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Everson said more people had “come out of the woods” apart from the deal, including someone who “has called Crime Stoppers with information and the police are taking statements.”
Retired NSW police officer John Pendergast stated that he was involved in Dawson’s investigation in the late 1990s, as a detective sergeant at Dee Why, where Detective Damian Loone was assigned to the case.
Pendergast, who spoke with relatives of Dawson and JC, agreed with the suggestion of defense attorney Pauline David that it had been “unusual” for the case not to go to the homicide team.
He was asked if in 1999 he “deliberately ignored” what Ross Hutcheon and his wife Lynette Hutcheon, Chris Dawson’s sister, had said about an alleged sighting of Lynette Dawson outside Gladesville Hospital up to six. months after his disappearance.
“They didn’t give me any information of any sightings,” Pendergast said. He said that if they had done so, he would have included it in a worksheet and would have appreciated the information, he would not have rejected it.
A 1999 execution sheet, signed by Pendergast, states that an interview with the Hutcheon couple stated that “they had never had any contact with the missing person … since his disappearance.”
In the audio recordings that were played on Tuesday in court, Ross Hutcheon, who died this year, remained adamant that he had mentioned the incident, saying the statements made by police were “absolutely wrong”.
Pendergast denied David’s suggestion that his case theory was “that Chris Dawson had killed his wife.” He said it was “not true” that he did not give credit to any alleged sightings because he considered her dead and denied that she had followed a JC-driven agenda.
He said he was “very interested” in the information suggested by Lynette Dawson’s whereabouts and felt his family had been “disengaged” by the lack of research.
David claims that his client was harmed by the delays and that there were failures on the part of the police in tracking the tracks.
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Meanwhile, Robert Silkman began playing rugby league with Chris Dawson and, to a lesser extent, his twin brother Paul Dawson with the Newtown Jets in 1975.
“During the season, obviously, I played with both of them. We talked in training, and we talked on game day and during the game … always that kind of conversation, “Silkman said.
In his opening remarks, Everson said Dawson had traveled to the Gold Coast for a season-ending vacation with the team in 1975.
On the return flight, the Crown alleges that Dawson approached Silkman, who had “some admitted criminal connections.”
“The Crown alleges that the defendant asked Mr. Silkman if he knew anyone who could get rid of his wife,” Everson said. “This is an issue that didn’t go any further at the time.”
Silkman is expected to continue his trials at Dawson’s trial as a judge on Thursday alone.
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