A former Newtown Jets player has recalled that in the 1970s he was told that Chris Dawson had asked a teammate to help him “get rid” of his wife, Lynette.
It has become a key claim in the murder trial and one that Dawson denies.
Ray Lee joined the Newtown Jets rugby league club in 1975, the same year as Thrilla’s big boxing hit Manila, which the team saw during a season-ending trip to the Gold Coast.
Ray Lee joined the Newtown Jets rugby league club in 1975, the same year as Thrilla’s big boxing hit Manila, which the team saw during a season-ending trip to the Gold Coast. (9 News)
Convicted backup player and thief Robert Silkman has previously claimed he was on the plane trip to Sydney when Chris Dawson knelt down and allegedly called for help to “get rid of his wife”.
Silkman said he remembered sitting next to his friend Ray Lee and telling him that conversation.
But almost 50 years later, Lee doesn’t remember anything about the flight or even seeing the Dawson twins over the weekend.
“I suggest these words are something you would never forget?” asked attorney Greg Walsh in court Friday.
Chris Dawson previously played for the Jets. (9 News)
“Yeah, you’d think so,” Lee said.
But the former footballer told the judge that the discussion had arisen sometime in the 1970s and more regularly after the Teacher’s Pet podcast.
The complaint did not come to the attention of police until 2018, when Silkman passed it on to a detective.
This senior officer testified today and confirmed that the convicted criminal had never raised the issue of a reward.
Months after the assassin’s claim became official, Chris Dawson was charged with murder.
He claims his wife Lynette fled.