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