Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey,
Speaker 1: the kids, the house and the teenage babysitter. That's what
Speaker 1: Chris Dawson wanted, says a judge hearing the former rugby
Speaker 1: league stars appeal on his murder conviction. Dawson is attempting
Speaker 1: to demonstrate his wife, Lynn, who hasn't been seen by
Speaker 1: her family since nineteen eighty two, may have just walked
Speaker 1: out on him and their little girls. That's today's episode.
Speaker 1: Sydney in January is hot and sticky. New Year's bring
Speaker 1: temperatures over forty degrees on some days and violent afternoon
Speaker 1: storms in the earliest days of nineteen eighty two. That
Speaker 1: was very much the case. On January ninth, nineteen eighty two,
Speaker 1: a young father from Sydney's Northern Beaches arranged to take
Speaker 1: his two daughters, then aged just four and two years old,
Speaker 1: to a local title pool to escape the heat. There
Speaker 1: they paddled in the shadows, supported by their dad, a
Speaker 1: tanned athletic Chris Dawson. Their maternal grandma, Helena Simms, was there,
Speaker 1: so was one of Dawson's friends, Philip Day. It was
Speaker 1: during this outing that Dawson claims he received a phone
Speaker 1: call from his wife, Lynnette. He says she told him
Speaker 1: she wanted to get away for a few days clear
Speaker 1: her head. Lynn's family never saw her again. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, more than forty years after that summer day
Speaker 1: at Northbridge Baths, Justice he and Harrison in the New
Speaker 1: Southwald Supreme Court found Christopher Michael Dawson guilty of Lynnette's murder.
Speaker 1: The judge said that on that day at the baths,
Speaker 1: Chris had already murdered Lynn and left her body in
Speaker 1: their home, planning to return later than dispose of her remains.
Speaker 2: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge. Then, about eight January
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the state
Speaker 2: of New South Wales, you did murder Lynette Dawson. I
Speaker 2: find you guilty.
Speaker 1: On Monday, almost two years after Justice Harrison sentenced Dawson
Speaker 1: to twenty four years in prison, Dawson's appeal got underway
Speaker 1: in the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal. His
Speaker 1: public defender, Belinda Rigg SC says the evidence doesn't stack up.
Speaker 1: We've used a voice actor or to bring you the
Speaker 1: words spoken in court.
Speaker 3: The evidence is not sufficient in its nature and quality
Speaker 3: for the inferences to be drawn beyond reasonable doubt.
Speaker 1: That trip to the North Bridge barths is central to
Speaker 1: Dawson's application. In the trial, Prosecutor Craig Everson SC told
Speaker 1: the court Dawson had invited Lynn's mum, Helena Simms, and
Speaker 1: friend Philip Day to the baths on that day so
Speaker 1: they could see him be called into the pool office
Speaker 1: to take a long distance phone call. That's the call
Speaker 1: Dawson claims was from Lynn. The Crown also alleged, and
Speaker 1: Justice Ian Harrison agreed it was all part of Dawson's
Speaker 1: plan to get his little girls out of the way
Speaker 1: for the night. He told Philip Day that Lynn wanted
Speaker 1: the girls to spend the night with their grandma on
Speaker 1: the other side of Sydney. Justice An Harrison found that
Speaker 1: was so Dawson could go home alone and deal with
Speaker 1: Lynn's remains, but Dawson's public defender Belinda Rigg SC said
Speaker 1: that's probably reading too much into it.
Speaker 3: The Crown at trial suggests that there was some sinister
Speaker 3: or underhand aspect to this relationship, to this arrangement with
Speaker 3: mister Day.
Speaker 1: Justice Christine Adamson one of the three Supreme Court justices
Speaker 1: hearing the appeal, asked rig if she meant to argue
Speaker 1: that Dawson could have murdered Lynn at a later day.
Speaker 1: That is, the judge wanted to know. Are you saying
Speaker 1: Dawson could have murdered Lynne, but he just didn't murder
Speaker 1: her at the time the Crown has alleged, No.
