WEBVTT - Teacher’s Pet: the Chris Dawson trial 0:00:02.590 --> 0:00:04.269 A listener production. 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.830 Hello, Tom Tilley with you for today's briefing. And in 0:00:09.830 --> 0:00:12.049 this episode, we get the latest from the trial of 0:00:12.050 --> 0:00:14.720 Chris Dawson. Now, this is the case that was at 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.669 the centre of the Teacher's Pet podcast. 0:00:16.850 --> 0:00:20.180 There's evidence that Lynn Dawson made a phone call to 0:00:20.180 --> 0:00:23.090 her husband, who was working at the Northbridge Baths as 0:00:23.090 --> 0:00:27.290 a lifeguard on that particular Saturday. And she basically said, 0:00:27.290 --> 0:00:30.290 according to evidence, Look, you had your time out. I 0:00:30.290 --> 0:00:32.750 think I need a little bit of time out for myself. 0:00:33.229 --> 0:00:35.600 So that sort of mutually agreed on that. And that 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.960 was the last anyone had ever seen Lynn Dawson. 0:00:39.170 --> 0:00:42.080 Chris Dawson was a rugby player and a teacher. Lynette 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.320 Dawson was a nurse and a devoted mother. He's pleaded 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.920 not guilty to her murder. And this story has gripped 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.250 the nation and it's now playing out in court. So 0:00:52.250 --> 0:00:55.040 midway through the trial, we find out what fresh evidence 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.670 has been uncovered in the decades long mystery. First, today's 0:00:58.670 --> 0:01:01.820 headlines with Tash Belling. It is Monday, June 20th. 0:01:03.780 --> 0:01:07.080 Good morning, Tom. Thank you. A huge decision on transgender 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.760 athletes in swimming fina world swimming governing body has voted 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.960 to restrict transgender athletes in elite women's competitions. 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:21.270 Male to female transgender athletes whose legal gender or gender 0:01:21.270 --> 0:01:26.160 identity is female may only compete in FINA competition in 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.240 the female category if they can establish that they have 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.620 not experienced any part of male puberty fantasy. 0:01:34.770 --> 0:01:38.369 Brent Nowicki So the decision was made during Fina's extraordinary 0:01:38.370 --> 0:01:41.220 general Congress, which is happening on the sidelines of the 0:01:41.220 --> 0:01:45.840 World Championships in Budapest, and around 71% of their members 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:50.640 of the 152 national federations voted for this policy. 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.809 It means male to female. Transgender competitors have to have 0:01:54.810 --> 0:01:58.620 completed their transition by the age of 12in order to 0:01:58.620 --> 0:02:01.830 be able to compete in women's competitions. 0:02:01.980 --> 0:02:03.930 Yeah, the other important part of this decision is to 0:02:03.930 --> 0:02:07.590 create a new category for transgender athletes to compete in. 0:02:07.590 --> 0:02:10.200 It will be called an open category. So this is 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.020 a big one, Tash. It means that Lia Thomas, that 0:02:13.020 --> 0:02:15.930 well-known American transgender swimmer, won't be able to compete at 0:02:15.930 --> 0:02:17.580 the Olympics or the world championships. 0:02:17.669 --> 0:02:20.610 And Tom, obviously I'm thinking straight away, will this set 0:02:20.610 --> 0:02:25.170 a precedent then for other sporting competitions and other athletes? 0:02:25.169 --> 0:02:27.030 Yeah, I think it probably will. 0:02:27.270 --> 0:02:29.010 And the vote, of course, followed a report from a 0:02:29.010 --> 0:02:34.710 transgender taskforce comprising leading medical, legal and sports figures. 