Forty years after the wife of former Sydney teacher Chris Dawson disappeared, a judge is considering whether it was because of a cunningly planned murder or because of a mother’s decision to leave her family.
The two opposing theories emerged during an eight-week trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where the 73-year-old former rugby league player pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Dawson’s lawyers said that while Lynette Dawson failed as a husband before her January 1982 disappearance, she had no reason to kill her.
But the court also heard evidence from Ms. Dawson that she was seen with bruises, along with revelations she made to colleagues about incidents with violence.
There has been no verified observation of Lynette Dawson since she disappeared in 1982. (Supplied).
The babysitter
According to the indictment, Mr Dawson went so far as to regard his wife as an “impediment” to being with his nanny, JC, a student at the institute where he taught those with whom he was “in love” and “in love”.
Mrs. Dawson’s body has never been found and is a totally circumstantial case, also the subject of a popular podcast, The Teacher’s Pet.
The trial learned that the podcast has been downloaded tens of millions of times.
The woman known as JC was 16 when Chris Dawson taught her at school. (AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
JC, who was 16 when Mr. Dawson taught her physical education at a school on the northern beaches in 1980, said she was distinguished and “cared for.”
The court learned that his domestic life was affected by the violent outbursts of his stepfather and he moved to the property of Dawson’s Bayview.
In late 1981, Dawson was “desperate” to be with JC, after four different plans to let Mrs. Dawson failed, Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC said.
His “slip into moral turpitude” was becoming evident, the prosecutor argued, and then resorted to murder.
JC said Mr. Dawson called her while she was in South West Rocks on the north coast of downtown in early 1982, telling her his wife had left and would not return.
She said she was later treated as a “slave” while still living in her home and believed it was “strange” that all of Mrs. Dawson’s belongings were left in the bedroom.
They married in 1984 and divorced in 1990.
The assassination charge
JC is also the source of what Everson called “one of the most controversial things” in the trial.
He claimed Mr Dawson once drove with her to a building south of the harbor bridge and when he returned to the car he said he planned to hire a hitman to kill Mrs Dawson, but that he reconsidered it because people innocent people could be injured.
In court, the legal team of Mr. Dawson accused JC of lying and highlighted the timing of this allegation; during a custody dispute in 1990.
It was the same challenge Dawson posed when he was introduced in a 1991 police interview, describing it as a “complete and absolute fabrication.”
“The whole purpose of [JC] to raise charges is to insult my character with an upcoming custody battle that has become extremely nasty and bitter, ”he told police in a video of the interview.
In court, JC denied suggestions from the defense that he had tried to destroy Mr. Dawson’s character.
“I’m not going to destroy him, he’s going to destroy himself for what he’s done to people, me and Lyn,” he replied.
Chris Dawson’s account
Dawson chose not to testify.
In his interview with police, he argued that he left Lynette at a Mona Vale bus stop on January 9, 1982 to go shopping and planned to meet her at Northbridge Baths with her children in the afternoon.
At the pool, he said he received a long-distance call from his wife saying he “needed time outside.”
In the following weeks, he claimed to have received similar phone calls from Mrs. Dawson and, on the final call, said he was told he did not know if he would return.
Dawson told detectives that Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance followed a marriage counseling session that made him think his “problems would be resolved” as they got out of hand.
But Mrs Dawson’s former colleague Annette Leary recalled seeing bruises on her neck days before she disappeared.
Mrs Leary claimed Mrs Dawson told her that Chris Dawson had grabbed her throat in the lift while they were going to counseling and said, “If that doesn’t work, I’ll get rid of you, I’ll only do it once “.
Lynette Dawson on her wedding day. Chris Dawson wrote “We want you home” in a newspaper message on his 12th birthday. (Supplied)
Chris Dawson wrote a message in the ad section of a Sydney newspaper a day after his 12th wedding anniversary in March of that year: “Lyn, I love you.”
“We all miss you. Please call. We want you home.”
The Crown argued that the ad illustrated “continuous and misleading” attempts to present itself as “an abandoned husband.”
At the time, Everson noted, he was living in a de facto relationship with JC and must have known his wife would not return.
Everson said that on January 9, 1982, Mr. Everson’s “dominoes.” Dawson were all lined up and “ready to fall.”
The prosecutor accused him of using a “designed window of quiet seclusion” to dispose of his wife’s body, of having killed her alone or with help, and of having arranged “cunningly” that a friend cast in the pool as an independent and credible witness.
The sightings
Mr. Dawson’s defense team relied on Ms. Dawson’s alleged sightings by five people during the two years following her disappearance to argue that there is an alternative explanation for the disappearance.
They include her brother-in-law Ross Hutcheon, who claimed to have seen her in Gladesville in 1982, and Paul Cooper the same year at a Warners Bay pub.
Mrs. Dawson’s friend, Elva McBay, has stated that she saw her during a royal visit in 1983.
During the trial, the court learned of several unverified sightings of Ms. Dawson. (NSW Police)
And former neighbors Peter and Jill Breese insist they saw her working as a nurse at a Curl Curl hospital in 1984.
Lawyer Pauline David argued that the sightings were signs of life.
But as for what happened to Ms. Dawson after the last one, Ms. David said the “possibilities are endless.”
He suggested that the mother “saw the writing on the wall” that the relationship would not recover and, after a decision-making process that included stages, chose to leave.
Ms David said Ms Dawson potentially “created a new life” or that she later “encountered a misfortune”, referring to the disappearance at sea of former Prime Minister Harold Holt as an example of why a body may not have been found.
The lawyer said his client had never been granted a presumption of innocence and suffered a major forensic disadvantage.
Changing a name and opening a bank account were “completely different exercises” 40 years ago, the judge said.
Ms David also criticized the “narrow” police investigations and said the matter had been seen through a “colored prism” involving a belief that Lynette Dawson was murdered, which began in the late 90s.
In the final days of the trial, Judge Ian Harrison, who sat without a jury, noted that the facts were “multiple” and that the Crown case was not based on any matter, but on “a whole series of threads.”
He has now retired to consider a verdict.