Teacher's Pet case: 'Tell us where mum is', Chris Dawson's daughter begs
- Published
Chris Dawson, left, pictured outside court in 2020
The daughter of an Australian woman whose murder was the subject of a popular podcast has begged her father to reveal the location of the body.
The family of Chris Dawson addressed him in court on Thursday as part of his sentencing hearing.
It comes weeks after Dawson was found guilty of murdering his wife so he could be with their teenage babysitter.
He was charged in 2018 after the Teacher's Pet podcast gained global fame, prompting a fresh investigation.
"Please tell us where she is," daughter Shanelle Dawson said, addressing her father directly in court.
Ms Dawson was just four when her mother, Lynette Dawson, disappeared from the family's Sydney home in January 1982.
Police have never found any trace of the 33-year-old.
Fiercely staring at her 74-year-old father in court, Ms Dawson said there were not enough words in the English language to describe the impact of his crime.
Told her mother had left because "she didn't love us anymore", Ms Dawson through tears said she has struggled with abandonment issues, post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression.
"The night you removed our mother from our lives was the night you destroyed my sense of safety and belonging in this world for many decades to come," she said.
"Why didn't you just divorce her, let those who love and needed her keep her?"
Lynette's siblings also detailed their struggle to come to terms with her death.
In a statement, Greg Simms told how his family had accepted Dawson into the fold unconditionally.
"We trusted you. You repaid us by committing the ultimate betrayal," he said.
"It was a brazen act of conniving monster, hell bent on one thing - getting what you wanted at any cost."
Lynette's sister, Pat Jenkins, in a statement read to the court, detailed how the absence of a body had for years cruelly kept her clinging on to a "modicum of hope".
Dawson kept his head bowed for much of the hearing, as Lynette's family pleaded with him to disclose where her body is.
"We ask you to do the decent thing… allow us to bring her home to a peaceful rest, finally giving her the dignity she deserves," Mr Simms said.
Dawson denies killing Lynette, maintaining she abandoned him and their two children - possibly to join a religious group.
Two separate inquiries into Mrs Dawson's disappearance concluded that she was killed by a "known person", but until the podcast explored the case, prosecutors had said there was not enough evidence to lay charges.
While handing down his verdict in August, Justice Ian Harrison said the evidence against Dawson was "persuasive and compelling".
Dawson has flagged an intention to appeal the verdict, but will be sentenced on 2 December.
- Published31 August 2022
- Published30 August 2022
