Wife killer Chris Dawson allegedly told schoolgirl ‘she did really well’ when they first had sex

Convicted female killer Chris Dawson will soon learn whether a judge found him guilty of having sex with an underage schoolgirl when she was sixteen years old and in his care.

The killer’s trial on one charge of carnal knowledge is set to conclude next week, with Crown Prosecutor Emma Blizard and his counsel, Claire Wasley, set to summarize their cases next Tuesday.

It will then be up to Judge Sarah Huggett to decide Dawson’s fate, which could see him face an additional 14 years in prison.

It is less than a year since he was convicted of the 1982 murder of his wife Lynette, for which he is serving a maximum sentence of 24 years, with no possibility of parole until 2040.

Dawson will be 92 years old by then, but his lawyers have suggested ill health will likely cause him to die in prison if his planned appeal against the murder conviction fails.

Dawson, who is about to turn 75 in prison, denies a charge that between July and December 1980 he engaged in sexual activity with the woman identified as “AB.”

At the time, AB was 16 years old and a Year 11 pupil at the school where Dawson, a former Newtown Jets rugby league player, worked on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The evidence in the judge-only trial at Downing Center District Court was completed on Thursday.

The woman, now in her late 50s, told the court she began a sexual relationship with Dawson in August or September 1980, when she was a 16-year-old student in his physical education class.

Dawson accepts they had a sexual relationship, but says it didn’t begin until 1981, when the alleged victim was 17 years old.

AB said as proof that the couple’s first sexual activity took place in the second half of 1980 at the Maroubra home of Dawson’s parents, who were away at their vacation home.

She said he then asked if she was ok and told her ‘it was a good start’ and ‘you did really well’.

She was also “told to keep it a secret” and that the sex continued with Dawson, in the backseat of his car, in his school office and in a swimming pool, while his brother sat on the other side with another girl.

AB testified that Dawson had initially been a “counsellor” of sorts after she confided in him about her tumultuous home life with an abusive stepfather and alcoholic mother.

AB and other students drank with teachers at the local Time and Tide Hotel, where Dawson, a teetotaler, drank only Coca Cola while he reportedly attended to her.

“He used to sit there and tell me about himself, how great he was,” AB said.

“It was part of the grooming process… to get me to trust him. What I did.’

She told the court that Dawson had first made an “improper” move against her during a driving lesson, the timing of which was crucial to the evidence, because AB was not eligible for her learner’s license until November 1980.

According to the indictment, Dawson is accused of sexual activity with the teen between July 1 and December 12, 1980.

In her evidence, she later said the “improper” act may have been when they spent time in the car.

She added that he often drove her to sports lessons and other places, and it may not have been a driving lesson.

“It happened in his car in 1980, when we spent time in the car,” AB said.

She added, “He had ample opportunity to do that.”

AB told Dawson’s attorney, Claire Wasley, that it was possible the driving lesson took place before she had her learner’s permit.

“I suggest you just made that up on the witness stand,” Mrs. Wasley said.

‘No, I’m not making these things up. This happened to me. I’m so tired of this, that I have to justify everything I say,’ AB said, crying.

“I know it’s your job, but this is my life… I want you to believe what I say.”

The lawsuit heard from a man who was a 16-year-old trolley boy at a Northern Beaches Coles supermarket in 1980, alleging that Dawson threatened him and told him to stay away from AB.

He said AB had already beaten back his advances and then, during a Saturday morning shift while collecting carts in the grocery store parking lot, he was confronted by a man he identified as Chris Dawson.

The man said he was coached in rugby union by Dawson’s twin brother Paul and it took him a while to realize who he is.

“A man I now know as Mr. Dawson came out of a car, out of the shadows, there was light pouring in, there are slits in the wall that let in the sunlight,” he said.

“He said ‘hey you’ or words to that effect,” the man said, adding that Dawson had driven him into a concrete ramp.

“He pushed against my chest, not really aggressively, more in a menacing way, you could say,” the man told the court.

“Then he pushed my back against that wall, around my chest or lower neck, he wasn’t strangling me or anything like that, he was pushing and holding me.

‘He was a very big man. Both Dawson brothers looked like Chesty Bonds, that’s how we described them when, very muscular, blond, played for Newtown. So I knew them from football.

“And it took me a while to figure out who it was because I’d never met him before.”

The man told the court that Dawson had said words to the effect of, “Stay away from her, don’t go near her.”

“I was completely perplexed about what was going on and probably quite scared,” the man said.

‘I said, ‘Who?’ He said, “(AB)” … And suddenly the pieces fell together.”

He said he was “high-tailed” on the driveway back to the store and that was the only time he interacted with Dawson.

He told the court that the event took place in 1980 and could place the date as he did not have a learner’s permit or car at the time.

Under cross-examination by Ms Wasley, the man denied suggestions that he had not been threatened by Chris Dawson.

“What I would suggest is that Mr. Dawson did not touch you or threaten you in any way,” Ms Wasley said.

“Disagree,” said the man.

After closing submissions next Tuesday, Judge Huggett is expected to deliver her verdict at a later date.