0:02:35.550 --> 0:02:39.090 And a big payout for hundreds of thousands of Toyota drivers. 0:02:39.210 --> 0:02:42.270 In Australia's largest ever class action. The Federal Court ruled 0:02:42.270 --> 0:02:47.550 in April that Toyota, Hilux, Prado and Fortuner diesel vehicles 0:02:47.550 --> 0:02:51.220 sold from the 1st of October 2015 to the 23rd 0:02:51.220 --> 0:02:53.790 of April 2020 had a defect. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.130 Yes, the defect caused excessive smell and white smoke and 0:02:58.139 --> 0:03:02.070 also increased fuel consumption. And the court found the defects 0:03:02.070 --> 0:03:06.840 also led to a 17.5% price drop in the value 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.870 of the cars when they were resold, which means the 0:03:09.870 --> 0:03:15.180 owners of 260,000 of these defective vehicles will be compensated. 0:03:15.330 --> 0:03:18.390 The best guide is around 17.5 per percent of the 0:03:18.389 --> 0:03:20.460 average retail price of that vehicle. New. 0:03:20.580 --> 0:03:24.660 That's extraordinary. And I can't believe also about the fuel 0:03:24.660 --> 0:03:27.540 consumption issues. So does that mean not only the value 0:03:27.540 --> 0:03:29.700 of your car has dropped, but also the fact that 0:03:29.700 --> 0:03:32.970 you were using a lot more fuel and that was 0:03:32.970 --> 0:03:35.820 then costing you a lot more at the petrol pump. 0:03:35.820 --> 0:03:38.730 Yeah. Interesting point. That was Matt Mackenzie from Gilbert and 0:03:38.730 --> 0:03:41.850 Tobin Lawyers we heard before. But yeah, Toyota's are such 0:03:41.850 --> 0:03:44.580 a popular car, so a ruling like this just affects 0:03:44.580 --> 0:03:48.510 so many people, a quarter of a million. It's just huge. 0:03:48.510 --> 0:03:51.060 And Toyota has appealed that judgment. 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.050 And the former Coalition government's new job seeker policy will 0:03:55.050 --> 0:03:57.330 go ahead in 11 days. It has a points based 0:03:57.330 --> 0:04:00.480 system which will require job seekers to earn 100 points 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.380 through searching for jobs, studying training and work for the dole. 0:04:04.530 --> 0:04:06.690 It's actually too late to not have a point system 0:04:06.690 --> 0:04:09.750 at all. It's about getting inside it and making it 0:04:09.750 --> 0:04:13.920 logical and making sure that when all these contracts take 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.800 effect in a couple of weeks time, we've actually got 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.190 a system that helps long term unemployed people. 0:04:20.339 --> 0:04:23.310 That's Employment Minister Tony Burke on Sky there. The new 0:04:23.310 --> 0:04:26.640 system will replace the job active program that required people 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.090 to lodge 20 applications a month. Mr. Burke has said 0:04:30.089 --> 0:04:33.120 he supports the flexibility of the new system but is 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.150 concerned about parts of it that are meant to be automated, 0:04:36.150 --> 0:04:40.770 bringing back memories of course, of the Robodebt disaster. 0:04:41.670 --> 0:04:44.099 And pressure is growing on the Australian Government to do 0:04:44.100 --> 0:04:47.940 more now that Julian Assange is facing extradition to the US. 0:04:47.940 --> 0:04:51.900 On Saturday, the British Home Secretary approved the extradition order 0:04:51.900 --> 0:04:54.240 and if carried out, it will mean Assange will face 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:55.290 a US court. 0:04:55.500 --> 0:04:58.770 He is, of course charged with breaching the US Espionage Act, 0:04:58.770 --> 0:05:03.659 facing up to 175 years in jail. If convicted. There's 0:05:03.660 --> 0:05:04.320 still a long way to. 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.630 Go in terms of our appeals here in the United Kingdom, 0:05:06.630 --> 0:05:08.520 potentially all the way to the Supreme Court. 