Student's testimony enough to back Dawson sex verdict

Evidence by Chris Dawson's former student he sexually abused her soon before killing his wife was inconsistent but not enough for a not-guilty verdict, a court has found.

The 76-year-old lost his challenge to a carnal knowledge conviction relating to sexual activity with the student - known as AB - in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday.

It is his second legal loss after he failed to overturn a separate conviction over the murder of his wife Lynette in January 1982.

The former teacher has been sentenced to a maximum of 24 years for both crimes.

Justices Kristina Stern and Sarah McNaughton - who oversaw an appeal hearing in March - ruled to dismiss Dawson's legal challenge on Friday.

At that hearing, Dawson's lawyers attempted to cast doubt on the student's claims she had been sexually abused before her 17th birthday.

A person can only be convicted under the carnal knowledge offence - which was in place in 1982 - if the complainant is between 16 and 17 years old.

His lawyers argued the former student's evidence about the timing of her first kiss showed the sexual activity took place after she turned 17.

In convicting Dawson in June 2023, District Court Judge Sarah Huggett took into account all of AB's testimony, including inconsistencies, but still found the offence proven beyond reasonable doubt.

This was because she rightly took into account all of the evidence, including that Dawson had called the girl "beautiful" when she was in Year 11, telling her he was in love with her and wanted to marry her.

She was also seen sitting on his lap in his school office during that year, and was seen twice standing between his legs as he sat on a desk in his office and later on a car-park fence outside the school.

A 17th birthday card called her "The most beautiful girl in the world".

"Knowing we will share all the birthdays to follow. All my love forever," he wrote.

Given this evidence, any inconsistencies in the student's testimony did not shed doubt on her truthfulness or accuracy, Judge Huggett found.

Justice Stern and McNaughton found this was the correct approach.

"It was plain that her Honour had considered all of this evidence," Justice Stern wrote in reasons backed by her colleague.

"I am entirely satisfied that her Honour had regard to all of that evidence when reaching her ultimate conclusion as to (Dawson's) guilt."

Dawson's claims the verdict was unreasonable were rejected for similar reasons.

In his dissenting judgment, Justice Peter Hamill wrote he would have allowed the appeal and quashed the conviction.

He said Judge Huggett had properly examined the evidence as a whole but found the verdict of guilty was unreasonable in the circumstances.

He said Dawson's "reprehensible conduct" was not in dispute.

"As a teacher at her school and as her employer in the context of the complainant babysitting for his family, (Dawson) nurtured an adulterous affair with the complainant, grooming her in the latter years of high school, and ultimately had a sexual relationship with her," he wrote.

The teen started sleeping with Dawson and eventually moved into his home soon after Lynette was murdered and he disposed of her body, the NSW Supreme Court found when he was convicted over the killing in 2022.

While the former student was honest in her evidence, she had difficulty in remembering things that happened four decades ago, Justice Hamill wrote.

"The complainant's own evidence ... did not withstand scrutiny in certain respects and (was) contradicted, or called into question, by other evidence in the case," he said.

Chris Dawson did not attend Friday's judgment but his lawyer brother Peter watched by audiovisual link.

The carnal knowledge sentence adds one year to his non-parole period which expires in 2040.

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