Lindsay Masatora jailed for seven years for killing nurse Amanda Dawson
THE jilted lover of a nurse who couldn’t accept she wanted to end their affair—and bashed her to death—has been locked up for seven years.
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THE jilted lover of a nurse who couldn’t accept she wanted to end their affair has been locked up for seven years for her killing.
Lindsay Masatora, 57, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter following mother-of-four Amanda Dawson’s death on October 13, 2016.
Homicide Squad detectives had initially charged him with murder.
Sentencing him in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Terry Forrest said it was Masatora’s “unlawful and dangerous acts” that killed Ms Dawson.
Ms Dawson, 57, died in hospital three days after Masatora struck her twice to the head, knocking her unconscious, in a Traralgon carpark.
The court heard Ms Dawson was trying to convince an angry Masatora to get back in her car at the Traralgon Neighbourhood Learning Centre, where they both had enrolled in a creative writing course, when he lashed out at her about 4.20pm.
The pair had formed a “romantic friendship” after meeting in Western Australia when the nurse took a six-month contract at Derby Hospital in early 2015, Justice Forrest said.
When she returned to Victoria to be with her husband, David, in their Glengarry home in Gippsland in April 2015, Masatora followed a month later and they continued their affair.
At one point, Mr Dawson found Masatora in their home and escorted him to the Traralgon train station, telling him to leave and never return.
Justice Forrest said text message exchanges between Ms Dawson and Masatora showed that the mother wanted to end the relationship.
“At one stage she messaged you: ‘You don’t know what it’s like leading two lives’,” he said.
Addressing Masatora in court, Justice Forrest said: “Amanda Dawson had every right to conduct a relationship with you and every right to call it off, or to defer resolving it.
“You had every right to disagree with her — but you had no right to beat her.”
Speaking to the Herald Sun following the sentence, Ms Dawson’s husband, David, fought back tears as he told how life had been “horrible” without her.
“There is an enormous sense of grief and emptiness — she’s gone,” Mr Dawson said.
“I’ve got four good kids, that’s the only thing that keeps me going.”
A dignified Mr Dawson said he “felt sorry” for Masatora and his family.
Asked whether he thought the sentence was sufficient, he said: “No matter what the sentence was, it’s not going to bring Amanda back.
“I initially felt an enormous amount of revenge and desire for revenge. But revenge isn’t going to do anything except make it worse.”
Masatora will be eligible for parole after four years and nine months.