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The first kiss Chris Dawson says proves his innocence · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, April one, twenty twenty five. The fight over
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  Speaker 1: as the federal election campaign enters a fiery first week,
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  Speaker 1: being monitored by the Australian Border Force, not the military,
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  Speaker 1: and all the elections scoops and drama are live now
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  Speaker 1: at the Australian dot com dot au. Christopher Michael Dawson
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  Speaker 1: is appealing his convention for the unlawful carnal knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: a schoolgirl. His lawyers say the trial judge made errors
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  Speaker 1: and the verdict of guilty was unreasonable. It all turns
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  Speaker 1: on when Dawson had his first kiss with the girl
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  Speaker 1: when he was in his early thirties and she was
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  Speaker 1: a teenager today. Why Dawson says he's not guilty before
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  Speaker 1: we begin This episode contains details of alleged sexual offending.
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  Speaker 1: When did a schoolgirl share her first kiss with the
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  Speaker 1: man she would later marry. It's an evocative moment. He's
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  Speaker 1: teaching her to drive, seizing the opportunity to be alone
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  Speaker 1: with this beautiful young woman. She's desperate to gain her
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  Speaker 1: license as a measure of freedom from the turbulence of
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  Speaker 1: her home life. They will go on to have sex, marry,
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  Speaker 1: and welcome a daughter. But this is no ordinary teenage
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  Speaker 1: love story. He is Christopher Dawson, a married teacher in
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  Speaker 1: his thirties, a father of two small girls. He will
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  Speaker 1: pursue his obsession with this schoolgirl so far as to
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  Speaker 1: kill his wife, Lynette Simms. He'll be convicted of murdering
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  Speaker 1: Lynn and of having unlawful carnal knowledge of the schoolgirl
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  Speaker 1: by having sex with her when she was sixteen and
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  Speaker 1: a pupil in his sports coaching class, but he will
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  Speaker 1: never admit guilt and is appealing all his convictions. And
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  Speaker 1: that's why in the New South Wales Court of Criminal
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  Speaker 1: Appeal we spent Monday back in nineteen eighty driving around
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  Speaker 1: Sydney's Northern beaches with Dawson and this girl who can
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  Speaker 1: only be identified as Ab. The timing of that first
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  Speaker 1: kiss did it happen in nineteen eighty or nineteen eighty one.
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  Speaker 1: He's the core of Dawson's appeal against his conviction for
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  Speaker 1: unlawful carnal knowledge. He's also fighting the murder conviction and
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  Speaker 1: is presently seeking special leave to appeal to the High
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  Speaker 1: Court of Australia. In late nineteen eighty, the girl was
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  Speaker 1: sixteen years old, old enough to legally consent to sex,
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  Speaker 1: except if it involved one of her teachers. The law
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  Speaker 1: at the time held that the age of consent was seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: If it involved a pupil and her teacher. That means
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  Speaker 1: to be guilty of the charge, Dawson must have had
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  Speaker 1: sex with the girl when she was in his class,
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  Speaker 1: that is, before year eleven formally finished on December twelfth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty, and before her seventeenth birthday. So the crucial
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  Speaker 1: issue is was she sixteen or seventeen when they first
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  Speaker 1: had sex and when they shared their first kiss. Ab
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  Speaker 1: has described their first sexual intercourse at his parents' home
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  Speaker 1: in the southeastern Sydney suburb of Marouba, and says it
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  Speaker 1: was before her seventeenth birthday. Part of the evidence in
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  Speaker 1: the carnal knowledge trial were cards Dawson gave Ab for
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  Speaker 1: Christmas nineteen eighty and her seventeenth birthday early in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty one. Here's Judge Sarah Hugget finding Dawson guilty back
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  Speaker 1: in June twenty twenty three and listing the factors which
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  Speaker 1: convinced her they did have sex before December twelfth, nineteen eighty,
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  Speaker 1: when the school term ended.
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  Speaker 2: The fact the accused addressed to Christmas card to PETL
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  Speaker 2: and signed the card Love Always God, which I find
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  Speaker 2: to be powerful evidence that supports and is consistent with
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  Speaker 2: the timeline of the events described by the complainant and
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  Speaker 2: completely inconsistent with a developing relationship in which the accused
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  Speaker 2: was becoming romantic towards the complainant after the end of
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  Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty school year.
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  Speaker 1: It was all part of the evidence Judge Hugget used
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  Speaker 1: to find Dawson had had sex with Ab before her
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  Speaker 1: seventeenth birthday, which was in early nineteen eighty one.
