Asked about his association withnotorious criminal Neddy Smith,Silkman said that in 1975 they did not have an association,and he only said hello at a hotel when his friend Paul Hayward “had to see him[Smith] a couple of times”. He said in the years before 1975,he “didn’t even know” Smith.
Under cross-examination from defence barrister Pauline David,who tendered Silkman’s criminal history,the former Jets player agreed he had several convictions including for stealing 5000 bricks and maliciously damaging a property by fire,having set a building alight because the owner owed him money.
Asked whether the plane conversation with Dawson was a “complete lie” that he had made up,Silkman replied,“That’s not correct.”
He agreed that if anyone kneeled or bent over in the plane aisle,“people would see them doing it”,and said “if people had to get around him ... of course they’d have to say excuse me or whatever”.
He agreed that there was some “fairly serious heavy drinking over the weekend” but said he would not have been drinking with the Dawson twins because they “weren’t big drinkers”.
Asked by David whether he drank on the return flight,as a “continuation of a big Gold Coast party”,Silkman said:“No,I didn’t drink on the plane. I had a phobia of planes;still got it today.”
After tendering an excerpt from the club’s 1975 social report,David put to Silkman that the venue was in Coolangatta,“some 24 kilometres away from Surfers Paradise”.
“I agree that it says it here,but that wasn’t the case. The venue was Tiki Village,Surfers Paradise,” Silkman said,adding that fellow former players could verify that. He said they flew into Coolangatta.
He denied David’s suggestions that he has a “very loose relationship with the truth”,is a dishonest person,and has “a history of telling serious lies”,but he admitted to lying in the past,including to judicial officers.
Loading
David asked:“If you see a dollar in it,you will tell a lie?”
“That’s not correct,” Silkman said.
He said he had not listened toThe Australian’sThe Teacher’s Pet podcast on the case and came to know via the radio and in the media about Lynette Dawson’s disappearance and allegations about what happened.
Silkman first made a statement to police in November 2018.
“No one ever asked me to come forward,” he said.
He denied any knowledge of a $200,000 reward for information and having seized an opportunity.
“If there is a reward,it can be donated to violence against women,” Silkman said.
The Crown alleges Dawson’s motivation was a desire to have an unfettered relationship with the babysitter known as JC.
Dawson claims Lynettecalled him on January 9,1982,to say she “needed time away”.
Loading
He has disputed allegations made by JCthat he had considered using a hitman to kill Lynette in late 1981.
David put to Silkman that his “version of events fits neatly” into the hitman story.
“I’m only here to tell the truth about the conversation I had with him[Dawson],” he said. “I don’t know how that fits,but if it fits in the puzzle ... so be it.”
The judge-alone trial before Justice Ian Harrison continues.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interestingstories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.