0:05:08.670 --> 0:05:12.420 So that's Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, speaking on ten there. 0:05:12.420 --> 0:05:16.410 So this case has been going since 2010 when WikiLeaks 0:05:16.410 --> 0:05:20.010 first published those documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, 0:05:20.010 --> 0:05:23.460 as well as diplomatic cables. And now that he's getting 0:05:23.460 --> 0:05:27.060 one step closer to extradition, people are basically calling on 0:05:27.060 --> 0:05:29.850 the Labour government to put their money where their mouth is. 0:05:29.970 --> 0:05:33.690 They've been seemingly tight, more supportive of Assange plight than 0:05:33.690 --> 0:05:37.140 previous governments, saying that this has dragged on long enough. 0:05:37.140 --> 0:05:41.010 Anthony Albanese also says that loud hailer diplomacy is not 0:05:41.010 --> 0:05:43.109 the way to go here. So you would expect that 0:05:43.110 --> 0:05:46.440 behind the scenes they will be talking to Joe Biden and. 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.380 I saw Jennifer Robinson, who is of course, Assange's lawyer 0:05:49.380 --> 0:05:52.169 we heard from earlier there, she said over the weekend, 0:05:52.170 --> 0:05:53.940 which I thought was an excellent point. You know, this 0:05:53.940 --> 0:05:58.380 is a huge precedent for journalism and journalists in general. 0:05:58.380 --> 0:06:01.740 You know, does that mean, therefore, if you publish controversial 0:06:01.740 --> 0:06:06.210 documents that may. Expose government mistakes or alleged cover ups. 0:06:06.220 --> 0:06:09.159 Does that then mean journalists can go to jail? 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.190 Speaking of which, there were a few at the Logies 0:06:12.190 --> 0:06:13.720 last night. What journalists. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.070 Or criminals? 0:06:16.270 --> 0:06:20.590 Good question, Tasha. I'll leave that call to you. The 0:06:20.589 --> 0:06:23.980 Logies were back after three years of not happening thanks 0:06:23.980 --> 0:06:27.580 to the pandemic. So apart from all the glitz and glamour, 0:06:27.580 --> 0:06:29.890 some of the results, Hamish Blake took out the Gold 0:06:29.890 --> 0:06:33.400 Logie for most popular personality on Australian TV, as well 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.430 as the inaugural Bert Newton Award for most popular presenter. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:37.090 We really couldn't. 0:06:37.089 --> 0:06:39.010 Do it without the people that are watching at home. 0:06:39.010 --> 0:06:41.970 And if you're watching this, you're an insomniac, but if 0:06:41.980 --> 0:06:46.720 you're also somebody that supports Australian TV and we would 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.540 not be here without you. So thank you. 0:06:49.690 --> 0:06:52.539 Hamish Blake there. Good on him for getting gold. Guy 0:06:52.540 --> 0:06:55.930 Pearce won most popular actor for Jack Irish and Katie 0:06:55.930 --> 0:06:59.890 Flanagan won most popular actress for How Good was Kitty 0:06:59.890 --> 0:07:01.479 and Fisk? Did you see it, Tom? 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:03.339 No, I didn't. Sorry. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.859 It was really, really fantastic. Tony Armstrong won the Graham 0:07:08.860 --> 0:07:12.340 Kennedy Award for most popular new talent for ABC News Breakfast. 0:07:12.340 --> 0:07:15.490 You might remember him celebrating on air, of course, following 0:07:15.490 --> 0:07:18.070 the Socceroos win over Peru. He was a bit excited, 0:07:18.070 --> 0:07:18.670 wasn't he? 0:07:19.030 --> 0:07:22.000 Yeah, he was. He's had an amazing time on television. