Judge: Teen babysitter ‘significantly corroborated’ in evidence against Chris Dawson

Judges hearing Chris Dawson’s appeal have indicated support for damning evidence given by the ex-football star’s teenage babysitter-turned-wife, and criticised his lawyer’s suggestion that she may have lied due to animosity.

Chris Dawson and JC on their wedding day.

Judges hearing Chris Dawson’s appeal for the murder conviction of his wife, Lyn Simms, have indicated support for damning evidence given by the ex-football star’s teenage babysitter, saying she has been “very, very significantly corroborated”, and criticised his lawyer’s suggestion that she may have lied due to animosity against Dawson.

The NSW Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday heard Lyn became an “impediment” to Dawson’s “unfettered access” to the babysitter, JC, with whom he was having an affair and would later take as his second wife.

The hearings concluded on Wednesday, with his counsel, ­Belinda Rigg SC, arguing there were “significant credit issues” with JC, despite judge Ian Harrison’s findings in Dawson’s criminal trial that she was “truthful and reliable”.

Ms Rigg claimed JC may have been corrupted by her separation and divorce from Dawson. She also suggested the ­“extremity” of JC’s allegation that Dawson told her he had planned to get a hitman to kill Lyn – an ­allegation Justice Harrison rejected – indicated she was not honest or reliable.

But judge Christine Adamson took issue with Ms Rigg’s submission and said JC’s evidence was independently corroborated.

“She was very, very significantly corroborated on pretty much everything that mattered, except the hitman,” Justice ­Adamson said.

“This idea that a woman going through Family Court proceedings against a man is going to have such animus that she’s going to make all of this up is one thing.

“But when practically everything she said has been strongly corroborated by witnesses who weren’t challenged in cross examination, why would we not accept the evidence of JC?”

Chris Dawson in 2018.

Lyn disappeared on January 8, 1982, leaving two daughters and her husband. Her body has never been found.

Dawson was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2022, following extensive reporting by The Australian’s award-winning podcast The Teacher’s Pet, led by journalist Hedley Thomas. The Teacher’s Pet for the first time aired allegations that ­Dawson had murdered his wife to pursue a relationship with JC, who would, after Lyn’s ­disappearance, move into their home, wear Lyn’s clothes, and be given a ring made from Lyn’s ­diamonds.

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield on Wednesday walked the judges through evidence given by Dawson’s twin brother, Paul, during the criminal trial, in which he claimed JC was “just the ­occasional babysitter”.

Paul Dawson was asked about JC’s living arrangements at the end of 1981. At the time, JC had spent time living with both Paul and Chris Dawson. “She had been doing some babysitting for Chris and Lyn, I know that … she was just the ­occasional babysitter as far as I know,” Paul said, under cross-examination in 2022.

Paul and Chris Dawson.

He was also asked about his views on Dawson and Lyn’s marriage as of the end of 1981.

“Chris was being very positive towards (the marriage),” Paul said. “When I spoke to Lyn on Christmas Day, she was very positive about it. They were both looking forward to the future.”

As Mr Hatfield recalled this evidence, judge Anthony Payne interjected. “The brother’s evidence, on its face, appears to provide significant support for the way the crown was putting its case,” ­Justice Payne said. “If the twin brother doesn’t know that he’s having a sexual ­relationship … it appears to provide support to the idea that Mrs Dawson (Lyn) was an impediment to the … unfettered access … to JC.”

Justice Adamson said this ­evidence needed to be seen in “the context” of evidence from Paul’s wife, Marilyn, who claimed that Dawson and JC slept in her and Paul’s bed on Christmas Day, 1981.

Judge Julie Ward questioned the “odd behaviour” of Dawson when refusing to look at a portrait of his two daughters that Lyn had commissioned from a local artist. The court heard Lyn had requested the portrait from Kristin Hardiman in November 1981, who called the Dawson household the following January to say it was finished.

The call was answered by a man who identified himself as Lyn’s husband Chris, Ms Hardiman said during Dawson’s criminal trial. “Chris Dawson said ‘she’s gone away and doesn’t want them anymore’,” she said. “I remember it very clearly because it’s the very first commission I had that didn’t go through. I remember getting off the phone thinking it was very, very strange.”

Mr Hatfield said this showed Dawson’s “complete lack of sentiment towards his own children”.

Justice Ward seemingly agreed. “It seems to me to be odd that he knows she doesn’t want (the painting) anymore,” she said. “This is at a stage when he’s ­telling people he thinks she’s coming back.”

Judgment has been reserved.