THE SQUIZ
Chris Dawson – the man found guilty of murdering his wife Lyn Dawson in 1982 – will be sentenced on 2 December. Yesterday, the couple’s eldest daughter Shanelle cried as she gave her victim impact statement… She begged her father, a former rugby league player and school teacher, to tell authorities where her mother’s body is so that the family could lay her to rest. She also accused him of putting her through more than 4 decades of “deceit, silence, trauma and gaslighting” and telling his daughters that Lyn walked out on the family. Reports say Kristen Dawson – the child Chris had with his second wife/former babysitter – wrote to the court in support of her father. 

BACK IT UP JUST A BIT… 
Sure. There’s a whole backstory, but to quickly recap, Lyn’s disappearance from Sydney’s Northern Beaches in January 1982 has been one of Australia’s most high-profile missing person cases, and it surged back into the public consciousness after the true crime podcast The Teacher’s Pet put her case back on the agenda. In December 2018, police charged Dawson with murder after a fresh investigation. In a judge-only trial this year, he was convicted of killing Lyn so he could have a relationship with the family’s 16yo babysitter, known as JC, who was one of his students and whom he later married. Dawson’s lawyers flagged plans to appeal and say that he’s faced “constant threats” in jail and that he’s suffering from a brain injury he sustained during his football career. 

SO HOW LONG WILL HIS SENTENCE BE?
That question will be answered in December, but prosecutor Craig Everson says a life sentence would be appropriate by 1982 and 2022 standards. He added that Dawson’s planning of the murder, continuing concealment of Lyn’s body and lack of remorse are all aggravating factors – meaning the offences had been deliberately and systemically carried out. The case has also prompted ‘Lyn’s law’ in NSW, with the state government passing ‘no body, no parole’ legislation in September that denies murderers any chance of parole unless they disclose the location of their victim’s remains. Yesterday, NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison said he intends to reserve his decision on sentencing for 3 weeks to consider the submissions presented yesterday, including from Shanelle.