Chris Dawson trial: And so it ends, not with a bang but a flu-ridden cough

And so it ended. Not with a bang, but a gentle collapse, in the way burning campfire logs eventually fall in on themselves before being reduced to ash.

Lynette Dawson.

And so it ended. Not with a bang, but a gentle collapse, in the way burning campfire logs eventually fall in on themselves before being reduced to ash.

The Chris Dawson murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney resumed on Monday at 10.10am.

Dawson took his usual seat in court 9D in a charcoal grey suit and a pale grey spotted tie.

Unlike the previous 45 days of hearings, the court was devoid of pre-opening energy, the bustle of lawyers, whisperings from the public gallery, the snap of ring binder folders.

On Monday, just prior to the emergence of judge Ian Harrison, the court was conspicuously quiet, almost funereal; the sunshine that had pushed through the nine windows at the rear of the room last week was gone.

It was gloomy weather outside and some of that bleakness was reflected in court.

Defence barrister Pauline David resumed her final submission, informing the court she wished to briefly go through the evidence of some witnesses in the trial.

It was, in short, a tidying up.

David, in rapid-fire, suggested to His Honour that some witnesses could be relied upon and some could not.

She conceded Dawson’s relationship with schoolgirl JC may have been inappropriate but it evolved into a loving and caring coupling that ultimately resulted in marriage.

It was not, she emphasised, a situation where a man used his position to take advantage of a woman “about whom he didn’t particularly care”.

“He failed his wife, there’s no doubt,” she said.

Ms David reminded the court that witnesses like twin brother Paul Dawson and his wife, Marilyn, could be relied upon in assessment of Dawson’s good character, that Paul had firmly declared his brother incapable of the act of murder. That in their entire lives he had never seen him commit any act of violence, and that he was a fantastic father.

So it went, until close to midday when David, after four days of final submissions, brought the defence case to a close. “While there are sadly no answers to what happened to Lyn Dawson, the evidence does not support that Chris Dawson killed her,” she said. “The only verdict is a not guilty verdict.

“As the court pleases.”

With that, Crown Prosecutor Craig Everson SC stood to point out to His Honour the direct lies the prosecution claims Dawson made over decades in relation to the disappearance of his wife and offered the judge guidance on hearsay and circumstantial evidence in relation to recent legal precedents. He resumed his seat at 12.01pm.

When asked if the defence had any further points to raise, David said her legal assistant, Greg Walsh, had prepared a submission but she had not yet had time to read it.

“I was wondering if we could send those to Your Honour today?” she said.

“Yes,” Harrison responded.

The discussion turned to Dawson’s bail conditions. And it was then, after dozens of witnesses and thousands of pages of transcript in a trial that edged into a tenth week, that reality hit.

Dawson was facing a charge of murder, and it was easy to overlook that beyond the orbit of the court he was subject to an order to report to police every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He was not permitted to travel beyond a set kilometre radius from his residence.

Harrison relaxed Dawson’s reporting conditions to every Friday and said he would come to judgment soon. “Not by tomorrow, I can assure you, but relatively quickly.”

The clock hit 12.09pm.

“All right, thank you for your assistance,” he said in a husky, flu-struck voice. “I’ll reserve my decision and adjourn.”

With that he stood, walked to the rear of the room, issued one final cough, and was gone. It is anticipated he will come to his decision within two months.

Then a sombre court 9D slowly emptied.