A witness has said at the Chris Dawson murder trial that he met the former professor’s wife in a hotel and she made a startling confession.
An explosive witness has stated that he met Lynette Dawson at a hotel in NSW in early 1982, during which he confided in his plan to flee abroad.
Chris Dawson is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where he pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife who disappeared from his Bayview home on the beaches of northern Sydney in January 1982.
Mr. Dawson’s defense has argued that she fled her marital home of her own free will and that she had contacted her husband by phone several times after he left.
Crown prosecution alleges that Mr. Dawson murdered Mrs. Dawson so she could be with a former student and teen babysitter, JC.
The defense called Paul Cooper, a man who said he had a casual meeting with Mrs. Dawson at a pub in Warners Bay, in the Lake Macquarie region in early 1982.
Cooper, 60, told the court Mrs Dawson looked out of place as the hotel was a “traditional bar”.
Mr Cooper, of Gold Coast, told the court the woman told him she had run away from home because her husband had been unfaithful to her, that he was “controlling” and that she was leaving to start another life.
Mr Cooper said he asked him to book him a motel room because he did not like where he was staying at the time.
“Apparently, the gentleman who owned the place where he was staying had been coming into his room and making advances and he didn’t like it,” Mr. Cooper.
Cooper said Mrs. Dawson had told him she had two children but was fleeing her home due to marital problems.
“We went back to the reason I wanted him to book (the motel room) was because he didn’t have any ID,” Mr. Cooper in court Monday.
“I had money because I was selling something and I had been planning it for a couple of weeks.
“She didn’t have it all together. She was waiting to get a passport from someone who was going to find her in a couple of weeks, she had to wait two weeks to get a passport … I would go to the bail and then went to another country abroad. ”
He said he tried to convince her not to leave her young children, having grown up without her own parents.
He also told her that on leaving, people would assume that Mr. Dawson had murdered him.
But Mr. Cooper said he believed the woman’s intention was to put “her husband.”
“I told him they’d think he hit you,” Mr. Cooper.
“And I had the impression that it was the whole process, leaving everything behind. It surprised me. “
He said he had never been in contact with Mr Dawson, but saw a picture of Mrs Dawson in A Current Affair in 2018.
He said he did not go to police because he doubted they believed him and instead contacted Mr Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh.
“How do you know the woman in 1982 at the Warners Bay Hotel was actually Lynette Dawson?” asked defense attorney Pauline David.
“Just his smile and the presence of his face, it’s kind of a sad picture, I was impressed,” Mr. Cooper.
“It was an unforgettable afternoon, I was surprised. I’ve never been able to forget that. “
Cooper added that he was “100 percent” sure that the woman he spoke to at the hotel was Mrs. Dawson.
Under the interrogation of Crown Attorney Craig Everson, Mr. Cooper told the court he had been in jail for theft, drug offenses, entry and entry and armed robbery.
The court said he had been arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin.
However, he denied that his use of these drugs had affected his memory.
The defense closed its case Monday afternoon after calling Mr. Cooper.
The trial continues with the closing filings.