The court was told on Tuesday morning that Crown prosecutor Craig Everson,SC,had returned a positive COVID-19 result on Monday night. The Crown applied for a one-week adjournment,unopposed by the defence. Justice Ian Harrison adjourned the judge-alone trial to Tuesday,June 7.
Dawson,a former Newtown Jets rugby league player and high school teacher,was extradited from Queensland in December 2018 and charged with his first wife’s murder.
The Crown alleges that Dawson killed Lynette on or about January 8,1982,and disposed of her body,possibly with assistance,motivated by his desire to have an unfettered relationship with his former student and babysitter,known as JC.
Dawson and JC married in 1984 and separated in 1990.
Dawson claims he dropped Lynette off at a bus stop in Mona Vale on January 9,1982,and instead of meeting him as arranged at Northbridge Baths,she called to say that she “needed time away”.
In an hour-long police interview from 1991,played to the court on Monday,Dawson estimated he had received four calls from Lynette after she left.