Chris Dawson has been denied special leave to appeal to the High Court in an attempt to permanently stay his upcoming trial for murder.
Mr Dawson, 73, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette on Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982. He was charged in 2018.
Chris Dawson pictured outside court in 2020.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
Since 2020, Mr Dawson has repeatedly applied to have the case permanently stayed, but he was denied by the NSW Supreme Court and later the Court of Criminal Appeal.
On Friday, Mr Dawson applied for special leave to appeal the earlier decisions in the High Court in Canberra.
In refusing to grant leave, Justice Stephen Gageler said a permanent stay was earlier refused in the Supreme Court because that judge considered steps could be taken at trial to remove a real or substantial risk that one or more members of the jury could have prejudged Mr Dawson’s guilt.
Justice Gageler, who heard the special leave application with Justice Michelle Gordon, said Mr Dawson had sought to establish error in the earlier decisions.
He said Mr Dawson pointed to an arguable failure of the Supreme Court judge to give sufficient weight to the cumulative effect of inordinate delay with “other defects” in the case.
Justice Gageler said the Court of Criminal Appeal discerned no appealable error in the decision of the Supreme Court judge.
“We are not persuaded there is sufficient reason to doubt the conclusion of the Court of Criminal Appeal to grant special leave,” Justice Gageler said.
Special leave was refused after Justices Gageler and Gordon adjourned for about eight minutes.
Mr Dawson’s trial is due to begin in May.
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