Chris Dawson: Convicted Murderer and Sexual Predator
THE CONTEXT
Convicted murderer Chris Dawson has been found guilty of the unlawful carnal knowledge of the schoolgirl he went on to marry.
Chris Dawson is now a killer and a sexual predator.
Judge Sarah Huggett stepped into court this morning to hand down her verdict to Dawson, who appeared via video link from Long Bay Correctional Centre, the place he will spend the rest of his days.
A quick reminder that Dawson was in court on the charge of carnal knowledge relating to unlawful sex with a 16-year-old girl, who was also his pupil at Cromer High in 1980. Throughout the trial, the girl can be referred to only as AB. Dawson went on to marry AB after the disappearance of his first wife Lyn and had a child with AB before they divorced.
Dawson maintained that they did not commence a sexual relationship with AB until the following year when the girl was 17 and no longer in his class.
THE VERDICT
It’s 10am on Wednesday the 28th of June 2023 and convicted murderer Christopher Michael Dawson is appearing in the District Court of NSW from Long Bay Correctional Centre via videolink. Long Bay is where he will spend the rest of his days after being convicted of the murder of his first wife Lyn. He wears a prison-issue green tracksuit jumper.
Judge Sarah Huggett returns to the courtroom after retiring earlier this month to make her decision. She began the hearing by formally rejecting a request made by the defence - for the trial and all evidence to be suppressed. Dawson leaned in closer to listen to the explanation for this rejection. Judge Huggett told the defence that the public interest in open justice outweighed any concerns about publicity.
Judge Huggett told the court she had some administration to address too before she gave her verdict before summarising the prosecution’s case. She noted that public shows of affection which had been observed by others, occurred while Dawson was AB’s teacher and she was aged 16. “The critical issue in dispute is whether the prosecution can prove beyond reasonable doubt that an act of carnal knowledge took place during the period alleged and while the complainant was the accused's pupil.”
Judge Huggett also reiterated that Dawson was not denying having a sexual relationship with AB, instead denying that it had occurred after her 17th birthday and he was no longer her teacher. She then continued to read through a long list of facts about the case that had been agreed on by both the prosecution and the defence.
Judge Huggett then made it clear that she did not use any information from The Teachers Pet Podcast by The Australian in her verdict. This podcast was the catalyst behind NSW Police launching Strike Force Southwood in 2018, set up to investigate teacher-student relationships on Sydney’s northern beaches during the ’70s and ’80s. This strike force charged Dawson with unlawful carnal knowledge of AB.
The podcast was voluntarily pulled down when Dawson was charged with the murder of his wife Lyn. Parts of the podcast were changed and edited to remove certain information relating to AB and the actions of the teachers pending the new trial. A new podcast was released after Dawson was convicted of murder.
Judge Huggett went on to talk about the descriptions that AB had given over the years about the first time Dawson touched her at a sports carnival. In 1998 AB referred to the sports carnival in a police statement but did not mention Dawson touching her knee. In a following statement, she said: “I was sitting down in the middle of the field at Narrabeen fitness camp and Chris Dawson was sitting next to me and put his hand on my knee.” Then, in the supreme court trial for Lyn’s murder AB said: “We were sitting at the finish line and they have a tiered podium for judges to sit and we were sitting at the bottom step and he put his hand on my leg.” The Judge deemed these recounts to not be inconsistent as the tiered seating area was in the middle of the field. Later in her verdict, the Judge accepted this evidence.
While Judge Huggett recounted the first occurrence of sex between Dawson and AB, Dawson sighed and shook his head. He claims that this first sexual encounter, which occurred in his parent’s Maroubra home, didn’t happen until 1981.
The Judge also summarised the proposals of marriage that Dawson allegedly put forward to the sixteen-year-old. “The complainant said she felt obligated to the accused and in 1981 she agreed to his marriage proposal.” She went on to discuss that during cross-examination, AB thought of this as Dawson’s plan to pull her in. “To let me know that he needed me so much he had to propose marriage to me when I was 16, over and over and over again until I submitted.” Later in the verdict, the Judge concluded that she accepted this evidence and believed that Dawson proposed in 1980 when AB was 16.
Judge Huggett went on to summarise the witnesses that were presented during the trial. The first was a man who worked with AB at a local Coles as a teenager. He claimed he was romantically interested in AB and in response to that Dawson ambushed him while he was collecting trollies, and warned him to leave AB alone. Later in the verdict, the Judge told the court that she believed this account and rejected that the accused was simply approaching him in a protective way.
The next was a woman who was a high school friend of AB, she gave evidence of witnessing AB sitting on Dawson’s lap in his office. The judge commented that she was under the impression that this woman was reliable.
CD, another witness and former babysitter for Chris Dawson’s twin brother, Paul. During the trial, CD had given recounts of regular times that she had spent with Paul, while AB was nearby with Chris. Judge Huggett formed the view that CD wanted little to do with the events of the past and that she had put the matters behind her.
The Judge also stated she accepted the evidence given by another witness, a former schoolgirl who recounted seeing Dawson standing between AB’s legs, she was sitting on a brick fence in the school playground in 1980- a time backed up by that student having left Cromer High at the end of 1980. The defence tried to establish that this witness was unreliable as she only came forward after hearing the Teachers Pet podcast. “What (she) saw was significantly different to what the evidence says formed part of the podcast and to my mind could not have come from listening to the podcast.”
When Judge Huggett expressed that she believed the complainant is reliable Dawson dropped his head and wiped his nose. She said that AB was “a thoughtful witness who gave her evidence in a matter-of-fact and forthright way.” She went on to summarise that Dawson and AB married in 1984, moved to Queensland and then had a child together. They separated in 1990 and since then AB has given evidence and statements to police on various occasions. The Judge did not accept that AB should have disclosed more personal and intimate details before 2018.
Dawson shook his head and muttered to himself when the Judge stated that Dawson went to the Time and Tide Hotel, “because he was interested and attracted to the complainant and interested in endearing himself to her”. However, Judge Huggett was unable to ascertain when the first kiss between AB and Dawson happened as AB had given conflicting evidence. But she did believe this was not deliberate, simply that her memory was imperfect and that AB was spending a lot of time in cars with Dawson at this time.
During the trial evidence had been presented of a report Dawson had given to AB, in which it stated that she was a “pleasure to teach.” The Judge accepted that it was “entirely plausible”, as AB claimed, that Dawson wrote that as a reference to sex. “That the accused, a mature man, would write something (of that nature) is entirely plausible.”
In regards to evidence given by AB about attending fitness classes with Dawson at Lindfield High in 1980, she found this unreliable. However, she does not believe that AB was deliberately being dishonest and instead found that the complainant was mistaken and therefore inaccurate about the timing.
“I find that the evidence of the complainant that the accused had sexual intercourse with her at Maroubra between 1 July 1980 and 12 December 1980, which I have found was a period in which she was his student, is supported by a large amount of evidence before me.”
Judge Huggett found Christopher Michael Dawson guilty of unlawful carnal knowledge. He groomed a 16-year-old girl, who was his student in his class and who had a hard home life. She turned to him for support during this time and he used this to his advantaged.
Judge Huggett set his sentencing date as September 15, 2023, a Friday. Dawson replied, “Yes Your Honour, thank you.”
The Judge left the court. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” was the reaction of Dawson, before he stood and exited the room where the videolink occurred. As he left he was asked “All good? You get a result?” to which he simply grunted.