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:23.920 I mean, he's sort of really only come to prominence 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.500 in the last year, but people love him. He's such 0:07:26.500 --> 0:07:29.140 a fun guy. And I guess, you know, in that 0:07:29.140 --> 0:07:32.140 ABC News Breakfast format, which is, you know, a pretty 0:07:32.140 --> 0:07:36.370 relatively serious kind of show for breakfast TV, he really 0:07:36.370 --> 0:07:39.010 likes it up. He's indigenous as well. So he brings 0:07:39.010 --> 0:07:42.100 a really interesting background to the show. I've met him. 0:07:42.100 --> 0:07:45.730 He's an awesome dude, so good on him. And yeah, 0:07:45.730 --> 0:07:47.680 it was good to see everyone frothing up and doing 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.150 what they used to do. And of course the Gold 0:07:49.150 --> 0:07:53.140 Coast was absolutely the right place for such a wonderfully 0:07:53.140 --> 0:07:54.010 trashy event. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:56.170 Do you know what I do think, though, on a 0:07:56.170 --> 0:07:58.390 serious note, you know, people think it's all this glitz 0:07:58.390 --> 0:08:00.280 and glamour. What I love about it is the fact 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.580 that it recognizes all the people behind the scenes that 0:08:03.580 --> 0:08:07.570 work incredibly hard to put together. Often these great shows 0:08:07.570 --> 0:08:12.850 and also great recognition of some fantastic Australian dramas. The 0:08:12.850 --> 0:08:15.820 newsreader was amazing. Did you see that on the ABC? Yeah, 0:08:15.820 --> 0:08:18.610 I did, yeah. Yeah. So great recognition for, you know, 0:08:18.610 --> 0:08:21.580 an industry that does employ tens of thousands of people. 0:08:21.730 --> 0:08:24.280 All right. Thanks so much, Tosh. We're jumping out of here. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.530 Anika and Katrina bring you the latest on the Chris 0:08:26.530 --> 0:08:27.490 Dawson trial. 0:08:34.750 --> 0:08:39.490 Annika. I'm actually not that much of a true crime junkie, 0:08:39.490 --> 0:08:43.240 but when the Teacher's Pet podcast came out, it was 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.780 honestly one of those ones that got me completely hooked. 0:08:46.870 --> 0:08:48.820 I reckon it was one of the first true crime 0:08:48.820 --> 0:08:52.209 podcasts that got on my radar. I know I'm not alone. 0:08:52.210 --> 0:08:55.840 Millions of people around the world have become obsessed with 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.500 this story. It's from the outside looking in a seemingly 0:08:59.500 --> 0:09:04.090 perfect marriage. It involves Lynette and Chris Dawson. He was 0:09:04.090 --> 0:09:08.230 a star footballer and she was a devoted mum. They 0:09:08.230 --> 0:09:11.230 shared a beautiful home in Sydney's northern beaches. But all 0:09:11.230 --> 0:09:15.220 of that unravelled when Lynette went missing in January 1982. 0:09:15.370 --> 0:09:18.070 Yes, I listened pretty religiously to I can. 0:09:18.070 --> 0:09:22.270 Remember getting to work, walking to work, listening and stopping 0:09:22.660 --> 0:09:25.030 and not starting work until I could finish an episode. 0:09:25.030 --> 0:09:29.500 It was, you know, a really gripping series. And obviously 0:09:30.010 --> 0:09:34.960 it created huge interest. And her disappearance has remained a 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:39.610 cold case. It's been 40 years now. Chris Dawson, Lynette's husband, 0:09:39.610 --> 0:09:42.760 went on to marry their teenage babysitter and one of 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.780 his former students. And for many years, there's been no 0:09:46.780 --> 0:09:50.080 movement on this case. And what happened to Lynette? There 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.750 were always whispers and speculations about what might have happened. 0:09:53.770 --> 0:09:58.960 There were sightings, alleged sightings and questions raised about the 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:03.490 relationship between Chris and Lynette, just how happy they were. 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.640 But nothing was done until a group of journalists dug 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.809 into the story, made it a podcast. And now with 0:10:10.809 --> 0:10:14.620 fresh evidence, Chris Dawson is on trial for murder. 