The photo of JC on her 18th birthday. She claims she was wearing Lynette Dawson's clothes which were left behind. Photo / Supplied
The photo of JC on her 18th birthday. She claims she was wearing Lynette Dawson's clothes which were left behind. Photo / Supplied
It's the picture of Chris Dawson's teenage lover on her 18th birthday, allegedly wearing Lynette Dawson's clothes inside her matrimonial home, that prosecutors say proves the ex-teacher knew his wife was dead.
Dawson is fighting allegations that he murdered his wife Lynette in January 1982, with his Supreme Court trial now in its closing stages.
During closing submissions, Dawson's barrister Pauline David argued that her client was an abandoned husband whose wife had walked out on their marriage and two young children, never to be seen or heard from again.
She has accepted that Dawson cheated on his wife with one of his former students, who was also the couple's babysitter.
David has argued that Lynette Dawson was a woman scorned, who left after the irreconcilable breakdown of their relationship.
The Crown prosecution has argued that Lynette Dawson was killed sometime late on the evening of Friday, January 8 - after she spoke to her mother on the phone - and noon on January 9 - when Chris Dawson showed up to a part-time job.
The then-teenage babysitter, who can only be known as JC for legal reasons, has told the court that following Lynette Dawson's disappearance she was "installed" in his Gilwinga Drive home as a carer for his two young children.
There is dispute between the Crown and defence about when JC came to live at Gilwinga Drive.
JC has told the court that Chris Dawson came to collect her from holidays on the Mid North Coast about January 10 or 11.
David has argued that it was a week later, denying that Chris Dawson was in a hurry to "replace" his wife.
A photo tendered to the court shows JC at Gilwinga Drive on her 18th birthday, in February 1982 - just over a month after Lynette Dawson went missing.
Lynette Dawson went missing in 1982. Photo / Supplied
JC, during her evidence, told the court that in the photo she was wearing Lynette Dawson's clothes, which were all left inside her closet at Gilwinga Drive, along with jewellery.
Justice Ian Harrison on Friday questioned whether the photo could be taken as proof that Chris Dawson knew his wife was dead and would not walk back through the door.
"All I need is your response to the Crown proposition that Mr Dawson must have been certain Lynette Dawson was not coming back if he was prepared to permit (JC) to start wearing his wife's clothing," Justice Harrison asked.
Chris Dawson has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette 40 years ago. Photo / NCA NewsWire
"There is nothing to suggest there was anything done with his permission or control over the situation," David said.
"Or even an appreciation as to whose clothes they were."
David also pointed to a phone intercept, previously played to the court, in which Chris Dawson was heard saying that JC could not have been wearing Lynette Dawson's clothes because she was four sizes smaller.
The defence has relied on three contentions to argue Chris Dawson's guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt:
• A phone call that Chris Dawson says he received from Lynette Dawson at the Northbridge Baths on January 9, 1982
• Bank card records, which the defence says shows Lynette Dawson made purchases after her disappearance
• Five claimed sightings of Lynette Dawson up until mid-1984.
Chris Dawson has argued that Justice Harrison should accept the evidence of CB, a then-teenage girl who was working at the Northbridge Baths in January 1982.
During her evidence, CB said she recollected taking a long distance phone call on January 9, 1982, from a woman who asked to speak to Chris Dawson or his brother Paul.
"The defence case is you would accept (CB) as accurate and accept there was a phone call as indicated," David said.
Chris and Lynette Dawson on their wedding day. Photo / Supplied
"That phone call is not a lie, not a fabrication because of her very clear memory."
She denied prosecution claims that Chris Dawson had arranged for Ms Dawson's mother, Helena Simms, and family friend Phillip Day to be at the pool in a ruse to corroborate his version about taking a phone call from Lynette Dawson.
During an interview with police in Queensland in 1991, Chris Dawson told detectives that during his marriage to JC, he would lay awake at night "crying my heart out" hoping to be contacted by Lynnette.
"When you're living with somebody and you're trying to sort of work on a relationship with them, you obviously don't tell them that you're yearning for contact from your ex-partner," Chris Dawson said at the time.
Justice Harrison questioned whether it could be accepted that he was "yearning" for contact with Lynette Dawson and whether he could have loved his wife and JC at the same time.
"We say they can exist side by side. I think that is very much a matter of human experience. In France, it's a national sport, your honour," David said.