Speaker 3: Your honor, it's submitted that it is a reasonable hypothesis,
Speaker 3: consistent with innocence, that she was alive at that time.
Speaker 3: The Crown has undertaken a trial to disprove that as
Speaker 3: an indispensable intermediate fact, And it's not an issue in
Speaker 3: these proceedings that he might have murdered her but at
Speaker 3: a different point in time after that afternoon. No, it's
Speaker 3: a crucial issue whether there's a reasonable possibility that Lynett
Speaker 3: Dawson called the north Bridge Barths on the afternoon of
Speaker 3: the ninth of January, which would result in the acquittal
Speaker 3: of the applicant.
Speaker 1: One of the grounds of Dawson's appeal is that the
Speaker 1: evidence didn't establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynn was
Speaker 1: dead on January nine. One of Harrison's reasons for his
Speaker 1: finding was that Lynn didn't communicate with any family members
Speaker 1: after that date, but rig argued, these long breaks in
Speaker 1: communication won't I common. Just a note on this, Belinda
Speaker 1: Rigg and the judges call Lynn miss Dawson. Her legal
Speaker 1: name was Lynette Dawson, but her family has asked us
Speaker 1: to call her by her maiden name, Lynette Simms.
Speaker 3: Miss Dawson's sister, Pat Jenkins didn't have a phone at
Speaker 3: her home at Stuart's Point on the Mid North Coast.
Speaker 3: She was at that time speaking quickly and breathing heavily,
Speaker 3: and she offered for her to come and stay with her.
Speaker 3: At that time, Miss Dawson had a very close relationship
Speaker 3: with her mother, But there's nothing in Helena sims diary
Speaker 3: entries for October nineteen eighty one to January nineteen eighty
Speaker 3: two or otherwise, or other evidence in the trial suggesting
Speaker 3: that they had daily contact or anything close to that
Speaker 3: with one another.
Speaker 1: Belinda Rigg said lynd Dawson's mindsetting the lead up to
Speaker 1: her disappearance indicated it was possible that Dawson didn't kill
Speaker 1: her at all, that she left the family home at
Speaker 1: Bayview and her small children of her own volition. Rigg
Speaker 1: said the young mum wasn't coping because Dawson was angry,
Speaker 1: incommunicative and reluctant to be intimate with his wife. Plus
Speaker 1: she was distraught at the arrival in her home of
Speaker 1: a teenage babysitter. This girl is known by the acronym
Speaker 1: JC because she was a child during significant parts of
Speaker 1: this story. J C was sixteen years old when, according
Speaker 1: to the finding of another court, Dawson, her school teacher,
Speaker 1: illegally had sex with her. He's been convicted of unlawful
Speaker 1: carnal knowledge and is serving a three year sentence for that.
Speaker 1: J C was the family babysitter, but Dawson was infatuated
Speaker 1: with her and had moved her into their home for
Speaker 1: long periods of time. Lynn knew she and Chris were
Speaker 1: having sex, and she was distraught.
Speaker 3: She had found him in bed in their home with JC.
Speaker 3: She had found her topless and naked in their family pool,
Speaker 3: and her loss of self esteem and devastation at those
Speaker 3: circumstances were discussed with friends and work colleagues.
Speaker 1: So this is Chris Dawson's public defender arguing that because
Speaker 1: Dawson was being unfaithful with a schoolgirl, Lynn was in
Speaker 1: such despair that she might well have left her beloved
Speaker 1: children and her home. It's a tough case for a
Speaker 1: barrister to argue, even one as learned as Belinda Wigg.
Speaker 1: So what about the fact that witnesses said Lynn would
Speaker 1: never voluntarily leave her kids. Belinda Rigg said Lynn knew
Speaker 1: the girls would be well cared for by their father.
Speaker 3: There was a considerable body of evidence that mister Dawson
Speaker 3: was and was well known to Miss Dawson to be
Speaker 3: highly capable of looking after the children. Miss Dawson would
Speaker 3: sit and chat with the other women at the picnics,
Speaker 3: and it would always be mister Dawson who was playing
Speaker 3: with the children, changing nappies, looking after the children's needs.
