Convicted wife-killer Christopher Dawson is already expected to spend the rest of his life in jail regardless of a judge’s view of when his sexual activity with a student began.
Judge Sarah Huggett will deliver a verdict on Wednesday following a NSW District Court trial of the former rugby league player and high school teacher.
Dawson was jailed in 2022 for killing his wife Lynette Dawson, who was last seen more than four decades earlier.
A judge found he wanted to pursue an unfettered relationship with a student.
In the current trial, Dawson pleaded not guilty to one count of carnal knowledge as a teacher of a girl aged over 10 and under 17 years of age, a historical charge replaced in 1986.
The 74-year-old was given frequent breaks during the trial due to health issues.
His 24-year sentence for killing Lynette, whose body has never been found, and laws preventing his parole before it is, mean he is expected to live out his days in prison.
Known during the trial as AB for legal reasons, a student in Dawson’s sports class for year 11 in 1980 said she first interacted with Dawson when he returned a topless photo of her that had been circulating at the school the previous year.
Former students at the Sydney northern beaches school, who also cannot be named, described seeing AB sitting in Dawson’s lap and him standing in between her legs on school grounds and in his office.
A friend described AB disappearing from their social circle in the latter half of 1980, when AB said she was babysitting Dawson’s children practically every Saturday and had alleged sexual activity in his car on Friday nights.
Public defender Claire Wasley said the case was primarily built on AB’s evidence, and she was mistaken about when critical events occurred.
“It is not submitted that their sexual relationship was appropriate, just that it did not commence while she was in his class,” Ms Wasley said.
Crown prosecutor Emma Blizard dated the beginning of their alleged sexual activity to about the middle of 1980, with Dawson noting on her end-of-year report card she was a “pleasure to teach”.
“He wasn’t referring to teaching sports coaching … he thought it was very clever to be able to put that on a public document,” AB said in her evidence.
Ms Wasley said the double meaning of the report card message and the topless photo interaction were both “very easy to make up”.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
