Christopher Dawson’s ex-student grilled at convicted killer’s sex abuse trial
Convicted killer Chris Dawson’s ex-student has told a barrister her point was “garbage” after being grilled on an alleged “made up” version of events.
The woman Chris Dawson is accused of sexually abusing when she was 16-years-old has hit back in court as the defence barrister alleged her version of a key event was “made up”.
That followed a tense exchange in which the date Dawson confronted his ex-student about a topless photo of her could help determine if he is found guilty.
The now-74-year-old is on trial in the NSW District Court charged with one count of carnal knowledge of a girl by a teacher.
Police allege he was a sports teacher in his 30s at Cromer High School in Sydney’s northern beaches when he began a relationship with the teenager, known only as AB, in 1980.
Under the historical law, Dawson is only guilty if the student was aged 16 or younger and one of his students when the alleged sexual activity began.
While cross-examining AB in the judge-alone trial, defence barrister Claire Wasley argued their relationship did not start until after she turned 17 on February 1981.
She accused her of either making up or misremembering the timing of several central events, causing AB to double-down and tell Ms Wasley several times her suggestions were “garbage”.
Earlier in court, AB said Dawson wrote the words “pleasure to teach” on her year 11 school report as a “cunning” reference to their sexual activity.
But this morning, Ms Wasley asked if AB agreed the first time she ever mentioned those words to police or education officials was this week, despite having numerous interviews about her dealings with Dawson over the years.
“No, absolutely not,” AB said.
Later in the exchange, Ms Wasley suggested that while the comment in the report was not in dispute, AB had only thought of that interpretation very recently.
“I suggest you made that up this week when you spoke to the prosecution,” Ms Wasley said.
AB shot back: “That’s garbage”.
Ms Wesley went on to suggest another account AB gave in her evidence “simply did not happen”.
Referring to AB previously telling the court Dawson “jostled” with a fellow teacher in front of students to have her in his year 11 class, Ms Wesley told the court:
“I want to suggest to you it was nothing like a war between the accused and (another teacher) to get you in the class… I’m going to suggest to your classes were allocated by other people”.
AB told the court “it did happen”.
“I can’t tell you how the classes were allocated, all I can tell you is that day it looked like they were in a position to choose themselves… That’s the kind of school it was – there wasn’t any boundaries between the teachers and the students”.
In a third point of contention, Ms Wasley suggested AB had incorrectly stated the year she began regularly visiting the Dawson’s home, arguing that didn’t happen until year 12.
AB refuted that, telling the court her presence at the home was frequent in year 11 and he “used that opportunity to abuse” her.
In her fourth grilling, Ms Wasley suggested AB never engaged in sexual activity with Dawson in his school office when she was in year 11, to which AB again responded plainly: “It did happen”.
Timing of ‘topless photo’ crucial to case
AB previously told the court the first interaction she had with the former teacher of Cromer High School was in 1979, while she was in year-10 and he returned a topless photo to her.
She said the photo was taken when the former student was at a picnic and it had been “passed around school”.
“He said ‘here you go, I just found this’. So he had seen what I looked like in a vulnerable position and that was his introduction to me,” she earlier told the court.
The court heard that after Dawson saw the topless photo, he fought to have her in his class the next year, when they began a sexual relationship.
But on Thursday morning, Ms Wasley suggested to AB that “the events of the topless photo did not occur in 1979”.
Ms Wasley directed AB to a previous police statement in which she said the first contact she ever had with Dawson was in 1980, not the previous year as she is now claiming.
“That first contact for me could mean totally different things to what you’re implying … it could mean the first contact I had was when he was my teacher, not the first time we ever spoke”.
Ms Wasley suggested AB was “mistaken” in her memory of the topless photo timeline, and that the sexual relationship did not in fact begin until AB was no longer Dawson’s student.
AB was also quizzed about asking police to amend parts of a statement given years earlier when she was again interviewed by them in 2018.
AB did not deny she asked for the amendments, but said her memory had improved due to “the passage of time” that had allowed her to reflect on what happened.
When Ms Wasley asked why she had never mentioned the topless photo to police before, AB grew visibly upset.
Through tears, she said: “There was that photograph, and the fact I haven’t remembered it before, because it was so traumatic, does not mean it was not true”.
Responding, Ms Wasley said she was “not suggesting there wasn’t a topless photo”.
“What I’m suggesting is it didn’t happen in 1979,” she said.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard allegations Dawson first abused AB in his parent’s bed in Maroubra while they were away.
Crown prosecutor Emma Blizard submitted the sexual activity continued in his school office, “behind closed doors” during fitness classes and eventually his own home.
AB told the court she once engaged in sexual activity with Dawson in a pool while his twin brother was up the other end of it with another young girl.
She said he singled her out for attention after fighting to have her in his year-11 class and began leaving her “hundreds” of love notes outside class.
In court on Thursday, Ms Wesley suggested Dawson sent no notes or cards to AB until the following year.
Last December, Dawson was sentenced to a maximum of 24 years prison with a non-parole period of 18 years after he was found guilty of murdering his wife, Lynette, in 1982.
During the sentencing, Justice Ian Harrison said Dawson would likely die in jail, as he will be eligible for parole in 2040.
Throughout the high-profile proceedings, Dawson’s legal team argued 33-year-old Lynette walked out on the family after her trust was broken due to her husband’s behaviour.
Dawson’s lawyers have lodged an intention to appeal his guilty verdict for murder.
The carnal knowledge trial continues before Judge Sarah Huggett.