Verdict looms for Chris Dawson after alleged sexual activity with student

Convicted wife killer Chris Dawson has been charged with engaging in sexual activities with a 16-year-old student more than 40 years ago at a school where he taught.

Convicted wife killer Chris Dawson will have to wait two weeks to learn his fate after he stood trial over allegations he engaged in sexual activities with his 16-year-old student.

The credibility of evidence given by the former student of convicted wife killer Chris Dawson has been described as “powerful, honest, and reliable” and “made up” in the final hours of the historical trial.

The conflicting remarks arose during the closing statements of the weeks-long trial which Dawson, 74, faced in the NSW District Court this year.

The former football star pleaded not guilty to one count of carnal knowledge, claiming his first sexual encounter with the student did not occur until after February 1981 when she turned 17.

Chris Dawson is charged with having sex with his 16-year-old student in 1980. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The timing of their first alleged sexual activity is central to the trial, as the former schoolgirl maintains she was a pupil in his year 11 sports coaching class when they became intimate.

Crown prosecutor Emma Blizard told the court that the student, known by the pseudonym AB, had been “honest and reliable in the evidence she gave” throughout the trial.

She argued that the evidence of the “most important witness in the trial” had been “powerfully supported” by the accounts of contemporary witnesses.

AB told the court that she and Dawson had first engaged in sexual activity while they were sitting in his car at a beachside carpark in the Sydney suburb of Dee Why.

She had previously recalled their first sexual activity had happened when the former Newtown Jets star was teaching her to drive, but the timing of her driving licence came into question.

Whether AB had her licence or not was not important for the court to be convinced the two were alone in his car together when she was 16 years old, Ms Blizard argued.

Dawson was a popular teacher in northern Sydney.

He also played for the Newtown Jets rugby league team.

She said certain details would understandably have been forgotten in the ex-schoolgirl’s recollection of an incredibly eventful year.

“The human mind is not a computer that remembers every detail perfectly,” she said.

“Particularly when the details themselves are not memorable.”

AB claimed the sexual activities escalated “in the same week or the following week”.

The Crown prosecutor said the evidence of a school friend corroborated AB’s testimony about the timing of the first sexual activity, but it was hotly contested by the defence.

Dawson’s lawyer Clare Wasley argued that AB had “made up” the evidence about the timing of the first sexual activity when she “had trouble reconciling” her previous accounts with her evidence.

She highlighted inconsistencies in AB’s timeline regarding her drivers licence and where she was living at the time of the alleged (first contact).

He is in custody for murdering his wife Lynette. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“It became obvious to the complainant … that linking the (first contact) to the driving lessons created issues with her reliability,” Ms Wasley said.

“(Her) evidence doesn’t withstand scrutiny.”

Ms Blizard argued the Crown case “does not rest on AB alone” after witnesses and Dawson’s own words corroborated her account of their physical relationship.

However, Ms Wasley contended that the prosecution relied “almost entirely” on her testimony.

“None of the witnesses saw the alleged offending occur,” she said.

The defence lawyer said the “heavy onus” fell entirely on the prosecution to prove that Dawson had engaged in sexual activities with his 16-year-old student.

Chris Dawson has been jailed for murdering his wife Lynette.

“It is not submitted … that his sexual relationship with a student was an appropriate one, just that it did not commence while she was in his class,” Ms Wasley said.

“Mr Dawson doesn’t have to prove innocence. Mr Dawson doesn’t have to prove a thing.”

Dawson was jailed for 24 years for the murder of his wife Lynette Simms last year.

The 74-year-old appeared agitated throughout the closing statements as he beamed into the courtroom from custody.

Judge Sarah Huggett will deliver her verdict on June 28 after more than two weeks of deliberation.

Originally published as Verdict looms for Chris Dawson after alleged sexual activity with student