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Daughter Shanelle’s plea to Chris Dawson: Please tell us where Mum is

Chris Dawson’s daughter begged him to reveal the location of Lyn’s body as the NSW Supreme Court considers whether to imprison him for life.

Shanelle Dawson, left, the daughter of Lynette and Chris Dawson, after confronting her father in the Sydney Supreme Court over her mother’s murder. Picture: AAP
Shanelle Dawson, left, the daughter of Lynette and Chris Dawson, after confronting her father in the Sydney Supreme Court over her mother’s murder. Picture: AAP

Lynette Dawson’s daughter, Shanelle, locked eyes with her ­father and tearfully begged him to reveal the location of Lyn’s body, as the NSW Supreme Court considers whether to imprison Dawson for life.

Christopher Dawson sat in the dock, wearing dark prison greens and with his hair closely cropped, as the Crown and Lyn’s family asked Justice Ian Harrison to consider Dawson’s offending at the upper end of seriousness.

New “no body, no parole” laws passed as a result of Lyn’s case will mean, regardless of the sentence imposed, Dawson will be ineligible for parole unless he reveals where he disposed of his wife’s body.

Dawson, 74, spent most of the hearing with his chair turned away from the public gallery, packed with Lyn’s family and supporters, but when his eldest daughter entered the witness box, Dawson met her gaze and the pair stared at one another for about 15 seconds as Shanelle inhaled deeply, preparing to speak.

“You are not God,” Ms Dawson told her father, who cast his eyes down and stared at his hands as she became increasingly emotional.

“The night you removed our mother from our lives was the night you destroyed my sense of safety and belonging in this world for many decades to come. Almost all of the love, nurturing and kindness vanished from my life,” Ms Dawson said.

“Because of your selfish actions, we will never see her again … feel her hold us or hear her laugh.

“There are not enough words in the English language to ­describe the impact of 41 years of deceit, trauma, being silenced and gaslighted.”

Ms Dawson said she felt “massive grief at that on every level”.

“No mother to cuddle me when I’m hurt or sad,” she said.

Lynette Dawson with daughter Shanelle
Lynette Dawson with daughter Shanelle

“No mother to help or advise me. No mother to be a role model for my own mothering. No weekly home-cooked meals to return to. You took that away and so much more and you have no right to. You are not God.”

Ms Dawson begged her father to reveal the location of Lyn’s body. “Please tell us where she is.

“I hope you will finally admit the truth to yourself and give us the last bit of closure we need to make at least partial peace with this horrible tragedy,” she said.

Justice Ian Harrison reserved his sentencing decision until Friday, December 2.

Crown prosecutor Craig Everson, SC, put it to Justice Harrison that the seriousness of Dawson’s crime warranted a life sentence.

Mr Everson conceded Dawson was not a mass murderer or a killer-for-hire, as in some of the cases at the highest “heinousness” of murder, but outlined five reasons why Dawson should never be released.

“The offender has shown no remorse,” Mr Everson said.

He said it was significant that this was a “domestic violence murder”, telling the judge there were five factors he should consider in determining the length of Dawson‘s sentence.

First was the offender‘s state of mind: “Your Honour found the deliberate and conscious act by the offender was done with an intent to kill. The Crown contends that enhances the seriousness of the offence.”

 
 

Second was Dawson‘s “preparation and planning … The offender resolved to kill his wife on or shortly after the 2nd January, 1982. He used the days before the 8 January, 1982 to formulate and carry out his plan”, which included arranging care for his children on the night of January 9, 1982, “so he could dispose of Lynette’s body”.

Mr Everson said the third aggravating factor was that Lynette Dawson was killed in a domestic violence context – possibly in her own home.

“But even if the court doesn’t make that finding that the murder occurred inside the victim’s home, it’s still the case that this was a domestic violence context and the Crown contends that a just and appropriate sentence must accord due relevance to the dignity of the victim,” he said.

