Latest / The Front / The teacher’s appeal: Dawson heads back to court

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The teacher’s appeal: Dawson heads back to court · 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 Friday, May tenth. The former Queen and King Charles
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: sent letters of support to disgraced former Governor General Peter
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  Speaker 1: Hollingworth after it was revealed he had failed to properly
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  Speaker 1: deal with allegations of child sexual abuse while an Anglican archbishop.
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  Speaker 1: The Australian's exclusively revealing today a letter from the then
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  Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth in two thousand and three in which she
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  Speaker 1: told Hollingworth the church was the victim of horrid media campaigning.
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  Speaker 1: Charles sent his commiserations and said he was praying for Hollingworth.
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  Speaker 1: That's an exclusive live right now on the Australian dot
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: com dot U send the money somewhere else. That's the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: call from Jacinta Numbim for Price, who wants the government
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  Speaker 1: to redirect funding from a Macarata truth telling commission into
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  Speaker 1: more practical measures. The Coalition senator says last year's referendum
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  Speaker 1: defeat shows Australians expect Labor to rethink its reconciliation strategy.
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  Speaker 1: Christopher Michael Dawson is headed back to court almost two
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  Speaker 1: years after he was convicted for the nineteen eighty two
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  Speaker 1: murder of his first wife, Lynn. The former schoolteacher will
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  Speaker 1: argue the judge got it wrong in an appeal set
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  Speaker 1: to start on Monday today. Why he's appealing and what
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  Speaker 1: his chances are. This was one of the most spine
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  Speaker 1: chilling moments I've witnessed in my journalism career.
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  Speaker 2: Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge there about eight January
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the state
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  Speaker 2: of New South Wales, you did murder Lynette Dawson. I
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  Speaker 2: find you guilty.
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  Speaker 1: In the understated delivery of New South Wales Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: Justice Ian Harrison. This is a moment that was forty
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  Speaker 1: years in the making, the conviction of former star footballer
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  Speaker 1: Chris Dawson for the murder of his wife, the mother
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  Speaker 1: of his two daughters, Lynnette Simms. Justice Harrison was wearing
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  Speaker 1: a red satin robe and wig, and after reading those words,
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  Speaker 1: he told Dawson, then a frail seventy four year old,
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  Speaker 1: to sit down.
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  Speaker 2: You message down, mister Dawson, will be necessary for you
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  Speaker 2: to be taken into custody. You'll have to go about it.
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  Speaker 1: That faint jingling you can hear is the handcuffs and
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  Speaker 1: keys of two armed officers who walked over to Dawson
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  Speaker 1: and handcuffed him. They walked him across the court into
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  Speaker 1: a dock and through a padded door which led down
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  Speaker 1: to the cells deep below the suppress court. This was
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  Speaker 1: no ordinary murder trial. Christopher Dawson had been the subjective
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of podcast published by The Australian, the world famous The
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Teacher's Pet by our colleague Hedley Thomas, who listeners of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the Front know well. After the twenty eight publication of
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Headley's sweeping piece of investigative journalism, Dawson was charged with murder,
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  Speaker 1: something the new South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions had
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  Speaker 1: twice refused to do. Despite two recommendations from the coroner
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  Speaker 1: that Dawson be charged, Dawson fought the case all the
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  Speaker 1: way to the High Court of Australia, arguing that he
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  Speaker 1: couldn't get a fair trial because the entire nation and
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  Speaker 1: the entire world had heard Headley's podcast, which so far
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: has had something like eighty million downloads. He lost at
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  Speaker 1: every stage, but Dawson did get one thing. He wanted
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  Speaker 1: a trial by judge alone. Instead of a jury. The
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  Speaker 1: thinking was that a judge who can be relied upon
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  Speaker 1: to be unaffected by anything that happens outside the courtroom
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  Speaker 1: would make the kind of dispassionate decision that jurors who
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  Speaker 1: are normal citizens who read the papers and listen to
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  Speaker 1: podcasts might not be able to do. Dispassionate was a
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  Speaker 1: good word for the way Ian Harrison summed up Dawson's guilt.
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  Speaker 2: The evidence does not reveal how mister Dawson killed Lynette Dawson.
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  Speaker 2: It does not reveal whether he did so with the
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  Speaker 2: assistance of anyone else or by himself. It does not
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  Speaker 2: reveal where or when he did so, nor does it
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  Speaker 2: reveal where Annette Dawson's body is now. The charge of
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  Speaker 2: murdering this trial is unsupported by direct evidence. The case
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  Speaker 2: against mister Dawson is wholly circumstantial. I'm satisfied beyond reasonable
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  Speaker 2: doubt that the only rational inference that the circumstances enable
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  Speaker 2: me to draw is that Lenette Dawson died or on
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  Speaker 2: about eight January nineteen eighty two as the result of
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  Speaker 2: a conscious and voluntary act committed by mister Dawson with
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  Speaker 2: the intention of causing her death.
