speaker 1>The complainant in this matter is a woman whom we

0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.760
<v Speaker 1>can only identify as ab. She was the Dawson family

0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.280
<v Speaker 1>babysitter in the early nineteen eighties and was Dawson's student

0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.160
<v Speaker 1>at Chromer High where he was a sports teacher.

0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:20.760
<v Speaker 3>One of his favorite stories, and it might have been

0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.160
<v Speaker 3>one of mine too, is that he'd seen me in

0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.320
<v Speaker 3>the playground when I was in year ten, fifteen years old,

0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.320
<v Speaker 3>and he thought to himself, Oh, I'd really like to

0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.080
<v Speaker 3>get to know her. She's beautiful. It softened me. I

0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.400
<v Speaker 3>felt special because he'd said that.

0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.000
<v Speaker 1>That's a voice actor reading the words of ab during

0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:39.160
<v Speaker 1>her evidence at trial.

0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.359
<v Speaker 3>I just remember lying there on the bed in anticipation, shaking.

0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.480
<v Speaker 3>I was told to keep it a secret, part of

0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.960
<v Speaker 3>the grooming process, I would say, to get me to

0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.000
<v Speaker 3>trust him.

0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.040
<v Speaker 1>Now Dawson, who has always denied any wrongdoing, is appealing

0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:55.440
<v Speaker 1>the district court conviction.

0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.800
<v Speaker 4>The verdict of guilt was unreasonable.

0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:03.919
<v Speaker 1>That's a voice actor reading the first of four grounds

0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.080
<v Speaker 1>of appeal on behalf of Dawson. He'll be represented by

0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:12.000
<v Speaker 1>barrister Stephen Odger's sc A Silk specializing in criminal appeals.

0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.160
<v Speaker 1>This trial was all about timing. Exactly when did Dawson

0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.519
<v Speaker 1>first have sex with the girl. She says it was

0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.720
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty, when she was sixteen and a student

0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.840
<v Speaker 1>in his class. Dawson admits he had sex with the

0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.600
<v Speaker 1>girl while she was a teenager. Bard says it was

0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.359
<v Speaker 1>the following year after she turned seventeen and was no

0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.960
<v Speaker 1>longer in his class. He was in his early thirties.

0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.480
<v Speaker 1>In early nineteen eighty two, Dawson's wife, Lynnette disappeared and

0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.360
<v Speaker 1>ab moved into the family home. The pair later married

0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.840
<v Speaker 1>and had a baby, then divorced. She later became a

0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.800
<v Speaker 1>witness against him in both the murder and carnal knowledge proceedings,

0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.920
<v Speaker 1>saying she was horrified by the dawning realization that Dawson

0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:02.520
<v Speaker 1>had murdered Lynnette to be with her. That distinction in

0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.320
<v Speaker 1>age is important because if Dawson is telling the truth,

0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.600
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't a crime. The relevant law was that the

0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.360
<v Speaker 1>age of consent for sex was sixteen, but there was

0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.040
<v Speaker 1>a special exception for teachers and pupils. In that case,

0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.159
<v Speaker 1>a female student had to be seventeen to consent to

0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:19.320
<v Speaker 1>sex with her teacher.

0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.520
<v Speaker 4>The trial judge ered in failing to take into account

0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.640
<v Speaker 4>evidence relevant to the issue of the date sexual intercourse occurred,

0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.080
<v Speaker 4>other than with respect to the credibility of the complainant.

0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.159
<v Speaker 1>These are Dawson's continued grounds of appeal.

0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.840
<v Speaker 4>The trial judge ered regarding the application of the burden

0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.400
<v Speaker 4>and standard of proof. The trial judge ered in relying

0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.719
<v Speaker 4>upon questions asked by defense counsel in cross examination of

0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.200
<v Speaker 4>prosecution witnesses as indicating the defense case.

0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.280
<v Speaker 1>The judge Sara Huggart, who has since been promoted to

0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.080
<v Speaker 1>Chief Judge of the District Court, said this in her

0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.520
<v Speaker 1>sentencing remarks, which the Court allowed us to broadcast.

0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.039
<v Speaker 5>The victim did not tell anyone because the offender told

0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.640
<v Speaker 5>her to keep its secret. The offense was committed in

0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.479
<v Speaker 5>circumstances where the offender had engaged in conduct in the

0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.320
<v Speaker 5>lead up to committing the offense that could be characterized.

0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:12.840
<v Speaker 2>As grooming the victim.

0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:15.600
<v Speaker 6>This included taking active.

0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.800
<v Speaker 2>Steps to become her teacher, singling her out for attention,

0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.480
<v Speaker 2>including choosing her to attend a sports carnival for brackets

0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.160
<v Speaker 2>with another student clothes brackets, during which he sat next

0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.080
<v Speaker 2>to her and put his hand on her knee which

0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.479
<v Speaker 2>made her feel special, telling her she was beautiful, and

0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:34.520
<v Speaker 2>having her babysit in his home.

0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.000
<v Speaker 6>This occurred in a context.

0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.560
<v Speaker 2>In which the offender knew the victim was experiencing trouble

0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.680
<v Speaker 2>in her home life and that she was somewhat vulnerable.

0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:48.640
<v Speaker 6>The offender also encouraged the victim to confide in him about.

0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.320
<v Speaker 2>Her problems, and she came to trust him.

0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.720
<v Speaker 1>During the Cunnel Knowledge trial, Dawson was at Long Bay.