Fourth: “Lynette’s body was concealed. It’s never been found and … the Crown contends it is a circumstance that enhances the seriousness of the offence itself. “Fifthly, finally and most importantly is the Crown’s contention that in this case there should be a finding by this court that substantial harm was caused to others.”

The defence submitted Dawson’s offence was not in the highest category of offending because it was “precipitous” rather than extensively planned.

In their victim impact statements, Lyn’s brother, Greg Simms, and sister, Pat Jenkins, told the court the entire family’s lives had been blighted by the absence of warm, loving, gentle Lyn.

Mr Simms’ statement referred to Dawson’s “foul deed” committed “instead of being a proper human being and walking away”.

“You have been able to pull the wool over your family’s eyes, especially your youngest daughter,” his statement said. Referring to Shanelle, Mr Simms said: “You have no love for her. You just pushed her out of your life without support, leaving her virtually a pauper.

“The way you kept our mother thinking (Lyn) was still alive and going to ring her was lower than low. Declining her contact with her granddaughters is another thing you’ll never be forgiven for. She loved her ‘sunshine girls’.

Greg Simms, the brother of Lynette Dawson, leaves Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Jeremy Piper
Greg Simms, the brother of Lynette Dawson, leaves Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“It was a brazen act of a conniving monster hell bent on one thing: getting what you wanted at any cost.”

In her statement, Ms Jenkins, wrote that she and Lyn enjoyed a blissful childhood in beachside Clovelly in Sydney’s east, swimming and sharing a bedroom.

“After my move to the country and our marriages, we did not see as much of each other,” she said.

“I learnt of Lyn’s disappearance in a letter from our mother.

“I was in shock and traumatised to get the news of Lyn’s disappearance and it brings me to tears now to remember that time.

“It was as if this much-loved person had just inexplicably dropped off the face of the Earth.”

Lyn’s mother attended Dawson family events but was eventually overwhelmed by the sadness of being treated coldly by Dawson and his new wife, former teenage babysitter JC, Ms Jenkins wrote.

“It was always upsetting, knowing my mother was enduring this unkind and insensitive treatment,” her statement said.

“Chris was always there with JC, seemingly with his family’s approval. I was also very affected by the cruel and callous way Dawson treated Mum to ensure good behaviour, so she wouldn’t ask questions of him. Chris allowed JC to refuse my mother to see the girls if she came to the school.”

Ms Jenkins described a day Lyn’s mother came to the Dawson daughters’ school to give the youngest child a birthday present.

“JC dragged the girls away,” she said.

Hedley Thomas' analysis of Chris Dawson sentencing submissions

“They were fed such untruths as that Lyn wasn’t their real mother, only their pretend mother. She left because she didn’t love them.”

Shanelle Dawson said she had been unable to work full time or complete her university studies, despite getting excellent grades.

“I now understand the effect this trauma has had on my life,” she said.

She said she had hesitated to confront her father, even as she gradually realised he had murdered Lynette.

“I knew I would be losing my family, my sister in particular, and I didn’t think that was fair, that I was suffering so much for what you’d done,” she said.

“Every time I saw you, I was thrown into a trauma response and became extremely emotional and dysfunctional for days.

“I didn’t want to be the one to bring the tidal wave to the family.

“I was diagnosed with PTSD and the symptoms include anxiety and depression as well as being in a constant state of fight, flight or freeze.”

Ms Dawson said her young daughter, Kialah, found out about the family’s shocking past when a friend told her the truth.

“I had to explain to my beautiful, innocent daughter why her grandfather killed her grandmother.

“She kept asking ‘why did he do that’, the same question that’s tortured me for many years.

“Why didn’t you just divorce her, let those who loved and needed her keep her? Because of money? For God’s sake. The way you made her invisible, rarely spoke of her and when you did, it was with disdain and disrespect.

“It hurts me deeply to think of you in jail for the rest of your life. But I also refuse to carry your burden. My daughter needs me back.”

Read related topics:Chris Dawson

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/daughter-shanelles-plea-to-chris-dawson-please-tell-us-where-mum-is/news-story/ea62e833c90ab6d56974469e7d962d16