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Chris Dawson (right) arrives at court on Tuesday with his brother Peter Dawson.Credit:Kate Geraghty

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.

Chris and Lynette Dawson at their wedding in 1970.

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.

Asked by detectives whether he found it strange that “in all that time she has never ever contacted anybody ... apart from yourself”,Dawson replied,“extremely strange”.

“I find it extremely hard to accept as well,” Dawson said.

“I guess that perhaps she had a nervous breakdown or that she was,she was an intelligent lady,so I couldn’t see her being brainwashed by any sect or anything but,um,so I’m at a loss to explain why she hasn’t contacted her family.”

The Crownopened its case on May 9,followed bythe defence on May 16,with a six-week trial estimate. The Crown expects to close its case next week.

Dawson’s older brother,Peter Dawson,completed his evidence on Monday afternoon.

The court is yet to hear evidence from Elva McBay,recorded during committal proceedings in the Local Court in 2020. Everson told the court last week that McBay was now deceased.

McBay claimed to have seen Lynette alive on Macquarie Street in the city during a royal visit in March 1983.

The other alleged sightings,which the Crown is setting out to disprove,were on the Central Coast,Gladesville and the former Rockcastle Hospital at Curl Curl.

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