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