Speaker 1: That a woman would voluntarily abandon her children wasn't an
Speaker 1: entirely novel concept for Christie. We heard in the murder
Speaker 1: trial that there was a family story about a woman
Speaker 1: who'd done just that. This was the mother of Chris's brother,
Speaker 1: Peter Dawson's ex wife, Lynnell. Lennelle's mother had left the
Speaker 1: family when Lynnell was just a child. Belinda Rigg argued
Speaker 1: this could go some way to explaining Chris Dawson's actions
Speaker 1: in the crucial days and weeks after Lynn disappeared.
Speaker 3: That situation, having so starkly occurred in the Dawson family
Speaker 3: and well known to them, may well have contributed, amongst
Speaker 3: other things, to Chris Dawson not doing everything within his
Speaker 3: power to go and find his wife, just.
Speaker 1: As Adamson was curious about this.
Speaker 4: So in those circumstances where somebody who's really desperate to
Speaker 4: be a mother only becomes a mother seven years after
Speaker 4: she's been married, absolutely adores her children, it's difficult to
Speaker 4: see how the applicant's former sister in law's mother can
Speaker 4: really have a bearing on that normalization, given the focus
Speaker 4: of miss Dawson on getting pregnant and her joy at
Speaker 4: having the two children.
Speaker 3: Rigg responded, his conduct on his own account of what
Speaker 3: happened is uncaring and perhaps callous in terms of just
Speaker 3: continuing things with j C in the house and not
Speaker 3: making a greater effort than he did to find his wife.
Speaker 3: But it is of some importance that there was this
Speaker 3: big feature in their family of a woman who had
Speaker 3: left and set up her own life, that he might
Speaker 3: not necessarily presume something bad had happened to his wife.
Speaker 3: He might think it more plausible than another person might
Speaker 3: that his wife had simply decided to move on and
Speaker 3: set up a new life for herself.
Speaker 1: Justice and Harrison found it was Chris Dawson's infatuation with
Speaker 1: j C, his student and the teenage babysitter who he
Speaker 1: later married, and his fear of losing her that ultimately
Speaker 1: motivated him to kill Lynn. Glinda Rigg said, for the
Speaker 1: most part, the judge in the original trial was right
Speaker 1: to believe jac's evidence.
Speaker 3: That evidence demonstrates a passion love for j C on
Speaker 3: Dawson's part, which is relevant to the motive the Crown
Speaker 3: relies upon in this case. The evidence indicates that both
Speaker 3: JC and the applicant went away towards Queensland a day
Speaker 3: or two before Christmas nineteen eighty one with the intention
Speaker 3: of not returning to Sydney to start a new life.
Speaker 3: That's jc's evidence. By boxing day, jc's evidence was that
Speaker 3: she did not want the relationship to continue.
Speaker 1: So this was a trip When Chris Dawson was in
Speaker 1: his early thirties and j C was eighteen. Dawson was
Speaker 1: married to Lynn and lived with her and their two
Speaker 1: little girls. He and j C ran away to Queensland together,
Speaker 1: leaving Lynn and the little girls alone for Christmas. But
Speaker 1: in the murder trial, jac said she was no longer
Speaker 1: wanting the relationship with Dawson by then. She gave evidence
Speaker 1: she was so anxious on that trip she became nauseous
Speaker 1: and broke out in hives. They turned around and headed
Speaker 1: back to Sydney. Back at the murder trial, the Crown
Speaker 1: argued j c's reluctance made Dawson panic, that he decided
Speaker 1: to get rid of Linn because he was terrified of
Speaker 1: losing JC. In court on Monday, Belinda Riggs said that
Speaker 1: wasn't right.
Speaker 3: There was ongoing contact between the applicant and JC between
Speaker 3: Boxing Day and the time she went to Southwest Rocks
Speaker 3: on a holiday with friends.
