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Chris Dawson’s carnal knowledge appeal · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, December six. Anthony Albanezi has proposed exempting giant
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: salmon farms in Tasmania from federal environmental laws on a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: national interest basis. That's a scoop in the Australian, where
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: we've been covering the stout over a rare endangered fish
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: species that could blow up the salmon industry. Fitter Dutton
• 0:32
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• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the giant turbines would jeopardize the environment, tourism and the economy.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Both those stories alive now at the Australian dot com
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: dot au. Christopher Michael Dawson is appealing his conviction for
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the unlawful carnal knowledge of a sixteen year old girl
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: who was his pupil in nineteen eighty Dawson, previously convicted
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: for the murder of his wife, Lynette Simms, says he
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: he's not guilty and that the New South Wales District
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Court Chief Judge made errors of law in the trial.
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  Speaker 1: Today Dawson's grounds of appeal. Before we begin, there's some
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: swearing in this episode. Did you catch that? It's Christopher
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Michael Dawson in twenty twenty three, reacting to his conviction
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a teenager who was
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: his student in the early nineteen eighties. Dawson had already
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: been convicted of the nineteen eighty two murder of his wife,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Lynette Simms, and he was appearing via videolink wearing prison
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: greens before the New South Wales District Court to hear
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Judge Sarah Hugget convict him of this second defense.
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  Speaker 2: I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: offense charged and find him guilty.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: When Dawson thought the video link was turned off, he
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: let rip that string of expletives, clearly audible in the court.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: The complainant in this matter is a woman whom we
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: can only identify as ab. She was the Dawson family
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: babysitter in the early nineteen eighties and was Dawson's student
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: at Chromer High where he was a sports teacher.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: One of his favorite stories, and it might have been
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: one of mine too, is that he'd seen me in
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  Speaker 3: the playground when I was in year ten, fifteen years old,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: and he thought to himself, Oh, I'd really like to
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: get to know her. She's beautiful. It softened me. I
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: felt special because he'd said that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the words of ab during
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: her evidence at trial.
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  Speaker 3: I just remember lying there on the bed in anticipation, shaking.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I was told to keep it a secret, part of
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: the grooming process, I would say, to get me to
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: trust him.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Now Dawson, who has always denied any wrongdoing, is appealing
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the district court conviction.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: The verdict of guilt was unreasonable.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading the first of four grounds
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: of appeal on behalf of Dawson. He'll be represented by
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: barrister Stephen Odger's sc A Silk specializing in criminal appeals.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: This trial was all about timing. Exactly when did Dawson
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: first have sex with the girl. She says it was
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty, when she was sixteen and a student
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in his class. Dawson admits he had sex with the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: girl while she was a teenager. Bard says it was
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the following year after she turned seventeen and was no
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: longer in his class. He was in his early thirties.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: In early nineteen eighty two, Dawson's wife, Lynnette disappeared and
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: ab moved into the family home. The pair later married
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and had a baby, then divorced. She later became a
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: witness against him in both the murder and carnal knowledge proceedings,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: saying she was horrified by the dawning realization that Dawson
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: had murdered Lynnette to be with her. That distinction in
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: age is important because if Dawson is telling the truth,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a crime. The relevant law was that the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: age of consent for sex was sixteen, but there was
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a special exception for teachers and pupils. In that case,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a female student had to be seventeen to consent to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: sex with her teacher.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: The trial judge ered in failing to take into account
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: evidence relevant to the issue of the date sexual intercourse occurred,
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: other than with respect to the credibility of the complainant.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: These are Dawson's continued grounds of appeal.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: The trial judge ered regarding the application of the burden
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: and standard of proof. The trial judge ered in relying
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: upon questions asked by defense counsel in cross examination of
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: prosecution witnesses as indicating the defense case.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: The judge Sara Huggart, who has since been promoted to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Chief Judge of the District Court, said this in her
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  Speaker 1: sentencing remarks, which the Court allowed us to broadcast.
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: The victim did not tell anyone because the offender told
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: her to keep its secret. The offense was committed in
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: circumstances where the offender had engaged in conduct in the
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: lead up to committing the offense that could be characterized.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: As grooming the victim.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: This included taking active.
