Chris Dawson, who denies killing Lynette, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
The case remained unsolved for over 40 years.
By late August this year, a Supreme Court judge from New South Wales, Australia, found 74yearold Chris Dawson guilty of the murder of his wife Lynette.
The verdict was announced this Friday (December 2nd): 24 years in prison with the right to probation after 18 years. The judge conceded that he will likely die behind bars.
However, Chris’ lawyer has indicated that his client is likely to appeal the decision.
Chris, a former professional rugby player, lived in the city of Sydney with her and their two children.
They were a seemingly normal family until her disappearance in January 1982. Lynette was 33 at the time.
Chris Dawson (left) with two rugby teammates in 1974
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
Chris had left rugby in the late 1970s and become a PE teacher at a public school on Sydney’s North Beaches.
And right during class, he fell in love with Joanne Curtis, one of the teenage students credited as JC in the trial that just ended.
infidelity
JC was only 16 when Chris fell in love with her. That’s according to details revealed both during the trial and in the 2018 investigative podcast that surfaced the case, The Teacher’s Pet.
Joanne was part of a dysfunctional family where violence and alcohol were the order of the day.
Although she was twice her age and married, the teacher developed a close relationship with the young woman. Chris hired the teenager as his nanny at his home and began a secret relationship with her.
According to JC’s testimony at the trial, both secretly had sex when Lynette was sleeping or showering.
Chris Dawson became obsessed with the teenager, whom judge Ian Harrison judged he saw as a “surrogate” for his wife.
Just three days after Lynette went missing, the young student moved in permanently with the Dawsons.
Joanne Curtis in 2003
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
The missing
In the months leading up to his wife’s disappearance, Chris grew increasingly desperate as divorce plans fell through and JC threatened to drop the case, the judge said.
“As affection turned into a sexual relationship, Dawson faced the harsh reality that he couldn’t stay married and still have an increasingly intense relationship with the teen,” the judge said.
“The prospect of losing her caused grief, frustration and eventually overwhelmed him so much that Dawson decided to kill his wife,” the judge said.
Chris Dawson denies Lynette’s murder and has always claimed that she left him and their two children, possibly to join a religious group.
Police have not found a single trace of Lynette since her disappearance in the 1980s.
Lynette Dawson’s body was never found
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
Chris claimed his wife called him days after the disappearance to say she needed a break from their relationship.
This first call, he assured, was followed by others, but there is no evidence of this. Therefore, the judge believes that this version is a lie.
The man’s defense also claimed that at least five people claimed to have seen the missing woman alive after January 1982.
This, too, did not convince the judge, who saw the episodes as errors of perception on the part of the alleged witnesses.
Two years after Lynette’s disappearance, in 1984, Chris Dawson and Joanne Curtis married and had a daughter. The couple divorced in 1993.
the podcast
Two investigations into Lynette’s disappearance in 2001 and 2003 found that she was killed by a “known person”.
But prosecutors didn’t see enough evidence to press charges until journalist Hedley Thomas investigated the case on a podcast.
Winner of the Walkley, Australia’s top journalism award, The Teacher’s Pet has amassed over 60 million downloads and reached #1 in the Australian Singles Chart. The show also enjoyed strong ratings in the UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Hedley Thomas, author of The Teacher’s Pet podcast.
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
The podcast and the impact the content had on public opinion played a key role in Chris’ arrest and murder charge in 2018.
Judge Harrison criticized the “unbalanced view” of the case, ruling that it influenced evidence presented by some witnesses heard in the past.
The excitement generated by the podcast even delayed the start of the trial.
The defense even attempted to delay the case, arguing that the effects of the program had deprived the defendant of a fair trial.
Eventually, it was decided to conduct the trial with a judge rather than resorting to a people’s jury, since those outside the judge would be more influenced by public opinion.
the judgment
Announcing the 24year sentence on Friday, Judge Ian Harrison said Dawson’s crime was “unbridled brutality” that was “neither spontaneous nor inevitable.”
He was sentenced on August 30, 2022 after a threemonth trial that involved evidence and testimonies from multiple witnesses.
Although none of the evidence was conclusive on its own, the judge, after evaluating it as a whole, ruled that Chris Dawson’s guilt was “convincing.”
Chris Dawson arriving in court before hearing the verdict
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
The judge dismissed the defendant’s version that Lynette Dawson left the house voluntarily.
He noted that the victim “idolised her children and her husband” and that all her assets remained in the family home after her disappearance.
“Even the contact lenses were found in a blue case,” he claimed.
Furthermore, since Lynette’s disappearance, none of her friends and family members have heard from her or any indication that she might be alive anywhere in the world.
Considering the circumstantial evidence as a whole, the judge stated that “without question” Chris killed his wife and disposed of the body.
After the verdict was announced, the perpetrator was handcuffed and left the room, shaking his head and dissatisfied.
The family
Lynette Dawson’s family members in court shed tears at the verdict.
The brother, Greg Simms, said the court’s decision only confirmed what they had known for years.
Lynette Dawson’s brother and wife have been calling for a new investigation into the case for years
Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brazil
“She loved her family and never left them willingly. However, that trust was betrayed by a man she loved,” Simms told the press, visibly touched.
He also alluded to the body that was never found and to Chris Dawson, whom he urged to “finally do the right thing” and “allow us to bring Lynette home and rest in peace, to offer her the dignity that she.” earned”.
This text was originally published on September 1, 2022 at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional62751316
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