Justice Ian Harrison is set to conclude a four-decade-long wait for Lynette’s family on Friday, handing down his sentence on the convicted wife-killer in the NSW Supreme Court.
The decision comes more than 13 weeks after the judge found the 74-year-old guilty of murder and three weeks after his brother-in-law called him a “conniving monster” during a sentence hearing.
Dawson was found guilty of murdering his wife in January 1982 to have an unfettered relationship with a high school student who was also his babysitter, known as JC.
During the sentence hearing, crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC said Dawson had planned a “deliberate and conscious act” of domestic violence with an intention to kill.
He said a crime of “very great heinousness” required a term of life imprisonment.
Dawson’s lawyer Greg Walsh disputed claims the crime was at the high end in terms of objective seriousness.
Walsh said the former Newtown Jets rugby league player had already suffered under the “most constant and egregious publicity” for four decades.
His health was also deteriorating, the court heard, with Dawson showing signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain condition often experienced by those who play contact sports.
Dawson has filed an appeal of his conviction.