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  Speaker 2: Steps to become her teacher, singling her out for attention,
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  Speaker 2: including choosing her to attend a sports carnival for brackets
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: with another student clothes brackets, during which he sat next
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to her and put his hand on her knee which
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: made her feel special, telling her she was beautiful, and
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  Speaker 2: having her babysit in his home.
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  Speaker 6: This occurred in a context.
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  Speaker 2: In which the offender knew the victim was experiencing trouble
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: in her home life and that she was somewhat vulnerable.
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  Speaker 6: The offender also encouraged the victim to confide in him about.
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  Speaker 2: Her problems, and she came to trust him.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: During the Cunnel Knowledge trial, Dawson was at Long Bay.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: He initially showed up for court, but then asked if
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: he could watch the trial via video link from jail,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: as it was exhausting to get on the prison bus
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: in the pre dawn hours with all the other prisoners
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: attending court not to return until well after dark. In
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: her sentencing remarks, Judge Huggart acknowledged time in prison was
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: draining for the now seventy six year old.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: The offenders mental health deteriorated following his arrest and the
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: associated media and public interest. He experienced a further decline
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: in his mental.
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  Speaker 6: Health when he was admitted to custody on thirty August
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: twenty twenty two, having been foundabilty of the murder of
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: Lynette Dawson. Although he reports experiencing taunting by inmates from
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: neighboring wings, apparently the inmates within his wing are supporting.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Huggart sentenced Dawson to three years. He's also serving twenty
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: four years for the murder of Lynette. Coming up after
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the break what happened when Dawson appealed against his conviction
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: for murder. Earlier this year, Dawson appealed against his conviction
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: for murdering his wife, which had been delivered by Justice
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Ian Harrison of the New Southwheales Supreme Court.
• 7:26
  Speaker 7: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge the donor, about eight
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  Speaker 7: January nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the
• 7:32
  Speaker 7: state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynnette Dawson.
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: I find you guilty. The message down mister Dawson will
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: be necessary for you to be taken into custody. You'll
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: have to go.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Dawson won't get parole unless he reveals what he did
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: with Lynn's remains, a new piece of legislation named Lynn's
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  Speaker 1: Law in her honor.
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: The evidence does not reveal how mister Dawson killed Lynette Dawson.
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: It does not reveal whether he did so with the
• 8:08
  Speaker 7: assistance of anyone else or by himself. He does not
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: reveal where or when he did so, nor does it
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: reveal well in at Dawson's body is now. The charge
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: of murder in this trial is unsupported by direct evidence.
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: The case against mister Dawson is wholly circumstantial. I'm satisfied
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: the unreasonable doubt that the only rational inference that the
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: circumstances enable me to draw is that Lenette Dawson died
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: or on about eight January nineteen eighty two as the
• 8:37
  Speaker 7: result of a conscious and voluntary act committed by mister
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: Dawson with the intention of causing her death.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: In his appeal against the murder conviction, Dawson's representative of
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: public defender, Belinda Rigesci, claimed he suffered a significant forensic
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: disadvantage because the trial happened so long after the alleged crime.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: She said, evidence that could prove Lynn war I was
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: alive after January nineteen eighty two had been destroyed or
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: lost to time, memories had faded, and potential witnesses had died.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: A voice actor is reading the words spoken by Belinda
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Rigg in court.
• 9:13
  Speaker 8: That's a very clear example of a deceased person whose
• 9:16
  Speaker 8: evidence was crucial. That very type of detail has been
• 9:20
  Speaker 8: lost because of the delay. Rig also submitted Justice Harrison
• 9:24
  Speaker 8: erd when he declared Dawson's lies demonstrated a consciousness of guilt.
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  Speaker 8: Although it took forty years for Dawson to be charged,
• 9:33
  Speaker 8: and although he fought it at every level and the
• 9:36
  Speaker 8: trial itself stretched over more than two months, it took
• 9:39
  Speaker 8: fewer than two minutes for the appeal to be dismissed
• 9:43
  Speaker 8: by a three judge bench.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Chris Dawson is expected to die in jail, with one
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: judge declaring there is absolutely no doubt he is guilty.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: The Cardinal Knowledge appeal will be heard on March thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Thanks for joining us on the front
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: this week. Our team is Kristin Amiot, Jasper leek Leat, Sammaglu,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Josh Burton, Tiffany Dimack, Stephanie Coombs and me Claire Harvey.
• 10:13
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• 10:27
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