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.740 Yeah, So it's been quite a few weeks of this trial, 0:10:17.740 --> 0:10:20.859 and we wanted to know what exactly has been brought 0:10:20.860 --> 0:10:24.250 to light since this trial has begun and where is 0:10:24.250 --> 0:10:28.480 the court case at now? Joining us on today's briefing 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.170 is Matthew Condon, who is one of the journalists behind 0:10:32.170 --> 0:10:35.620 the teacher's pet podcast. He's been in court every day. 0:10:35.860 --> 0:10:39.309 It's been 40 years since Lynette Dawson went missing. And 0:10:39.309 --> 0:10:42.700 for those that haven't followed the case or the wildly 0:10:42.700 --> 0:10:47.290 popular podcast, can you explain how this latest court case, 0:10:47.290 --> 0:10:50.260 so long after she went missing, actually came about. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.470 As you said, 40 years literally this year since Lynn 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:58.900 Dawson disappeared? There were sporadic investigations into this. I mean, 0:10:58.900 --> 0:11:01.960 for many years she was treated as a missing person. 0:11:02.170 --> 0:11:07.569 An investigation heated up again in late 1989, 1990. And then, 0:11:07.570 --> 0:11:12.490 of course, along came the incredibly popular podcast The Teacher's Pet, 0:11:12.490 --> 0:11:16.930 by Hedley Thomas, the award winning journalist. So that, of course, 0:11:16.929 --> 0:11:20.199 revived interest again in the case. I think it had 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.730 over 60 million downloads that podcast around the world. Witnesses 0:11:24.730 --> 0:11:29.620 came forward certainly to Hedley for his podcast. Again, police 0:11:29.620 --> 0:11:34.750 reignited their investigation and subsequently Christopher Dawson, Lynn Dawson's husband, 0:11:35.110 --> 0:11:40.420 was finally charged with her murder. So after all these years, 0:11:40.420 --> 0:11:43.689 we arrive at Court nine D in the Supreme Court 0:11:43.690 --> 0:11:44.530 in Sydney. 0:11:44.710 --> 0:11:46.929 And why do you think it's taken so long to 0:11:46.929 --> 0:11:49.690 get answers for the family? Was it a case of 0:11:50.020 --> 0:11:53.110 police negligence at the time? Was it just a different 0:11:53.110 --> 0:11:57.580 time when I guess these cases were treated differently? What 0:11:57.580 --> 0:12:00.520 do you put it down to the fact that she 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:01.540 wasn't found? 0:12:02.020 --> 0:12:06.040 So Lynn disappears in at the end of January 1982, 0:12:06.220 --> 0:12:11.710 and then Chris Dawson alleges that his wife contacted him 0:12:12.250 --> 0:12:15.460 on a few occasions by telephone after the date of 0:12:15.460 --> 0:12:19.089 the end of the first week of January, people came forward, 0:12:19.090 --> 0:12:22.870 friends of the Dawsons and indeed a relative. This has 0:12:22.870 --> 0:12:26.920 been examined in the case with sightings of Lynn Dawson. 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:28.990 So there were there were sightings, you know, a few 0:12:28.990 --> 0:12:32.860 years after she went missing, working as a nurse, for example, 0:12:32.860 --> 0:12:36.550 at a hospital in Cocoa in Sydney, a relative gave 0:12:36.550 --> 0:12:41.650 evidence that he indeed sighted Lynn in Gatesville on busy 0:12:41.650 --> 0:12:45.760 Victoria Road, believing that she was working as a nurse 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.939 at a nearby hospital. So you have all of this 0:12:48.940 --> 0:12:52.450 doubt about is she alive? Is she not in the 0:12:52.450 --> 0:12:54.370 narrative as it's moved forward? 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.910 We've got this court case happening right now. What is 0:12:57.910 --> 0:13:00.700 it that the court is being asked to decide and 0:13:00.700 --> 0:13:02.830 what could that mean for Chris Dawson? 