Notorious wife-killer Chris Dawson is seeking to overturn his conviction for sexual activity with one of his teenage students after a bid to appeal his murder verdict failed.
The 76-year-old was convicted at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court in June 2023 of a historical charge of carnal knowledge as a teacher of a girl over 10 and under 17.
His total sentence for the charge was mostly subsumed into his full 24-year sentence for murdering his wife Lynette Dawson in January 1982, merely adding one year to his non-parole period.
His first possible release date will be in August 2041, when he will be 93.
Dawson’s carnal knowledge challenge came briefly before the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Dec. 5, when a two-hour hearing was scheduled for late March.
The teen student, who cannot be legally named, was Dawson’s motivation for murdering his wife and disposing of her body as he had become infatuated with the girl, the NSW Supreme Court found in August 2022 after a judge-alone murder trial.
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His appeal of this murder conviction was thrown out in June.
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