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No body, no parole a fitting end

Chris Dawson’s conviction for the premeditated murder of his first wife, Lyn, ends four decades of torment for her family and friends but it does not provide a full measure of closure. That will require knowing for certain where Lyn’s remains have been secreted to allow a proper burial so that, with her, the matter finally can be laid to rest. The Dawson murder conviction, which followed The Australian’s groundbreaking podcast series The Teacher’s Pet by national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas, provides a fitting opportunity for NSW to follow the example of Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory, where there are laws that stop prisoners convicted of homicide from getting parole unless they co-operate with police to find the remains of the victims they have killed.

Queensland’s “no body, no parole” amendment became law in August 2017 at the recommendation of former solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff QC. It is designed to give closure for the families of homicide victims and prohibits the state’s parole board from granting parole unless it is satisfied that the prisoner has satisfactorily co-operated in the investigation of their offence to identify the victim’s location. The term “victim’s location” is defined to mean the location or last known location of every part of the body or remains of the victim; and the place where every part of the body or remains of the victim of the offence may be found. In determining whether the prisoner has co-operated satisfactorily in the investigation of the offence to identify the victim’s location, the board must have regard to a written report of the commissioner of police stating whether the prisoner has co-operated in the investigation of the offence to identify the victim’s location. To qualify, co-operation may have happened before or after the prisoner was sentenced or after conviction but before sentence.

Lyn Dawson disappeared from the family’s Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982, leaving everyone and everything behind. Chris Dawson denied murdering his wife and was convicted on a wholly circumstantial case. Justice Ian Harrison SC found beyond reasonable doubt that Dawson had killed his wife in a premeditated crime of passion to avoid losing his relationship with his young lover, former student and babysitter JC, with whom he was having a relationship and had an obsessive infatuation. Two attempts to find Lyn’s remains by digging at the Sydney property where the couple lived, one a decade after she disappeared and again in 2018, were unsuccessful. Dawson is now in custody awaiting sentence and considering an appeal.

Immediately after the guilty verdict was announced, Lyn’s brother Greg Simms called on Dawson to do the decent thing and allow the family to give Lyn a proper burial. A plea has been made for NSW to introduce legislation similar to Queensland’s “no body, no parole” law in recognition of the anguish suffered by surviving relatives and friends of murder victims. The impact of suffering from not knowing where victims have been left is well documented. When making his recommendation for the Queensland law, Mr Sofronoff said the “no body, no parole” legislation was designed to help victims’ families and to provide a strong incentive for offenders to co-operate with authorities. He said withholding the location of a body extended the suffering of victim’s families and all efforts should be made to attempt to minimise this sorrow. Mr Sofronoff said the community would be right to feel indignation if a convicted killer could expect to be released without telling what he did with the body of the victim. He said the killer’s satisfaction at being released on parole was grotesquely inconsistent with the killer’s knowing perpetuation of the grief and desolation of the victim’s loved ones.

Four decades after murdering his wife, Dawson has left her family and friends in an agonising limbo for far too long. Anything that can help provide final closure must be done.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/no-body-no-parole-a-fitting-end/news-story/65bfbb918ed4f590e24d553b5de59c84