0:13:03.309 --> 0:13:06.640 Well, he's facing the most serious charge of all, and 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.570 that is that he murdered his wife, Lynn Dawson. And 0:13:10.570 --> 0:13:13.870 that alleged crime occurred around the end of the first 0:13:13.870 --> 0:13:20.080 week of January. In 1982. His defense team successfully argued 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:25.750 for what's called a judge alone trial. That means no jury. 0:13:25.750 --> 0:13:28.510 I mean, the basis was that with the popularity of 0:13:28.510 --> 0:13:31.870 the teacher's pet and the Teacher's Pet podcast has come up. 0:13:32.170 --> 0:13:35.980 Day in, day out in this trial from the defense, 0:13:35.980 --> 0:13:40.800 in terms of the allegation that the podcast had of 0:13:40.809 --> 0:13:46.360 serious influence, given its popularity and certain thematics that it took, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.260 that it may have indeed influenced witnesses in the trial. 0:13:50.290 --> 0:13:54.309 The judge alone decision was because, they argued, Christensen could 0:13:54.309 --> 0:13:58.720 not possibly get a fair trial before a jury. Given 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.800 the popularity of this story, I mean, the publicity. You know, 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.750 fair enough. How could he get a fair trial with 0:14:04.750 --> 0:14:08.140 a jury of his peers so its judge alone before 0:14:08.140 --> 0:14:09.520 Justice Ian Harrison. 0:14:09.820 --> 0:14:13.420 And how much of the evidence being presented is historic 0:14:13.540 --> 0:14:16.690 such are those police interviews or intercepts from the time 0:14:16.690 --> 0:14:20.790 versus witnesses coming forward in the years since Lynn disappeared? 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.190 Is it a 5050 split? Is there a huge amount 0:14:24.190 --> 0:14:27.370 of new evidence? What's the court sort of hearing? 0:14:27.580 --> 0:14:31.180 The court is hearing piece by piece, brick by brick. 0:14:31.180 --> 0:14:36.580 The building of the narrative behind the disappearance of Lynn Dawson. 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:41.530 Such is the nature of serious trials. For example, though, 0:14:41.590 --> 0:14:46.060 since the trial began six weeks ago, people are still 0:14:46.060 --> 0:14:51.460 coming forward and contacting Crime Stoppers and are offering new information. 0:14:51.460 --> 0:14:53.350 Whether that will be admitted and become part of the 0:14:53.350 --> 0:14:57.160 trial is unknown at the moment, but it's been very 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:02.980 carefully systematic. So the case began, for example, with evidence 0:15:02.980 --> 0:15:06.610 from the neighbors of the Dawsons up at Bayview Heights 0:15:06.610 --> 0:15:11.290 on Sydney's northern beaches. It then went to the workmates 0:15:11.290 --> 0:15:14.800 of Lynn who worked at the wayward Childcare centre up 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.910 there as a nurse. There was evidence, of course, over 0:15:19.210 --> 0:15:24.550 several days from JC, who was the young babysitter at 0:15:24.550 --> 0:15:28.660 the epicentre of this story and this trial. And then 0:15:28.660 --> 0:15:31.900 it moved to, of course, family members were giving evidence. 0:15:31.930 --> 0:15:35.290 It was heartbreaking in many instances. And now we've moved 0:15:35.290 --> 0:15:38.770 on to the police and their investigation. So it's been 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.240 very carefully plotted. In any case, a narrative takes time 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.030 to sort of come into focus. It is a building 0:15:46.030 --> 0:15:46.780 of a picture. 0:15:47.230 --> 0:15:52.270 Has the court heard from Chris's second wife? And what 0:15:52.270 --> 0:15:56.050 do we know about their relationship, both before Lynne went 0:15:56.050 --> 0:15:57.430 missing and of course, after. 0:15:57.910 --> 0:16:01.630 Chris's second wife was the babysitter? We can't name her 0:16:01.630 --> 0:16:06.070 because she was underage at the time of this situation. 