D-Day to hand in Chris Dawson murder trial

The wait is almost over for Chris Dawson, who will learn this week whether a judge believes beyond reasonable doubt that he murdered his missing first wife, Lynette, 40 years ago.

Lynette Dawson’s family has also been anxiously awaiting the judge’s finding and will each wear something pink to court in her honour.

The wait is almost over for Chris Dawson, who will learn this week whether or not a judge believes beyond reasonable doubt that he murdered his missing first wife, Lynette, 40 years ago.

The stakes could not be higher for the former high school physical education teacher.

At 10am on Tuesday, NSW Supreme Court judge Ian Harrison SC will walk into a Sydney courtroom and convict or acquit the 74-year-old.

If found not guilty, Mr Dawson will walk out of court, flanked by his family and legal team, ­legally free of the murder alle­gation that has dogged him for decades.

If found guilty, he can expect to be taken to Silverwater jail, and faces spending his final years in prison.

Mr Dawson has been counting down the hours to the verdict on bail at his home at Coolum, close to idyllic stretches of white sand and rolling waves that will be a world away from his life in confinement if convicted.

A woman, believed to be a relative, spent the night at his home and said her goodbyes on Sunday morning.

Lyn’s family has also been anxiously awaiting the judge’s finding and will each wear something pink to court in her honour, encouraging supporters to do the same.

As he did throughout the 10-week trial, Mr Dawson will travel to Sydney to appear in court, but this time he will hear Justice Harrison deliver his verdict.

For four decades, Mr Dawson has maintained Lyn abandoned their home on Sydney’s northern beaches, leaving behind all her possessions and her two little girls, then aged four and two.

Chris Dawson at his home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Sunday saying goodbye to a family member. Picture: Matrix

At trial, he was accused of murdering his 33-year-old wife and disposing of her body because he was infatuated with a teenage girl who had been a student, and to avoid a costly ­divorce.

Justice Harrison, who has been deliberating for the past seven weeks following the completion of the trial, will publish a detailed written judgment explaining his decision.

Among those attending will be Willy Hyland, a woman who never met Lyn but has grown to strongly identify with her as one of the millions of listeners of The Australian’s 2018 investigative podcast The Teacher’s Pet.

Ms Hyland, who works in hospitality, lives on a small farm outside Scone, 270km north of Sydney. A mother of two daughters, she has become so consumed by Lyn’s disappearance and the fate of Mr Dawson that she and a girlfriend are taking time off work and driving to Sydney to be in court for the verdict.

“I realise that the pain of the family and of her children, that would not have waned. That would be visceral,” she told the follow-up podcast series The Teacher’s Trial.

“One of the unwritten rules of life in the country is that people show up.

“You show up in a drought. You show up in a crisis. You show up to listen and learn what might be needed by people.

“But you show up just to show your respect.”

Lyn’s remains have never been found.

Two coroners separately recommended in 2001 and 2003 that Mr Dawson be charged with Lyn’s murder, but the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions on both occasions cited insufficient evidence.

The NSW police unsolved homicide team renewed investigations in 2015, and submitted a new brief of evidence to the DPP in April 2018.

The Teacher’s Pet launched the following month, bringing a global spotlight to the case and drawing out new witnesses and evidence.

In December 2018, the DPP told police they could charge Mr Dawson, and he was arrested in Queensland and extradited to NSW to face a charge of murder.

A courtroom has not yet been formally assigned for the verdict.