Two witnesses who testified at Chris Dawson’s murder trial have testified that his second wife shared suspicions that he had killed his first wife Lynette.
Key points:
- Chris Dawson’s second wife told two friends he thought he had killed Lynette, according to the court
- Lynette Dawson has not been seen since she disappeared in 1982
- Dawson denies killing his first wife
Toni Melrose-Mikeska said he had a conversation in 1990 with Chris Dawson’s second wife, known as JC, the day JC left Dawson after six years of marriage, to travel back to Sydney with his little daughter.
“She said ‘I think he murdered his first wife,'” Melrose-Mikeska told the court today.
It is the case of Crown that the former Sydney school teacher killed Mrs Dawson in January 1982 to maintain a “free relationship” with JC, who was 16 and a babysitter at the time.
Mrs. Dawson has not been seen since, and her body has never been found.
Lynette Dawson has not been seen since the 1980s. (Supplied)
Ms. Melrose-Mikeska said JC told her he planned to explain his theory to police.
“She said that if she didn’t get there, she would have to go to the police and tell them some information she passed on to me … which she and Chris had gone to, I’m sure it was a pub. “And she talked to a man in the pub. She saw him handing her an envelope, and then for a while Lynette disappeared.”
In her trial last month, JC told the court that in late 1981, Dawson drove her to an unknown location and spent 15 to 20 minutes inside while waiting in the car.
He said, “I went in to look for a hitman to kill Lyn, but I decided not to because innocent people could be killed, they could be injured,” he said.
On Tuesday, a second friend of JC’s, Karen Longhurst, told the court that JC had conveyed a similar concern to her before the separation.
“He told me that if something happened to him, he would go to the police because he thought his first wife had been murdered.”
Ms Melrose-Mikeska said she believed Mr Dawson was a “very controlling” person and had insisted on inspecting a covered cricket ground before granting JC permission to play.
“We just waited in the lobby, and he explored the place to give him permission to play. That’s not normal, to do that,” he told the court.
The court also heard a witness who attended Cromer High School along with JC in the 1980s.
The man, known as RH, said he had been “interested” in JC and sought advice from Mr. Dawson, her physical education teacher and rugby league coach at the time, on how to “get close” to her.
“The discussions were about how to engage in a conversation, I guess, and get to the point of asking him out,” he told the court.
The court heard that JC told two friends that he thought Chris Dawson had killed Lynette. (AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
RH said the two invented an “ingenuity” by which he would show up at JC’s house on a Sunday morning when Mr. Dawson was there.
He said the plan was for Mr. Dawson to apologize and leave the high school students alone together, but that when the day came, it was very different.
“What happened when you got as close as you did at home?” Crown Attorney Craig Everson asked.
“I went to the door and the plan had changed and I was encouraged to leave,” RH replied.
“I was waiting [JC] to greet me, on the other hand, Chris greeted me and said words like “the plan has been aborted”.
The trial before Judge Ian Harrison continues.