Chris Dawson found guilty of unlawful sexual relationship with student
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Convicted wife killer Chris Dawson has been found guilty of engaging in an unlawful sexual relationship with one of his students in Sydney in the 1980s.
Dawson, 74, faced a judge-alone trial in the NSW District Court accused of one count of carnal knowledge of a student, aged between 10 and 17, who was his pupil at a northern beaches high school.
Chris Dawson, pictured last year, faced a judge-alone trial in the NSW District Court.Credit: Nick Moir
Dawson became a sports teacher at Cromer High School in 1979, and prosecutors said he began a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student, who cannot be named, some time between July and December 1980.
Dawson did not deny pursuing a sexual relationship with the girl, but maintained the teenager was not aged 16 or in his sports coaching class when the relationship became physical.
His barrister, public defender Claire Wasley, said she did not suggest the relationship between her client and the girl was appropriate, just that it did not begin in the year alleged.
Wasley said if it could not be established that activity occurred between July 1 and December 12, 1980, her client should be acquitted.
Judge Sarah Huggett delivers her verdict in Chris Dawson’s judge-alone trial on Wednesday.Credit: Dan Himbrechts
On Wednesday, Judge Sarah Huggett said the evidence of the student, now in her 50s, was “the most critical evidence called in the trial”. She said the woman was a thoughtful, calm and responsive witness who was matter-of-fact and forthright, and did not appear to embellish her evidence.
Huggett said the woman provided an insight into her “impressionable” state of mind in the 1980s, including that one of her favourite stories had been Dawson telling her he saw her in the playground and thought she was beautiful.
The judge found Dawson approached a 16-year-old boy who worked at a supermarket with the girl some time before September in 1980, pushed him and threatened him to stay away from her because he viewed him as a romantic rival.
Chris and Lynette Dawson at their wedding in 1970. He killed her in 1982.
After a lengthy judgment, she found Dawson guilty.
Dawson, who had watched proceedings from Long Bay correctional centre and occasionally shook his head when portions of the complainant’s evidence were recited, said “f—” five times when the verdict was delivered.
Last year, Dawson was jailed for 24 years with a non-parole period of 18 years for the 1982 murder of his wife, Lynette. NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison found Dawson killed his wife to pursue an unfettered relationship with the teen.
He will face sentencing proceedings on August 15.
More to come.
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