Neighbour alleges Lynette Dawson accused husband Chris of calling her a ‘fat and ugly bitch’
A neighbour of Chris Dawson has told a court that a tearful Lynette Dawson came to her accusing her husband of calling her a “fat and ugly bitch”.
A tearful Lynette Dawson accused her husband Chris of calling her a“fat and ugly bitch”, according to one of the couple’s former northern beaches neighbours, a court has been told.
Mr Dawson, a former teacher and professional rugby league player, is facing a judge-alone trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where he has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette, who went missing from her Bayview home 40 years ago.
The court has been told that former Dawson neighbour Coral Clarke was too ill to give evidence during the trial however had given a statement to police in 2011 in which she claimed Ms Dawson came to her door upset and crying.
Justice Ian Harrison on Tuesday allowed the statement to be admitted into evidence despite objections from Mr Dawson’s legal team.
“Before Lynn went missing, she came around this particular day and was upset and crying because Chris was calling her ‘fat and ugly bitch’ simply because she couldn’t lose the baby weight she was carrying from her youngest child,” Ms Clarke said in the statement given at Tweed Heads police station.
“There would be no way that she would have ever left her children.”
She went on to describe Ms Dawson as “an ordinary sort of girl, just nice”.
The couple’s former babysitter and Mr Dawson’s second wife JC has told the court that Mr Dawson would sing “cruel songs” about Ms Dawson and call her “fatso”.
Mr Dawson’s lawyers have denied the “fatso” claim.
‘MAKE SOME MONEY
The court was also told on Tuesday that JC had told an author words similar to “hurry up” and publish a book about the case so they could “make some money”.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Dawson was motivated to kill Ms Dawson so that he could be with JC, a then teenage babysitter and one of his former students.
JC married Mr Dawson in 1984 before they split in acrimonious circumstances in 1990. During the trial she made several damaging accusations against her former husband.
Rebecca Hazel, a lawyer-turned-author, met JC through a women’s shelter where they both worked and began working on a book about Ms Dawson’s disappearance that was to be titled “The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and his Wife”.
However, the project ultimately broke down after a falling out during which JC said she no longer wanted to participate.
Under cross-examination from Mr Dawson’s lawyer Pauline David on Tuesday, Ms Hazel told the court that she completed her book in 2016.
“Towards the completion of your book (JC) said words to you similar to ‘come on, hurry up and finish this book so that we can make some money’,” Ms David asked.
“Yes, correct,” Ms Hazel replied.
Ms Hazel told the court that she told JC that books weren’t profitable and that advances usually ranged around $5000.
During her evidence, JC rejected suggestions that she had fabricated allegations about Mr Dawson so that she could profit from book sales.
‘SEX SLAVE’
In an email from August 2012, JC told Ms Hazel that Mr Dawson would control what she wore and if she asked to be bought clothes, she would have to “earn them in the usual way” by being his “sex slave for 24 hours”.
She was questioned by prosecutor Craig Everson whether she had heard JC make reference to being a “sex slave” before.
“I’d certainly heard (JC) use that expression,” Ms Hazel said.
“Whether it was before or after (the email) I can’t be 100 per cent, she certainly used that expression.”
THE 1990s INVESTIGATION
Earlier, the court was told that homicide detectives closed the investigation into Ms Dawson’s disappearance three decades ago because they were unable to refute a claimed sighting of the mother of two at a roadside fruit barn.
Mr Dawson’s defence has argued that she walked out on her family and there were several sightings of her after January 1982. The Crown prosecution has argued that the claimed sightings were cases of mistaken identity.
The court was told that Sue Butlin, a Dawson family friend, had claimed that she spotted Ms Dawson at a roadside fruit barn where she worked on the side of the Pacific Highway at Kulnura on the Central Coast.
Ms Butlin has since died but her husband Ray Butlin gave evidence that her wife had also reported the claimed sighting to him.
Now-retired detective inspector Paul Mayger flew to Queensland to interview Mr Dawson at Beenleigh police station, south of Brisbane, in January 1991.
During the interview, Mr Dawson claimed he had been told of numerous sightings of Ms Dawson from friends, including Ms Butlin, who he knew through the Gosford Rugby League Club.
Mr Mayger told the court on Tuesday that he came into the case in 1990 before it was again suspended in 1992.
Mr Mayger said during a regular review of the case he was told by senior officers that it should be suspended because of Ms Butlin’s reported sighting.
“I raised the issue of eyewitness testimony or a statement to police that Lynette Dawson had been seen a week after her supposed disappearance,” Mr Mayger told the court on Tuesday.
“And I was advised that unless we can refute that evidence, then the investigations probably shouldn’t proceed.”
He said he had no recollection of speaking to Ms Butlin and had no notes or records of any conversations with her.
However, he told the court that he presumed an officer from the missing persons unit or Mona Vale police station had done so.
The trial continues.
Smith makes final call on opening experiment
After a brief stint as a Test opener, Steve Smith has decided where he wants to bat in the blockbuster five-match series against India.
Read more
Socceroos desperate to ‘flip script’
It has been 15 years since the Socceroos have beaten Japan, and it’s a run of outs the Australians are determined to end on Tuesday night.
Read more