Former teacher and convicted wife-killer Christopher Dawson has received a three-year sentence for having unlawful sexual activity with one of his students four decades ago.
The now 75-year-old groomed his victim and took advantage of her vulnerability due to troubles in her home life, Sydney judge Sarah Huggett found on Friday.
The judge sentenced Dawson to three years in jail commencing in August 2039 with a non-parole period of two years.
The sentence, however, will be subsumed by the 24-year jail period imposed on Dawson for murdering his wife, Lynette Dawson, with the only practical effect being he will now be eligible for parole one year later in August 2041.
Dawson was sentenced on Friday at Sydney’s Downing Centre district court after being found guilty of carnal knowledge as a teacher of a girl over 10 and under 17. He plans to appeal against the June verdict.
Ahead of the sentencing, crown prosecutor Emma Blizard said the teacher’s offending was not a one-off but rather a course of conduct that led to his student being groomed over an extended period.
She told Huggett that Dawson had exploited the victim’s vulnerability.
Dawson appeared by video link from Long Bay prison wearing prison greens and waved to his lawyer.
Blizard said the offence was in the middle range of objective seriousness, pointing to the age difference between the teacher and his victim as well as his breach of the trust she would have had in him.
Dawson’s lawyer Claire Wasley argued that the objective seriousness was lower because the victim was 16 years old and towards the maximum age of 17 set down by law for the offence.
The 75-year-old was last year found guilty of murdering Lynette and disposing of her body in January 1982.
While he was still married and living with Lynette, he groomed the girl and ultimately engaged in sexual activity with her before the end of the school year in December 1980.
He pleaded not guilty at his trial, although he did not dispute the pair had a sexual relationship.
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Dawson’s public defence lawyer instead argued the sexual activity began when the student was no longer in the teacher’s class.
The student said they first engaged in sexual activity at the Maroubra home of Dawson’s parents, who were out of town.
Former students at the same Sydney northern beaches school described seeing her sitting in Dawson’s lap and him standing between her legs on school grounds and in his office.
Friday’s sentence is unlikely to affect how long the 75-year-old spends in jail.
Lynette Dawson’s body has not been found after her disappearance in 1982. Laws prevent his parole before he discloses the location of her body.