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  Speaker 2: The fact the accused addressed a seventeenth birthday card to
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  Speaker 2: quote the most beautiful girl in the world, and wrote
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  Speaker 2: a message that included quote knowing we will share all
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  Speaker 2: the birthdays to follow all my love for ever xxx,
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  Speaker 2: which I find to be powerful evidence revealing that on
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  Speaker 2: or around the complainant's seventeenth birthday, the accused, a mature
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  Speaker 2: man as opposed to an immature teenager, was confident in
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  Speaker 2: the existence of a reciprocal and permanent relationship, and that
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  Speaker 2: was because the sexual relationship had commenced between one July
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty and twelve December nineteen eighty.
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  Speaker 1: You might remember the day of this verdict in June
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three because Chris Dawson, over the video link
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  Speaker 1: from prison, made quite a remarkable outbursts. That was after
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  Speaker 1: the judge left the court room. She returned in September
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three to imprison.
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  Speaker 2: Him, Christopher Dawson, for the offense of cardinal knowledge of
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  Speaker 2: a girl above the age of ten years and under
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  Speaker 2: the age of seventeen years and who was your pupil.
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  Speaker 2: I sentenced you to imprisonment for three years, commencing on
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  Speaker 2: thirty August twenty thirty nine and expiring on twenty nine
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  Speaker 2: August twenty forty two, with a non parole period of
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  Speaker 2: two years expiring on twenty nine August twenty forty one,
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  Speaker 2: on which date you were eligible for a parole.
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  Speaker 1: Dawson was already serving twenty four years for the murder
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  Speaker 1: of Lynn.
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  Speaker 2: Implicit in the offense is that the offending involved an
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  Speaker 2: abuse of the position of trust and authority held by
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  Speaker 2: a teacher in relation to a pupil. At the time
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  Speaker 2: of the offense, the offender was aged thirty two brackets
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  Speaker 2: or very close to thirty two as a mature, educated
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  Speaker 2: and intelligent man. The victim was aged sixteen and some months,
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  Speaker 2: placing her at the top end of the age range.
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  Speaker 2: The offender elected to engage in a sexual relationship with
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  Speaker 2: the victim when she was his student and he was
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  Speaker 2: her teacher, and in circumstances where I consider his moral
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  Speaker 2: culpability to be high.
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  Speaker 1: For the appeal hearing on Monday March thirty one, twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five, Dawson was visible on the audio visual link.
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  Speaker 1: He was wearing the standard dark green prison issue tracksuit
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  Speaker 1: familiar in New South Wales jails. He was listed not
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  Speaker 1: by name but as mrrc J Bloc CS twelve that's
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  Speaker 1: Silver Water Jail in Sydney's Inner West, the rather grandly
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  Speaker 1: named Metropolitan Remand and Reception Center, which is a maximum
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  Speaker 1: security prison for men. It's where prisoners go when they're
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  Speaker 1: first in custody or awaiting trial. After his court made
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: are over, Dawson will return to his regular cell at
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  Speaker 1: Clarence Correctional Center's Aged and Frail Unit. Dawson is represented
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  Speaker 1: by Legal aid in his appeal, and the barrister is
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  Speaker 1: one of the state's most expensive silks. Stephen Odger's sc
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  Speaker 1: We've used a voice actor to bring you his words.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not seeking to persuade your honors that there was
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  Speaker 3: doubt about the truthfulness of the complainant. The real issue
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  Speaker 3: is her reliability, particularly in relation to timing.
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  Speaker 1: Orgess is saying AB isn't a liar, She's just got
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  Speaker 1: her dates mixed up. He took the appeal. Dodgers through
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  Speaker 1: AB's various statements about when the first kiss happened. Through
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  Speaker 1: multiple statements to police and in court, she said the
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  Speaker 1: first kiss happened during driving lessons. AB would have been
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  Speaker 1: eligible for a learner's permit in November nineteen eighty, but
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight. She said she recalled Dawson picking
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  Speaker 1: her up from her mother's home in Heather Street, Collery Plateau,
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  Speaker 1: and there's evidence that the family didn't move to that
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  Speaker 1: unit until early nineteen eighty one. In twenty nineteen, Ab
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  Speaker 1: said she was confident they first had sex before she
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  Speaker 1: got her learner's permit, and then under cross examination, she
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  Speaker 1: said she was uncertain about the exact date.
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  Speaker 3: Even if the judge correctly finds that she's generally truthful,
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  Speaker 3: generally reliable, there still may be reasons for doubt.
