Chris Dawson’s student never told police about claims he handed back a topless photo of her, a court has been told.
For the last week-and-a-half, Dawson, 74, has stood trial at the Downing Centre District Court where he has pleaded not guilty to one count of carnal knowledge.
Evidence in the judge-alone trial concluded on Thursday, with the Crown prosecution and defence to deliver closing addresses next week before Judge Sarah Huggett retires to consider her verdict.
The Crown prosecution has alleged Dawson, then a teacher at a high school on Sydney’s northern beaches, engaged in sexual activity with a 16-year-old student in 1980.
It has not been in dispute that Dawson and the girl – who can only be known by the pseudonym AB – engaged in sexual activity while she was a student.
However timing has been the central issue at trial, with Dawson’s barrister Claire Wasley arguing it did not occur until she was in year 12 and 17 years old.
The court heard that AB alleged she first came into contact with Dawson in the playground when she was in year 10.
“Well look, I do recall there was a photograph of me topless someone had taken… on a picnic,” previously AB said in her evidence.
AB told the court last week that the photo was going “around the school” and Dawson “got his hands on it.”
“Here you go, I just found this,” AB said that Dawson told her as he handed it back.
According to AB, that event pre-dated him teaching her in Year 11 the following year.
Ms Wasley has questioned her version of events and cross examined AB on why she had not mentioned the alleged incident in her statements to police and the Department of Education.
Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft, the officer who headed up the investigation under Strike Force Southwood, on Thursday told the court that AB had not made the allegation to her.
“The complainant never mentioned that to me. I can’t say she didn’t mention it to any other officers,” Sergeant Beacroft said.
She also agreed the allegation did not appear in her statements taken in 2018 and 2019.
During her evidence, AB told the court that she first engaged in sexual activity with Dawson at his parents’ home in Maroubra in about August or September 1980.
AB has told the court that she also engaged in sexual activities with Dawson in the back seat of his car, in his school office and in a pool while his twin brother was up the other end.
The matter will return to court next week before Judge Huggett hands down her decision at a future date, which is yet to be decided.
Dawson was last year jailed for 24 years for the murder of his wife Lynette Simms.
He has maintained his innocence and flagged an intention to appeal.