Former rugby league teacher and player Chris Dawson reduced his wife to tears and “glued” her arm to her arm in the years leading up to her disappearance, a court has heard.
A former babysitter watched as Chris Dawson reduced his wife to tears and the “rag doll” angry at her arm in the years leading up to Lynette’s disappearance, a court has heard.
Chris Dawson, 73, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court on charges of murdering his wife Lynette, who disappeared from his Bayview home 40 years ago, leaving behind his two beloved children.
The Crown Prosecution has alleged that the former rugby league player and teacher murdered his wife and disposed of her body on or about January 8, 1982.
A teenager at the time, known only as BM, was a child of Mr Dawson and his wife for several years while attending North Sydney Beaches School, where she taught.
On Thursday, BM told the court he witnessed Dawson make Lynette cry after looking at her with a kitchen towel during an incident in the early 1980s.
“I went to the kitchen and Chris was there, Lynette was standing in the sink doing some washing,” BM told the court.
“Chris reached behind her to get a glass out of the closet. And she looked at him and said something was dirty.
“And he basically got a kitchen towel. I thought he was just going to clean the glass, but he ran it through Lynette’s back.”
BM said he saw Ms Dawson “sink” and heard her “gasp” while Mr Dawson “walked away differently”.
“I put my arm around his shoulder and realized he was crying,” BM said.
BM told the court he witnessed another incident in which he saw Mr. Dawson grabbing Mrs. Dawson by the arm and ushering her into a bedroom.
“I saw Chris Dawson grab Lynette by the top of her arm and basically take her to the bedroom in an angry, blunt act,” BM said.
“Lynette was almost like a rag doll because she was much older. As she grabbed it and spun it, she picked up the door frame with her shoulder and possibly her head.
BM said she was so upset about the incident that she didn’t want to go back, but she had a lot of affection for Lynette.
Mr Dawson’s lawyer, Pauline David, accused MB of being influenced by the podcast The Teacher’s Pet and willing to lie and exaggerate his evidence to convict Mr Dawson.
BM denied the suggestion.
Another witness told the court that he saw Lynette with a “grapefruit-sized” bruise and that she looked “anxious” weeks before she disappeared.
Roslyn McLoughlin regularly played tennis with Mrs. Dawson and a group of friends in Bayview.
He said he last saw Lynette during a game the week before Christmas 1981.
Mrs McLoughlin told the court that Mrs Dawson looked “quite distressed” at the time and asked her to come to her house for coffee.
“I don’t remember the exact words, she certainly asked me more than once, I was pretty anxious,” Mrs McLoughlin said.
“I said‘ no, I can’t do this ’because it’s Christmas and I had two little kids and I had things to do.
“But it was very inflexible that I needed someone with her. She wasn’t crying, but she was asking me to come back.”
Ms McLoughlin said she also noticed bruises on the upper arms and thighs of Mrs Dawson.
“I had shorts on my bottom and that showed some bruises,” Ms McLoughlin told the court.
“I probably had a big bruise the size of a grapefruit on my thigh. And I don’t know if it was the two upper arms or just one, but I had some bruises on my arms.”
In an interrogation of Mrs. David, Mrs McLoughlin said she did not know how Mrs. Dawson had the bruises.
“Usually we didn’t talk about that kind of thing, maybe with the family nearby, but we didn’t talk,” he said.
Dawson claims he left his wife at a Mona Vale bus stop on Jan. 9 so she could go shopping.
During a January 1991 police interview that was played in court, Mr. Dawson said Mrs. Dawson did not meet with him and his family in the Northbridge restrooms in the afternoon as planned.
He told two detectives he received a phone call during his shift to the bathroom, where he worked part-time as a lifeguard, in which Ms Dawson said she “needed time out”.
He told detectives that others had told him of several possible sightings of Mrs Dawson on the central coast and in New Zealand.
The Crown has alleged that Mr Dawson was motivated to kill his wife so that he could have “unrestricted access” to a former student and babysitter, known as JC, who moved into Mr Dawson’s home shortly after his disappearance. of Lynette.
The trial of Judge Ian Harrison will continue on Monday.