0:16:06.070 --> 0:16:09.550 So she's known as Jake to cut a very long 0:16:09.550 --> 0:16:13.300 story short. JC was a student at Cromer High where 0:16:13.300 --> 0:16:19.450 Chris Dawson was a teacher in late 1981. JC She 0:16:19.450 --> 0:16:23.260 briefly moved into the house at two Gill Wingard drive 0:16:23.290 --> 0:16:28.570 Bayview into Chris and Lynn's house. The explanation was that 0:16:28.570 --> 0:16:31.180 she had a troubled home life. She was trying to 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:37.360 complete her HSC, which obviously required stability. And JC, who 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.690 had been their babysitter for some time, briefly moved into 0:16:40.690 --> 0:16:46.480 the home. Now, if you spool forward to around Christmas 1981, 0:16:46.570 --> 0:16:51.160 the evidence in court has been that Chris Dawson and 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.190 JC hopped in a car through some clothes in the 0:16:54.190 --> 0:16:57.940 car and headed north, ostensibly to Queensland, to start a 0:16:57.940 --> 0:17:03.190 new life together as they travelled north. JC felt physically 0:17:03.190 --> 0:17:05.979 unwell and was missing her family and said, Can we 0:17:05.980 --> 0:17:10.450 turn around essentially and back? They went to Sydney. Christmas 0:17:10.450 --> 0:17:13.359 Day has been an epicentre of this case. It's an 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:18.070 important day, 1981, in that the Dawsons, a very close family, 0:17:18.070 --> 0:17:20.859 have always celebrated Christmas and held it to be very important, 0:17:20.859 --> 0:17:24.820 like a lot of families do. But on this Christmas Day, 0:17:24.820 --> 0:17:28.270 where there was a gathering at Chris Dawson's parents house 0:17:28.270 --> 0:17:33.280 in Sydney, Chris Dawson wasn't present. He was at his 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.609 twin brother, Paul's house, which is only a couple of 0:17:36.609 --> 0:17:41.200 doors down from his home in Bayview, and Lynn Dawson 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.330 went to the function on her own. So there was 0:17:43.330 --> 0:17:49.000 evidence about discussions about Chris, and Lynn's understanding was that 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.960 he needed some time out to himself at that point. 0:17:53.470 --> 0:17:58.360 Go forward now to January and Lynn and Chris Dawson 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.030 come back together. They agree to see a marriage counsellor. 0:18:01.030 --> 0:18:04.840 Everything looks great. Lynn's happy. Chris Dawson says he was 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.330 happy that there was great hopes that they could make 0:18:07.330 --> 0:18:12.369 this work. And then come that first weekend in January, 0:18:12.369 --> 0:18:15.970 there's evidence that Lynn Dawson made a phone call to 0:18:15.970 --> 0:18:18.880 her husband, who was working at the Northbridge Baths as 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:23.080 a lifeguard on that particular Saturday. And she basically said, 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.080 according to evidence, look, you had your time out. I 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.540 think I need a little bit of time out for myself. 0:18:28.990 --> 0:18:31.390 So that sort of mutually agreed on that. And that 0:18:31.390 --> 0:18:34.680 was the last any. One had ever seen Lin Dawson. 0:18:35.100 --> 0:18:38.609 What has it been like covering this case and why 0:18:38.609 --> 0:18:41.879 do you think that certain cases like this capture the 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.230 national attention? 