A retired Australian PE teacher who murdered his wife so he could start a new life with one of his teenage students has been found guilty of sexually abusing her.
Chris Dawson was convicted of “carnal knowledge upon a girl above the age of 10 and under the age of 17.”
The charge relates to the student, referred to in court as AB, who he married after murderning his wife Lynette in 1982.
He had employed the child as a babysitter before grooming her into a sexual relationship, marrying her and having a child with her.
The pair later divorced and AB gave evidence against him in both the murder trial and the sex abuse trial.
The student alleged Dawson had sexually abused her in 1980, when she was a 16-year-old pupil in one of his classes at Cromer High School in Sydney.
Dawson, who appeared in court via video link from Sydney, denied that, claiming he began the relationship with AB when she was 17 and no longer his student.
The judge sided with AB, finding that Dawson had groomed the teenager while she was still his pupil.
AB said she began babysitting for Dawson when she was 16, often staying the night at Dawson’s house.
“He asked me to marry him when I was 16, many, many times, I always felt obligated,” AB alleged.
Judge Sarah Huggett said she accepted the evidence that Dawson had proposed to AB at least once in 1980, when AB was 16.
The judge established there was “powerful evidence” within a 17th birthday card sent by Dawson to AB in early 1981, in which “the accused, a mature man, as opposed to an immature teenager, was confident in the existence of a reciprocal and permanent relationship. And that was because a sexual relationship had commenced” in 1980.
Dawson dedicated the card to “the most beautiful girl in the world” and wrote “knowing we will share all the birthdays to follow.”
The body of Dawson’s wife has never been found. He is not eligible for parole as long as the body remains missing.
He will be sentenced on the “carnal knowledge” charge on September 15.