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  Speaker 1: Org just also raised doubt about the timing of fitness
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  Speaker 1: classes Dawson took at Linfield Public School. It was after
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  Speaker 1: one of these classes that Ab and other witnesses say
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  Speaker 1: she and Dawson were kissing and fondling in the pool.
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  Speaker 1: Ab said in her evidence that the pool encounter, which
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  Speaker 1: she firmly believed happened in nineteen eighty was part of
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  Speaker 1: the grooming process and that it occurred before she first
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  Speaker 1: had sex with Dawson. But other witnesses say they saw
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  Speaker 1: Ab in the pool with Dawson in nineteen eighty one,
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  Speaker 1: and Judge Sarah Haggart accepted this was accurate and that
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  Speaker 1: Ab had been confused about the time. Judge Huggett found
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  Speaker 1: a b was not deliberately lying, just mistaken or just
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  Speaker 1: told the appeal court. This meant there was reasonable doubt
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  Speaker 1: about the timing. If AB was wrong about the fitness classes,
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  Speaker 1: she could also be wrong about when she first had
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  Speaker 1: sex with Dawson.
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  Speaker 3: It ceased to be a criminal offense soon after December
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  Speaker 3: twelfth of nineteen eighty. He is clearly smitten by her
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  Speaker 3: and they ultimately married. He clearly is romantically very attracted
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  Speaker 3: to her. The question is did he go to the
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  Speaker 3: next step of committing this serious criminal offense and is
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  Speaker 3: there a doubt about that based on timing.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up? Why the Crown says Dawson's conviction should stand.
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  Speaker 1: That's after the break in this case. Counsel for the
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  Speaker 1: Crown is the Deputy State Director of Public Prosecutions Helen
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  Speaker 1: Roberts SC. She told the judges they should uphold Judge
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  Speaker 1: Sarah Huggart's verdict of guilt. Stephen Odgers for Dawson, is
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  Speaker 1: arguing that the inconsistencies in AB's evidence add up to
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  Speaker 1: reasonable doubt and that therefore Dawson shouldn't have been convicted.
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  Speaker 1: Helen Roberts told the judges. In fact, Judge Huggart accurately
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  Speaker 1: observed the inconsistencies but still correctly found Dawson guilty. Here's
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  Speaker 1: a voice actor reading Helen Roberts's words.
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  Speaker 4: The complainant gives evidence that the sexual relationship commenced when
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  Speaker 4: she was sixteen years old and when she was in
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  Speaker 4: year eleven. And the question is can the Crown prove
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  Speaker 4: that relying on her evidence beyond reasonable doubt. It's a
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  Speaker 4: question of the reliability of the complainant on the key issues.
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  Speaker 4: The trial judge did not her in the way her
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  Speaker 4: honor approached it.
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  Speaker 1: Helen Roberts observed that Steven Odgers for Dawson, had argued
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  Speaker 1: that the Christmas and Birthday cards did not contain any
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  Speaker 1: overtly sexual content, and that therefore they shouldn't be seen
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  Speaker 1: as evidence of a sexual relationship. Robert said, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: that's exactly what you'd expect from someone like Dawson.
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  Speaker 4: The absence of direct reference to sexual content should not
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  Speaker 4: be something that makes that evidence less compelling. It would
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  Speaker 4: not be expected that he would, given the way in
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  Speaker 4: which he was relating to her, which was as a caring, helpful,
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  Speaker 4: loving older mature man. It would be unexpected if the
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  Speaker 4: cards were to have overt sexual content on them.
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  Speaker 1: Robert said the card was signed all my love.
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  Speaker 4: We submit that it is powerful support for confidence in
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  Speaker 4: an already formed sexual relationship. It's highly consistent with the
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  Speaker 4: complainant's account that he had said he wanted to marry
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  Speaker 4: her and that he wanted to be with her and
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  Speaker 4: he would look after her on or around the complainant's
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  Speaker 4: seventeenth birthday. The accused, a mature man as opposed to
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  Speaker 4: an immature teenager, was confident in the existence of reciprocal
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  Speaker 4: and permanent relationship, and that was because a sexual relationship
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  Speaker 4: had commenced.
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  Speaker 1: The judges have retired to consider their decision. The Australians
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: podcast The Teacher's Pet was instrumental in bringing to light
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the allegations that Chris Dawson was a murderer and a
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  Speaker 1: child sex offender, allegations Dawson has always steadfastly denied. You
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: can listen to The Teacher's Pet and its companion podcast,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: The Teacher's Trial and The Teacher's Accuser wherever you're listening
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: right now, and you can follow the course of Dawson's
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: appeals at the Australian dot com dot au