Exactly when convicted wife-killer Chris Dawson first had alleged sexual activity with a teenager at the school he taught at is set to be decided as his trial concludes.
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Dawson was jailed in 2022 for murdering his wife Lynette Dawson in January 1982, with a judge finding he was motivated by the pursuit of an unfettered relationship with a student.
Lawyers presented closing submissions in the NSW District Court on Tuesday in Dawson's trial over sexual activity alleged to have taken place in 1980 with his student, known throughout the trial as AB, who cannot be identified.
Dawson's public defender Claire Wasley argues any activity began after AB was no longer Dawson's student.
He denies one count of carnal knowledge as a teacher of a girl aged between 10 and 17. The historical charge was replaced in 1986.
Students at the Sydney northern beaches school, who also cannot be named, described seeing AB sitting in Dawson's lap and him standing in between her legs on school grounds and in his office.
A friend described AB disappearing from their social circle in the latter half of 1980, when AB said she was babysitting Dawson's children practically every Saturday and allegedly having sex in his car on Friday nights.
Messages on cards given to AB and the words "a pleasure to teach" appearing on her November 1980 school report powerfully supported her evidence the alleged sexual activity began that year, crown prosecutor Emma Blizard said on Tuesday.
Dawson also allegedly threatened a boy AB worked with, telling him to stay away from her after he asked her out.
He told the court that happened sometime before he got his provisional driver's licence in September 1980.
He also conceded he may have asked AB out repeatedly, and Ms Wasley said Dawson's actions could be characterised as protective, being aware of personal issues AB had been confiding in him.
Ms Wasley said prosecutors rely mainly on the evidence of AB, who is mistaken about when certain events occurred.
"It is not submitted that their sexual relationship was appropriate, just that it did not commence while she was in his class," Ms Wasley said on Tuesday.
She urged Judge Sarah Huggett to doubt AB's evidence, pointing out differing statements given to police and the NSW education department about the timing of some alleged events.
The "vast majority" of those were given to police investigating and focused on the disappearance of Lynette Dawson, Ms Blizard said.
"The human mind is not a computer that remembers every detail perfectly, particularly so when the details themselves are not memorable," she said.
It was "hardly uncommon" for someone to have given differing statements over decades, she said.
Ms Wasley acknowledged the Crown's submission some evidence emerging at trial may have been previously overlooked.
"It's also something that's very easy to make up," Ms Wasley said, referring to the alleged double entendre of "a pleasure to teach" while casting doubt on AB's claim she first met Dawson when he confiscated and returned a topless photo of her circulating at the school in 1979.
Dawson has also been at a forensic disadvantage, Ms Wasley said.
Several people are no longer alive to give evidence, including his parents, who were out of town when Dawson allegedly engaged in sexual activity with AB for the first time at their home in Sydney's southern suburbs.
The passage of time also meant some documents were unavailable, such as attendance records which could show when students no longer attended class in 1980, Ms Wasley said.
More than four decades has passed since Dawson's alleged sexual activity with his student but any claim he has been disadvantaged by the delay is speculative, Ms Blizard said.
Judge Huggett will deliver judgment on June 28.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Australian Associated Press