0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.400
<v Speaker 1>He initially showed up for court, but then asked if

0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.800
<v Speaker 1>he could watch the trial via video link from jail,

0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.560
<v Speaker 1>as it was exhausting to get on the prison bus

0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.039
<v Speaker 1>in the pre dawn hours with all the other prisoners

0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:09.120
<v Speaker 1>attending court not to return until well after dark. In

0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.120
<v Speaker 1>her sentencing remarks, Judge Huggart acknowledged time in prison was

0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.680
<v Speaker 1>draining for the now seventy six year old.

0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.159
<v Speaker 2>The offenders mental health deteriorated following his arrest and the

0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:25.160
<v Speaker 2>associated media and public interest. He experienced a further decline

0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:26.280
<v Speaker 2>in his mental.

0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.720
<v Speaker 6>Health when he was admitted to custody on thirty August

0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.680
<v Speaker 6>twenty twenty two, having been foundabilty of the murder of

0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:39.200
<v Speaker 6>Lynette Dawson. Although he reports experiencing taunting by inmates from

0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:44.120
<v Speaker 6>neighboring wings, apparently the inmates within his wing are supporting.

0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.640
<v Speaker 1>Huggart sentenced Dawson to three years. He's also serving twenty

0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:56.200
<v Speaker 1>four years for the murder of Lynette. Coming up after

0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.560
<v Speaker 1>the break what happened when Dawson appealed against his conviction

0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:19.239
<v Speaker 1>for murder. Earlier this year, Dawson appealed against his conviction

0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.360
<v Speaker 1>for murdering his wife, which had been delivered by Justice

0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.400
<v Speaker 1>Ian Harrison of the New Southwheales Supreme Court.

0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.800
<v Speaker 7>Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge the donor, about eight

0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.720
<v Speaker 7>January nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the

0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.400
<v Speaker 7>state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynnette Dawson.

0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:44.560
<v Speaker 7>I find you guilty. The message down mister Dawson will

0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.640
<v Speaker 7>be necessary for you to be taken into custody. You'll

0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:48.920
<v Speaker 7>have to go.

0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.680
<v Speaker 1>Dawson won't get parole unless he reveals what he did

0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.640
<v Speaker 1>with Lynn's remains, a new piece of legislation named Lynn's

0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:58.800
<v Speaker 1>Law in her honor.

0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.760
<v Speaker 7>The evidence does not reveal how mister Dawson killed Lynette Dawson.

0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.080
<v Speaker 7>It does not reveal whether he did so with the

0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.680
<v Speaker 7>assistance of anyone else or by himself. He does not

0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.080
<v Speaker 7>reveal where or when he did so, nor does it

0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.800
<v Speaker 7>reveal well in at Dawson's body is now. The charge

0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.640
<v Speaker 7>of murder in this trial is unsupported by direct evidence.

0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:27.160
<v Speaker 7>The case against mister Dawson is wholly circumstantial. I'm satisfied

0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.920
<v Speaker 7>the unreasonable doubt that the only rational inference that the

0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.880
<v Speaker 7>circumstances enable me to draw is that Lenette Dawson died

0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.240
<v Speaker 7>or on about eight January nineteen eighty two as the

0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.960
<v Speaker 7>result of a conscious and voluntary act committed by mister

0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.040
<v Speaker 7>Dawson with the intention of causing her death.

0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.679
<v Speaker 1>In his appeal against the murder conviction, Dawson's representative of

0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:52.120
<v Speaker 1>public defender, Belinda Rigesci, claimed he suffered a significant forensic

0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:57.160
<v Speaker 1>disadvantage because the trial happened so long after the alleged crime.

0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.200
<v Speaker 1>She said, evidence that could prove Lynn war I was

0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.120
<v Speaker 1>alive after January nineteen eighty two had been destroyed or

0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.760
<v Speaker 1>lost to time, memories had faded, and potential witnesses had died.

0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.439
<v Speaker 1>A voice actor is reading the words spoken by Belinda

0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:13.320
<v Speaker 1>Rigg in court.

0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.560
<v Speaker 8>That's a very clear example of a deceased person whose

0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.400
<v Speaker 8>evidence was crucial. That very type of detail has been

0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.240
<v Speaker 8>lost because of the delay. Rig also submitted Justice Harrison

0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.920
<v Speaker 8>erd when he declared Dawson's lies demonstrated a consciousness of guilt.

0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.199
<v Speaker 8>Although it took forty years for Dawson to be charged,

0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.920
<v Speaker 8>and although he fought it at every level and the

0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.640
<v Speaker 8>trial itself stretched over more than two months, it took

0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.000
<v Speaker 8>fewer than two minutes for the appeal to be dismissed

0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.360
<v Speaker 8>by a three judge bench.

0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.439
<v Speaker 1>Chris Dawson is expected to die in jail, with one

0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.760
<v Speaker 1>judge declaring there is absolutely no doubt he is guilty.

0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.760
<v Speaker 1>The Cardinal Knowledge appeal will be heard on March thirty one,

0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:05.800
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five. Thanks for joining us on the front

0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.640
<v Speaker 1>this week. Our team is Kristin Amiot, Jasper leek Leat, Sammaglu,

0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.400
<v Speaker 1>Josh Burton, Tiffany Dimack, Stephanie Coombs and me Claire Harvey.

0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.080
<v Speaker 1>Don't forget to come back over the weekend for another

0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.960
<v Speaker 1>of our special arts and culture episodes. This time we'll

0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.320
<v Speaker 1>reveal what it takes to write an award winning novel,

0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.800
<v Speaker 1>and of course join us anytime for Australia's best journalism

0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.080
<v Speaker 1>at the Australian dot com dot au