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  Speaker 1: Harrison sentenced Dawson to twenty four years and new laws
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  Speaker 1: passed because of Lynn Sims's case, called Lynn's Law means
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  Speaker 1: he won't get parole unless he reveals what he did
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  Speaker 1: with her body. But now Dawson is appealing this murder
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  Speaker 1: conviction and he's going after the reasoning of Justice and Harrison.
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  Speaker 1: These are Dawson's grounds of appeal. First, that Justice Harrison
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  Speaker 1: erred in failing to find that Dawson suffered a significant
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  Speaker 1: forensic disadvantage. This is all about the delay in Dawson
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  Speaker 1: being charged. Lynn Simms disappeared in January nineteen eighty two.
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  Speaker 1: There were alleged sightings of Lynn. Someone claimed they saw
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  Speaker 1: her at a roadside fruit barn. Someone else saw her
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  Speaker 1: working as a nurse in a hospital, supposedly, but no
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  Speaker 1: photos or other evidence. Dawson claimed Lynn had used her
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  Speaker 1: bank card after disappearing, and that he'd received phone calls
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  Speaker 1: from Lynn saying she'd gone away to have some time
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  Speaker 1: to herself, but there were no phone records or other
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  Speaker 1: evidence to prove this by the time he was finally
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  Speaker 1: charged in twenty eighteen. And that's what Dawson says puts
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  Speaker 1: him at such a significant forensic disadvantage. He wasn't able
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  Speaker 1: to go and find the evidence that Lynn was still
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  Speaker 1: alive because four decades had elapsed and there's no phone
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  Speaker 1: records or bank statements remaining, and other evidence could also
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: have been lost. This was an argument Dawson's lawyers advanced
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a trial. His then barrister, Pauline David, told the judge
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  Speaker 1: it was possible Lynn just left the home. She said
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  Speaker 1: possible sightings of Lynn weren't followed up by police at
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  Speaker 1: the time, as listeners to the teacher's pet will know
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  Speaker 1: only too well, police just did not take this matter
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  Speaker 1: seriously until it was way too late. Justice n. Harson
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  Speaker 1: said he had taken into account that Dawson could have
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  Speaker 1: run a different case if he'd been charged back in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. He said Dawson hadn't been able to
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  Speaker 1: prove a significant forensic disadvantage. He said, although it was
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  Speaker 1: true some witnesses had died, some of those witnesses had
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  Speaker 1: given police interviews or been video recorded, or had been
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  Speaker 1: adequately represented at trial by other witnesses, and the judge
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  Speaker 1: said evidence like bank card statements had been lost, but
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  Speaker 1: he said that could equally weigh in Chris Dawson's favor.
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  Speaker 1: That is, if the bank statements existed, they could prove
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  Speaker 1: Chris Dawson was lying about Lynn using her bank card.
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  Speaker 1: The second and third grounds of appeal go like this.
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  Speaker 1: Dawson says Justice Harrison made a mistake when he declared
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  Speaker 1: Dawson's lies demonstrated his consciousness of guilt. Dawson's complaint is
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  Speaker 1: that Justice Harrison went even further than the prosecutors in
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  Speaker 1: the way he interpreted Dawson's statement after Lynn disappeared. Harrison
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  Speaker 1: said Dawson had lied in the days and weeks after
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  Speaker 1: Lynn's disappearance, including in his police interview in nineteen ninety one,
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  Speaker 1: when he said he desperately missed Lynn after she left,
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  Speaker 1: that she was in despair that their marriage was unraveling.
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  Speaker 1: He also said Dawson lied about the young woman who
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  Speaker 1: moved into the house shortly after Lynne disappeared, the teenage
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  Speaker 1: babysitter who later became Dawson's second wife. Dawson told police
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  Speaker 1: he and the girl were not in a relationship when
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  Speaker 1: Lynn disappeared. The judge said all those were lies and
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  Speaker 1: he took them as Dawson, showing he knew he was guilty.
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  Speaker 1: The appeal documents say the whole verdict is unreasonable because
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  Speaker 1: the Crown failed to adequately prove lynd Dawson was definitely
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  Speaker 1: dead after January ninth, nineteen eighty two, and that the
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  Speaker 1: whole of the evidence was just not enough for the
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  Speaker 1: judge to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.
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  Speaker 3: So we understand that the silk representing Chris Dawson is
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: public defender called Belinda Rigg.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley is the Australian's Legal Affairs correspondent.
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  Speaker 3: She was the first female senior public defender appointed in
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  Speaker 3: twenty nineteen. He also has two legal aid solicitors, Shari
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  Speaker 3: Pittman and Steven Ekeshell. During the murder trial he was
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  Speaker 3: represented by a very high profile criminal solicitor called Greg Walsh.
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  Speaker 3: But now he's got two legal aid lawyers. So we
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  Speaker 3: know that he's out of money and we'll see how
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  Speaker 3: these lawyers go in representing him. On Monday, he'll.