0:18:43.470 --> 0:18:45.630 Why they catch the attention. And it occurred to me 0:18:45.630 --> 0:18:48.800 sitting in the court, you know, watching witnesses come and go, 0:18:48.810 --> 0:18:51.900 listening to arguments from the crown and the defense. It 0:18:51.900 --> 0:18:55.470 occurred to me that, in essence, this is a very 0:18:55.470 --> 0:19:00.480 simple story. It's about a husband and a wife. It's 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.379 about the fraying of a marriage. And it's about that 0:19:04.380 --> 0:19:07.500 scenario resulting in where we are today. I think it 0:19:07.500 --> 0:19:10.650 touches on a lot of common things that we all 0:19:10.650 --> 0:19:13.650 share in terms of a relationship, in terms of having 0:19:13.650 --> 0:19:17.070 young children in in terms of trying to make something work. 0:19:17.100 --> 0:19:19.170 This is a story from the 70 seconds and the 0:19:19.170 --> 0:19:21.540 early 80 seconds, but it's all about raising kids and 0:19:21.540 --> 0:19:23.669 how difficult that is and keeping a roof over your 0:19:23.670 --> 0:19:26.159 head and being able to afford the mortgage. And it's 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:31.859 just that classic suburban drama that touches us all really. 0:19:31.950 --> 0:19:35.040 You know, it has its incredibly poignant moments, too, when 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.710 you look at the family and they're hearing evidence day in, 0:19:37.710 --> 0:19:40.050 day out about their missing sibling. 0:19:40.260 --> 0:19:44.220 Now, there's been no evidence that Lin is still around. 0:19:44.220 --> 0:19:47.160 There hasn't been a body that's been found. There's been 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.880 a few sightings. All of this leaves a really uncertain 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.090 situation for the family. So importantly, do you think we're 0:19:54.090 --> 0:19:57.300 ever going to get any answers and from this trial 0:19:57.300 --> 0:19:59.280 about what happened to Lin? 0:19:59.700 --> 0:20:02.910 Well, the assumption of finding a body is the assumption 0:20:02.910 --> 0:20:07.350 that she is indeed dead. So the defense contends that 0:20:07.350 --> 0:20:11.190 she disappeared and indeed that it was of her own 0:20:11.190 --> 0:20:13.710 volition that she made a break from the family at 0:20:13.710 --> 0:20:16.199 that point. And the case is been trying to examine 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.320 all sides of this story and whether, indeed that's a 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.400 valid conclusion to reach and probing Lin's character and her 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.449 state of mind leading up to her disappearance, per se. So, 0:20:27.450 --> 0:20:30.899 you know, this is a trial. We have to obviously 0:20:30.900 --> 0:20:36.629 balance everything, taking every view from the crown, from the defense. 0:20:36.630 --> 0:20:42.420 And the ultimate answer to this question rests with his honor, 0:20:42.780 --> 0:20:44.070 Justice Ian Harrison. 0:20:44.430 --> 0:20:48.660 And that was journalist Matthew Condon, who's been covering this 0:20:48.660 --> 0:20:53.880 case every day. Annika, interesting that Chris Dawson, I mean, 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.640 so many years have passed. He's he's in his 70 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:01.530 seconds now for so many families who their loved ones 0:21:01.530 --> 0:21:05.250 have gone missing and they've never been able to get answers. 0:21:05.250 --> 0:21:08.340 I guess it's people power that have brought cases like 0:21:08.340 --> 0:21:12.150 this particular one and other cases to light and led 0:21:12.150 --> 0:21:16.440 to either fresh evidence with people coming forward or inquests 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.020 or even court cases, as is the case with this one. 0:21:19.109 --> 0:21:21.030 Yeah, it's a bit of a double edged sword, isn't it? 0:21:21.030 --> 0:21:24.930 You get the prominence in the media and often, you know, 0:21:24.930 --> 0:21:28.440 in this case you actually get a trial, but of 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.270 course it can be used against you. You know, Chris 0:21:30.270 --> 0:21:33.210 Dawson has tried to use the podcast as a reason 0:21:33.210 --> 0:21:36.270 why he says he's not getting a fair trial. So 0:21:36.390 --> 0:21:39.180 it's a fine line, but obviously a great way of 0:21:39.180 --> 0:21:48.590 trying to deliver outcomes and answers for families. Listener.