Aussie killed to replace wife with 16-year-old student: 4-year mystery solved after podcast

The case went unresolved for over 40 years.

Until Tuesday, 30/8, Australia’s New South Wales Supreme Court judge found 74-year-old Chris Dawson guilty of murdering his wife, Lynette.

Chris, a former professional rugby player, lived in Sydney with himself and the couple’s two children.

They were a seemingly normal family until they disappeared without a trace in January 1982. At that time, Lynette was 33 years old.

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Chris had quit rugby in the late 1970s and became a physical education teacher at a public school on Sydney’s north coast.

And he fell in love with Joanne Curtis, one of the young students, who is referred to as JC in the newly settled case, right during the lessons.

cheat

JC was just 16 when Chris fell in love with her, according to details disclosed in both the trial and the 2018 research podcast that uncovered the case. Teacher’s Pet.

Joanne was part of a broken family where violence and alcohol were part of her daily routine.

The professor formed a close relationship with the young woman, despite being twice her age and married. Chris kept the teenager in his home as a nanny and began a secret relationship with him.

According to JC’s testimony during the trial, they both secretly had sex while Lynette was asleep or taking a shower.

According to Judge Ian Harrison, Chris Dawson was obsessed with the young man he saw as a “backup” for his wife.

Just three days after Lynette’s disappearance, the young student moved in with the Dawsons permanently.

Loss

The judge said that in the months leading up to his wife’s disappearance, Chris became increasingly desperate as divorce plans failed and JC threatened to end the case.

According to the magistrate, “When love turned into a sexual relationship, Dawson was faced with the harsh reality that she could not stay married and pursue an increasingly intense relationship with the young man”.

“The prospect of losing her caused him grief and disappointment, and in the end he was so overwhelmed that Dawson decided to kill his wife,” the judge said.

Chris Dawson denies killing Lynette and has always claimed that he left her and her two children, possibly to join a religious group.

Police have not found a single trace of Lynette since her disappearance in the 1980s.

Chris claimed that days after his disappearance, his wife called him and told him he needed to take a break from the relationship.

He assured the first caller that he was followed by others, but there is no evidence of this. Therefore, the judge believes that this version is a lie.

The husband’s defense also claimed that at least five people saw the missing woman alive after January 1982.

This did not convince the judge, who considered the events to be misperceptions of the alleged witnesses.

In 1984, two years after Lynette’s disappearance, Chris Dawson and Joanne Curtis were married and had a daughter. The couple divorced in 1993.

podcast

Two investigations into Lynette’s disappearance in 2001 and 2003 concluded that Lynette had been killed by “a known person”.

But prosecutors didn’t see enough evidence to file a complaint until journalist Hedley Thomas investigated the case on a podcast.

Winner of Walkley, Australia’s best journalism award, Teacher’s Pet It amassed more than 60 million downloads and reached number one on the Australian charts. The show also received huge ratings in the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

The podcast – and the content’s impact on the public – played a major role in Chris’ 2018 arrest and murder charge.

Judge Harrison criticized the “unstable appearance” of the case and held that this had affected the evidence presented by some of the witnesses heard in the past.

The turmoil created by the podcast even delayed the start of the trial.

The defense even tried to stay the case, arguing that the program’s impact deprived the defendant of the opportunity to get a fair trial.

Finally, considering that people outside of the peace would be more affected by the public, it was decided that the trial would be held with a judge rather than a public jury.

decision

Judge Harrison delivered the verdict Tuesday, after a three-month trial involving evidence and testimonies from multiple witnesses.

While none of the evidence was conclusive on its own, after considering it as a whole, the magistrate decided that Chris Dawson’s guilt was “compelling.”

The judge denied the defendant’s statement that Lynette Dawson had left the house voluntarily.

She assessed that the victim “idolized her children and husband” and that all her belongings remained in the family home after she disappeared.

“Even contact lenses were found in a blue container,” he said.

Also, since Lynette’s disappearance, she had not received any news or indication that any of her friends and family might be alive anywhere in the world.

Taking the secondary evidence as a whole, the judge stated that “without a doubt” Chris killed his wife and dumped the body.

After the verdict, the suspect was handcuffed and left the room, shaking his head, showing his displeasure.

Family

Family members of Lynette Dawson, who were in court, reacted to the decision with tears.

Brother Greg Simms said the court’s decision only confirmed what he had known for years.

“She loved her family and never willingly left them. But the trust was betrayed by a man she loved,” Simms explained to the press, visibly touched.

He also cited the body that was never found and Chris Dawson, who asked him to “finally do the right thing” and “to let us bring Lynette home and rest in peace, to give her the respect she deserves”.

The full sentence will be released soon, at an as yet undetermined date.

The defense attorney stated that Chris Dawson will file an appeal to reverse the case.

– This text was originally published https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-62751316