CHRIS DAWSON’S ARREST
The cold case that stopped the nation
Chris Dawson arrived in Sydney to the kind of media reception usually reserved for international celebrities. Cameras flashed away as Dawson, casually dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, was driven to a Sydney police station, where he was charged with the murder of his wife, Lynette. Many, including Lyn’s family, believe it has been a long time coming. The 1982 disappearance of Lyn, a young mother-of-two, has held more questions than answers. But with the arrest of her husband Dawson, on Dec. 5, there could be some resolution at last. The now 70-year-old Dawson was arrested and extradited from his home on Queensland’s Gold Coast to NSW, where he was charged with murder. He will plead not guilty, according to his legal team.
Over the years, Dawson has always denied any wrongdoing, repeatedly claiming 33-year-old Lyn left their Bayview family home in Sydney’s northern beaches, and their two little girls, of her own accord. No body has ever been found but two coronial inquests have concluded Lyn was murdered by a “known person”. There has never been enough evidence to bring a case against that “known person”, who was alleged to be Chris Dawson.
According to News Corp, Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh, told reporters he was aware of at least one other case when a mother went missing and was living a new life. “It does happen,” Walsh said. “It’s happened before.” He also drew attention to evidence that Lyn “was observed by a number of people” after her 1982 disappearance and pointed to evidence of “two very important bank card transactions [made] two or three weeks after her disappearance.”
He told reporters the alleged transactions were never investigated by police and that they “should have conducted a proper investigation at the time. [That] would have indicated that probably she was alive”.
While Dawson’s family have released a statement saying they have “no doubt whatsoever that Chris will be found not guilty,” Lyn’s family are just relieved an arrest has finally been made. Her brother, Greg Simms, spoke to The Teacher’s Pet podcast, the series that flung the case into the media spotlight in recent months. “[ We feel] as though it’s a weight off our shoulders,” he said. “Every time we’re talking to someone I get a bit emotional but that’s to be expected. We are ecstatic.” Pat Jenkins, Lyn’s sister, added: “I was stunned … it’s just amazing news isn’t it? I’m a bit shivery. After all this time.”
Lyn’s tragic disappearance has always struck the family as odd on a number of levels. There is the fact she didn’t take anything with her, most notably her
beloved girls, Shanelle, 4, and Sherryn, 2. Her husband was also having an affair with Joanne Curtis, one of the 16-year-old students at Cromer High where he taught.
Soon after Lyn vanished, he moved Curtis into the family home and his children started calling her mummy. He didn’t report Lyn missing for six weeks and was not formally interviewed by police until seven months later.
On Dec. 6, police commissioner Mick Fuller admitted to reporters police had “dropped the ball” during the 1980s investigation but that new evidence had helped to “tie pieces of the puzzle together”. Some of that evidence has come from the chart-topping podcast with new witnesses coming forward as a result of it. Police have indicated at least two will form part of their new brief of evidence.
According to The Australian, one is likely to be Bev Mcnally, the Dawsons’ former babysitter, and the other, a northern beaches schoolgirl who kept diaries from the time she knew Joanne Curtis and Chris Dawson. Curtis herself is also likely to be a key witness. “I did have faith this day would come when the podcast started and the truth was being revealed,” Michelle Walsh, a former Cromer High student, tells WHO. “With people finding the courage to come forward and say more and more, I did think [Dawson] would be arrested.”
Dawson, who has chosen not to speak to the media in recent years, is reported to have sat quietly in the dock as the case against him was read. According to journalist Charlie Peel, who spoke to the podcast afterwards, Dawson spent most of the time staring at the magistrate. It was only when the magistrate said Lyn didn’t pick up her pay cheque and she wasn’t financially viable when she vanished that provoked a reaction from Dawson.
“That’s when Dawson went quite red and had his face resting on his hands,” Peel told the podcast. “He was looking down at the ground.”
Dawson was formally refused bail and is currently in a NSW cell. Questions have since arisen about the chance of him receiving a fair trial given the media attention lavished on the case. Twenty-eight million people globally have downloaded the podcast, and Walsh told journalists outside court the intense public interest was a concern. The Guardian reports Walsh saying some reporting had come from “an ideological perspective” that Dawson “must be guilty”.
The next challenge for the courts might now be to find 12 jurors who have not heard The Teacher’s Pet.
By Emma Levett ■