Chris Dawson murder trial: Court waiting on the word of Dawson

Chris Dawson’s defence team will say as soon as Monday whether he will give evidence at his trial for the alleged murder of his first wife, Lynette.

Chris Dawson leaves the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Chris Dawson’s defence team will say as soon as Monday whether he will give evidence at his NSW ­Supreme Court trial for the alleged murder of his first wife, Lynette.

Prosecutor Craig Everson SC closed the crown case on Thursday, in the eighth week of the high-profile trial.

The day was dominated by police intercepts of phone calls involving Mr Dawson, and complex legal argument about how the judge could use evidence of bruises observed on Lyn and separate claims that he twice tried to get a hitman.

In one harrowing moment, Lyn Dawson appeared on TV monitors in courtroom 9D, in footage from a program that aired seven years before her 1982 dis­appearance from Sydney’s northern beaches.

The footage was of Lyn talking on camera in the ABC’s Chequerboard program, which was focusing on the lives of twins. Mr Dawson and his identical twin brother Paul were both teachers, and both were “well known for their exploits on the sporting field”, program presenter Robin Hughes said.

Her family has previously spoken of taking great comfort from seeing and hearing her when they first obtained the footage with the assistance of journalist Hedley Thomas.

At the trial, it was being played by Mr Dawson’s defence team, who said it would go to his character and counter some of the evidence that had suggested the twin brothers were strangely close.

Lyn’s face was beamed on to four large screens in the court, with Mr Dawson watching on with his lawyer brother Peter.

Lyn’s brother Greg Simms and his wife, Merilyn, left the room while it was being shown and returned to court after the show stopped.

In one intercepted phone call played to the court by defence barrister Pauline David, Mr Dawson and his brother Gary disputed that Lyn’s family were close.

Mr Dawson said at the start of the call he thought their phones were tapped, adding: “There are things I could say but won’t.”

He told Gary that “we would have been lucky to see Pat twice a year”, referring to Lyn’s sister Pat Jenkins.

Mr Dawson said he had seen Greg and Merilyn Simms once or twice a year.

Police recorded the call on September 12, 2018, during the release of The Australian’s investigative podcast The Teacher’s Pet.

It includes Mr Dawson saying: “I don’t see why I’ve got to have all the answers. Our marriage broke up, she took off.”

Mr Dawson accused journalist Hedley Thomas of coaching witnesses to call him a narcissist.

“I’m supposed to have this dark side. They’re using all the same words, they’re being prepped really well by this Hedley Thomas, they keep saying the same thing and it’s all bloody selling his bloody podcast,” he said.

The brothers discuss the finding of a cardigan during excavation of the property, which had slash or cut marks but was found by forensic investigators to contain no DNA that could be matched with either Chris or Lyn Dawson.

“(Builders) always use rags to smooth over concrete – yeah, that’s the logical explanation but no no, had to be slash marks,” Mr Dawson said.

There will be no proceedings on Friday to allow the prosecution and defence to attend the funeral of a colleague Brad Hughes SC.