Chris Dawson on trial for unlawful sex with schoolgirl, 16

He’s already serving 24 years for the murder of his wife Lynette. Now Chris Dawson stands accused of grooming and abusing a 16-year-old. | Hear our new podcast The Teacher’s Accuser

Chris Dawson appeared on Day 1 of his trial for unlawful carnal knowledge in the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Vincent de Gouw

Handcuffed and in prison greens, convicted wife killer Chris Dawson appeared in the District Court in Sydney on Monday to face trial for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old schoolgirl when he was her sports teacher.

Dawson, 74, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of carnal knowledge of the girl in 1980, less than two years before the murder of his wife, mother-of-two Lynette Simms.

The Crown will attempt to prove the girl was in Year 11 when she met and started a sexual relationship with Dawson, while he was teaching a sports class at Cromer High School on Sydney’s northern beaches.

He allegedly told her that he’d chosen the class because he’d noticed her the year before.

At a sports carnival, he put his hand on her knee, and after that he asked her to become the family’s babysitter.

On Friday nights she’d speak to Dawson at the Time and Tide hotel.

It was common knowledge, according to the Crown, that there were sexual relationships between multiple male teachers and students.

The girl in question was having problems at home, and allegedly confided in Dawson that her mother and stepfather’s marriage was troubled.

She would often stay overnight at Dawson’s home in the spare room after babysitting.

The Crown will allege Dawson left notes in her school bag expressing his love for her, and told her to burn them.

Some of those notes will form exhibits in the case. The trial will be covered in depth in our podcasts The Front every weekday and in our newest production, The Teacher’s Accuser, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Dawson says they didn’t start having sex until after her 17th birthday.

The woman accusing Dawson of unlawful carnal knowledge cannot be identified beyond the pseudonym AB.

The trial is being heard before Judge Sarah Huggett, who before she came to the bench was a prosecutor.

Judge Huggett, as a young lawyer, served as the sole instructing solicitor in the Crown’s case against notorious backpacker killer Ivan Milat.

Dawson is represented by Public Defender Claire Wasley.

The Crown prosecutor is Emma Blizard, who previously assisted prosecutor Craig Everson SC in Dawson’s murder trial. Mr Everson was this month appointed a District Court judge.

In 2022, Dawson was convicted of the 1982 murder of his wife, Lyn, and sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment. He has indicated he will appeal that conviction.

Dawson’s older brother, lawyer Peter Dawson, attended the first day of the carnal knowledge trial in the Downing Centre court complex.

For medical reasons, Dawson will sit in court for a total of three hours a day, with short breaks every hour.

The indictment alleges that on a day between July 1, 1980, and December 12, 1980, at Maroubra in south east Sydney, Dawson unlawfully and carnally knew a 16-year-old girl who was at that time his pupil.

The first day of the trial was dominated by legal argument, with the Crown asking Judge Huggett to direct the media not to report identifying details about the case and victim.

Separately, the defence wanted evidence and submissions to be suppressed until the final witness testified to prevent contamination of evidence.

The Australian, joined by other media outlets, briefed a senior barrister to argue against the suppressions.

Dauid Sibtain SC told the court the interests of open justice outweighed Dawson’s concerns about adverse publicity.

He said the prosecution’s request was “wholly futile” because existing NSW law already protected the complainant’s identity, as a victim of crime, and because many details of the matter had already been published in the judgment in Dawson’s murder trial.

Judge Huggett agreed, rejecting the applications for suppression. Media can be present for the alleged victim’s evidence, apart from one brief section of her testimony.

Some restrictions were imposed on reporting the precise details of the alleged sexual offending.

The trial will resume on Tuesday with opening addresses from the prosecution and defence.

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