“Lynette Dawson was treated by her husband as completely dispensable,” the judge said.
Regarding the “undoubtedly intense” avalanche of publicity in the case,Harrison said Dawson’s crime was a matter of “intense public interest and the attention he has received is directly referable to that interest”.
“His major complaint,when properly understood,is that the publicity improperly made assumptions about his guilt at a time when he was entitled to the presumption of innocence,” the judge said.
“As harsh as it may sound to say so,Mr Dawson is now the author of his own misfortune.”
Harrison,who found Dawson guilty in August following a judge-alone trial over May and June,previously concluded on the wholly circumstantial Crown case that Lynette died on or about January 8,1982,and “did not leave her home voluntarily”.
The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions had decided not to prosecute after two inquests into the missing mother of two in the early 2000s before the case was handed to the unsolved homicide squad in 2015.
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.
Investigative journalist Hedley Thomas,forThe Australian,released a podcast that same year about the case calledThe Teacher’s Pet. Thomas gave evidence at trial the series had amassed 60 million downloads internationally.
Dawson has maintained his innocence. In his 1991 police interview,he claimed he dropped Lynette at a bus stop to go shopping on January 9,1982,and instead of meeting him at Northbridge Baths said she had called to say she “needed time away”.
The judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Dawson had a “possessive infatuation” with JC.
Harrison was further satisfied that Dawson had collected JC from her holiday at South West Rocks,450 kilometres north of Sydney,before January 12,1982,and moved her into the family home at Bayview. JC gave evidence at trial the wardrobe had been bursting with clothes.
Dawson and JC married in January 1984 before separating in 1990.
Shanelle Dawson,who was four-and-a-half years’ old when her mother disappeared,locked eyes with her father in court last month asshe begged him to reveal the location of the body.
Dawson will be eligible for parole from 2040 when he is 92.
“Because of your selfish actions,we will never see her again,we will never hear her tell us she loves us,feel her hold us or hear her laugh,” Shanelle said in her victim impact statement.
New “no body,no parole” laws,introduced in NSW following Dawson’s conviction,require an offender to disclose the location of their victim’s remains for a chance of release on parole.
Our Breaking News Alertwillnotify you of significant breaking news when it happens.Get it here.