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  Speaker 1: Also be coming in from Long Bay Jail. It'll be
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  Speaker 1: interesting to see him again after all this time, won't it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it will. It's interesting, Claire, because we know that
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  Speaker 3: the hint, to some extent, we would be able to
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  Speaker 3: watch online, but I'm keen to go into the courtroom
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  Speaker 3: and see what he looks like. He's been in prison
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  Speaker 3: for what almost two years now, you know, see how
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  Speaker 3: it's changed him.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up the other part of Chris Dawson's story will
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  Speaker 1: be in court for this appeal and you can follow
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  Speaker 1: our life blogs, video, exclusive analysis and scoops at the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot a U as it happens. We'll
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  Speaker 1: be back after this break. Within months of his conviction
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  Speaker 1: for the murder of Lynn, Chris Dawson was back before
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  Speaker 1: the court on fresh charges.
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  Speaker 4: Today they were forced back together in a Sydney court,
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  Speaker 4: reliving a relationship that was allegedly criminal. Chris Dawson accused
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: of carnal knowledge grooming a sixteen year old.
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  Speaker 1: When he appeared in the New South Wales District Court
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  Speaker 1: this time last year, Dawson was visibly weathered by his
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  Speaker 1: prison experience. He swapped his gray suit for prison greens.
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  Speaker 1: A blue surgical mask covered half of his face. His tall,
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  Speaker 1: once athletic frame slumped ever so slightly.
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't there for long.
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  Speaker 1: Just days in Dawson's public defender, Barrister Clairesley, successfully argued
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  Speaker 1: that the early starts and long days were taxing on Dawson,
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  Speaker 1: and that he should be able to join via video
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  Speaker 1: link from Sydney's famous Longbay Prison. After that, Dawson's face
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  Speaker 1: loomed over the proceedings from screens around the basement level courtroom.
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  Speaker 1: His voice was scarcely heard beyond polite daily acknowledgment that
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  Speaker 1: the technology was functioning as intended.
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  Speaker 3: Mister Dawson, can you see a year, honor?
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  Speaker 1: Dawson pleaded not guilty to the unlawful carnal knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: one of his former students, a sixteen year old girl
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  Speaker 1: with a troubled home life. She's known as Ab. Her
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  Speaker 1: identity has been suppressed by the court because she was
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  Speaker 1: a child at the time the abuse occurred. Ab, who
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  Speaker 1: later became Dawson's wife, alleged Dawson groomed and engaged in
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  Speaker 1: sexual activity with her at the end of nineteen eighty,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: before she turned seventeen. Back then, the age of consent
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  Speaker 1: was sixteen, but it was seventeen if the alleged defender
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  Speaker 1: was in a position of authority like a school teacher.
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  Speaker 1: Dawson admitted he did have sex with Ab, but he
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  Speaker 1: said it was after her seventeenth birthday and when she
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  Speaker 1: was no longer in his class. It's a defense that
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  Speaker 1: ultimately failed despite what Judge Huggart called inconsistencies in AB's evidence.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what she said in handing down her judgment.
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  Speaker 5: While none of this evidence is capable alone or collectively
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  Speaker 5: approving the offense charged, I find it provides powerful support
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  Speaker 5: for the complainant's evidence that the accused committed an act
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  Speaker 5: of carnal knowledge while she was sixteen years of age
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  Speaker 5: and his pupil. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that
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  Speaker 5: the accused committed the offense charged and find him guilty.
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  Speaker 1: Dawson wasn't happy the video link he'd fought forth stayed
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  Speaker 1: live long enough to beam his reaction tojournalists observing the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: proceedings on a closed streams Dawson serving an additional three
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  Speaker 1: years in prison for the cardinal knowledge charge.
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  Speaker 6: Christopher Dawson for the offensive cardinal knowledge of a girl
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  Speaker 6: above the age of ten years and under the age
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  Speaker 6: of seventeen years and who was your pupil. I sentenced
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  Speaker 6: you to imprisonment for three years, commencing on thirty August
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: twenty thirty nine, and expiring on twenty nine August twenty
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  Speaker 6: forty two, with a non parole period of two years
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  Speaker 6: expiring on twenty nine August twenty forty one, on which
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  Speaker 6: date you were eligible for a parole.
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  Speaker 1: A tricky bit of maths relating to the way the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: two sentences overlap mean Dawson will actually only serve an
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: extra year. Judge Sarah Huggett got a new job not
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: long after she made that finding. She's now Chief Justice
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  Speaker 1: of the New South Wales District Court. These two convictions,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the first for murder and the second for cardinal knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: are linked. Justice Harrison found it was Dawson's insatiable desire
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  Speaker 1: to start a life with ab that motivated him to
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  Speaker 1: murder in But this appeal only relates to his conviction
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  Speaker 1: for murder. It's possible that in future Dawson will appeal
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the carnal knowledge conviction two. It's all happening on the
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: front in coming days. We've got the costs decision in
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Bruce Lahman's defamation trial, the Dawson appeal, the Federal budget
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and much more. As always, you can be the first
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: to know by subscribing at the Australian dot Com dot
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Au and thanks for joining us this week. Our team
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: is Kristin Amiot Leat, Samaglu, Josh Burton, Jasper League, Matt Condon,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Tiffany Dimack and me Claire Harvey