Speaker 1: Rick argued Dawson's insistence that JC call him on a
Speaker 1: daily basis while she was on a trip with her
Speaker 1: friends to a beach town called Southwest Rocks that was
Speaker 1: an evidence he was jealous or possessive of her, especially
Speaker 1: given he didn't try to stop her from going on
Speaker 1: the trip.
Speaker 3: That's not necessarily reflective of a possessiveness or a jealousy
Speaker 3: as distinct from a more usual type of way people
Speaker 3: who are romantically involved with one another or have been
Speaker 3: romantically involved with one another might speak with one another.
Speaker 1: Justice Adamson probed Dawson's obsession with JC further. She suggested
Speaker 1: Dawson wanted to have it all.
Speaker 4: The applicant, from his point of view, wanted to keep
Speaker 4: the children, wanted to keep the house, and wanted to
Speaker 4: keep JC, and one way of doing that would be
Speaker 4: to murder his wife.
Speaker 1: But rig said the fact that Dawson had planned to
Speaker 1: leave his home and the children for a new life
Speaker 1: in Queensland a fortnight earlier was evidence he wasn't particularly
Speaker 1: concerned about the financial implications of his actions. Justice Adamson
Speaker 1: wasn't satisfied.
Speaker 4: His brother, who was a solicitor, said, look, if you
Speaker 4: leave that house, you might jeopardize your financial interest in
Speaker 4: that house, and he described the pre Christmas departure as
Speaker 4: impulsive because he was so desperate to be with JC.
Speaker 3: And Rigg responded, there was obviously a financial impact upon
Speaker 3: the applicant, potentially in leaving the house and in leaving
Speaker 3: his wife in the circumstances that he had, but it
Speaker 3: wasn't something he'd shown himself to be overly troubled by
Speaker 3: in the circumstances.
Speaker 1: Rig also revisited an assertion made in the murder trial
Speaker 1: by Dawson's former barrister, Pauline David, that Dawson loved both women,
Speaker 1: Lynn and j C. Simultaneously. She said Jace's withdraw will
Speaker 1: actually brought him closer to Lynn. They attended marriage counseling
Speaker 1: and manly and were seen holding hands shortly thereafter.
Speaker 3: The evidence in our submission indicated that when j C
Speaker 3: withdrew from him in January nineteen eighty two, he made
Speaker 3: more effort in the relationship with his wife. Lynn was
Speaker 3: observed to be positive and happy after the counseling, and
Speaker 3: she and Dawson were seen holding hands. They were both
Speaker 3: in particularly good spirits, were holding hands and once again
Speaker 3: felt close.
Speaker 1: But j C moved into the family home at Bayview
Speaker 1: just days after Lynd disappeared. J C testified at trial
Speaker 1: that during that time she slept in the marital bed
Speaker 1: with Dawson and wore Lynn's clothes at his encouragement. Belinda
Speaker 1: Rigg said that doesn't necessarily mean Dawson killed Lynn. It
Speaker 1: was here that just as Julie Ward, the President of
Speaker 1: the Court of Appeal took up the questioning. Ward said
Speaker 1: it would be odd for someone to give his wife's
Speaker 1: clothing to his lover if he expected she'd return home
Speaker 1: at some point.
Speaker 3: Rigg responded, if all his attention was for his wife,
Speaker 3: and it was being contented that his only love was
Speaker 3: for his wife, and the only thing he wanted was
Speaker 3: for his relationship with his wife to be fixed, it
Speaker 3: would then be incongruous for him to allow JC to
Speaker 3: stay in the house and to allow her to wear
Speaker 3: clothes of his wife. But if his greater focus was
Speaker 3: on JC at the time that she was there with him,
Speaker 3: it doesn't necessarily indicate a knowledge that his wife had
Speaker 3: died or responsibility for that. It's in circumstances where the
Speaker 3: Crown has emphasized the passion that he had for JC,
Speaker 3: it might then be said he's not going to necessarily
Speaker 3: be clear headed and completely logical and aversive of risk.
Speaker 1: The third judge on the bench, just as Anthony Payne,
Speaker 1: chimed in at this point. He asked if an innocent
Speaker 1: person would move a teenager into the marital bed after
Speaker 1: his wife's dizzib appearance. Belinda Rigg was frank in her response.
Speaker 3: It's not admirable, it's not wise. The nature of his
Speaker 3: interest in JC is in our submission, related to the
Speaker 3: very reason why his wife left to take some time
Speaker 3: to herself. They're not strangely coincidental occurrences. These occurrences are,
Speaker 3: in our submission, intertwined with one another.
Speaker 1: She said. Dawson was aware he'd have to deal with
Speaker 1: the consequences Eve and when Lynn returned to Bayview, just
Speaker 1: as Adamson asked.
Speaker 4: Because you might say, well, she's already forgiven him for
Speaker 4: going off with JC to Queensland. She's been prepared to
Speaker 4: undertake marriage counseling. Miss Dawson obviously adored the children and
Speaker 4: he could, as it were, count on her good will
Speaker 4: in future if need be.
Speaker 3: Rigg responded, partly, your honor, But the situation on Dawson's
Speaker 3: account is that his view was that Miss Dawson had
Speaker 3: left him without his agreement. On nine January nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 3: Part of the request made to j C was for
Speaker 3: her to look after the chew dren, and she did
Speaker 3: have a history of having looked after the children, so
Speaker 3: that's part of the context in which her presence in
Speaker 3: the house could be explicable. But additionally, if JC being
Speaker 3: back in the house then reignited his relationship with JC,
Speaker 3: his focus then may very well have been on JC,
Speaker 3: despite the fact that he would have been required to
Speaker 3: resolve in some way his circumstances with his wife once
Speaker 3: she came back, whether that's by an amicable separation or
Speaker 3: the sale of the house.
Speaker 1: Coming up why Chris Dawson says it's the police's vault.
Speaker 1: Lynn's killer wasn't caught earlier. Subscribers to The Australian get
Speaker 1: to read all are exclusive analysis plus the take from
Speaker 1: the Teacher's Pet creator Hedley Thomas at the Australian dot
Speaker 1: com dot u and we'll be back after this break.
Speaker 1: The phone call Chris Dawson says he got during that
Speaker 1: trip to the North Bridge baths goes to one of
Speaker 1: the other grounds for his appeal. He says it was
Speaker 1: unfair for Justice and Harrison to conclude the call happened
Speaker 1: because he's at a significant forensic disadvantage due to the
Speaker 1: long delay by police in bringing charges. Dawson's wife, Lynn Simms,
Speaker 1: disappeared in early January nineteen eighty two. Dawson wasn't charged
Speaker 1: with her murder until twenty eighteen, following the release of
Speaker 1: The Australian's investigative podcast The Teacher's Pet, made by our
Speaker 1: colleague Headley Thomas. So Dawson can't prove if the call happened,
Speaker 1: or if it did who made it. On Monday, the
Speaker 1: public defender for Chris Dawson, Belinda riggerc so the forty
Speaker 1: year old phone records were no longer able to be
Speaker 1: scrutinized and that put the former school teacher in a
Speaker 1: tough spot. But just as Christine Adamson said, it goes
Speaker 1: both ways.
Speaker 4: Right, and the Crown has lost capacity to show that
Speaker 4: it came from someone else else, like, for example, JC
Speaker 4: or some member of the family. So in terms of
Speaker 4: forensic disadvantage, both parties have potentially suffered forensic disadvantage and
Speaker 4: there's no particular way of knowing what that forensic disadvantage is.
Speaker 3: Is that not right?
Speaker 1: Belinda Rigg said the law wasn't designed to protect the crown,
Speaker 1: it was designed to ensure accused people got a fair trial.
Speaker 1: Come back to the front tomorrow for all the evidence
Speaker 1: from day two of Chris Dawson's appeal, and keep up
Speaker 1: with the federal budget and all are reporting at the
Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au