Former rugby league star Chris Dawson’s murder trial has been delayed until 2021 due to the media and public debate over his ex-wife’s disappearance almost 40 years ago.
Mr Dawson, 72, this month had an application to permanently stay his trial for the alleged murder of Lynette Dawson rejected in the Supreme Court, and is set to face a jury over the allegations mid next year.
Ms Dawson, a doting mother of two, was 33 when she went missing from the family’s Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches 38 years ago.
Her former husband, an ex-Newtown Jets player and high school teacher has pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence over the decades.
Police charged Mr Dawson in December 2018 following the publication of a popular podcast, which cannot be named for legal reasons, which investigated Ms Dawson’s mysterious disappearance in January 1982.
This month Justice Elizabeth Fullerton ruled he should face a jury over the historic allegations, despite describing the media’s influence on the case as “the most egregious example of media interference with a criminal trial process” she had ever considered.
Justice Fullerton warned that “overzealous” journalists investigating so-called cold case crimes via the new medium of podcasts needed to better reflect the longstanding rules of the justice system.
She said the resulting public debate surrounding Mr Dawson “highlights the need for both the journalist and the broadcaster to apply restraint if that new medium is to coexist with the fundamental right of a person accused of a serious crime to be tried in a court of law, not in a court of public opinion”.
Justice Fullerton acknowledged the role of the media in exposing criminality, but said it was fundamental that those accused of serious crimes should be tried “in a court of law, not in a court of public opinion”.
“All arms of the media must accept and acknowledge the fundamental principles of criminal justice which it is the responsibility of the courts to uphold in the public interest,” she said.
Mr Dawson will not face trial until at least June 1, 2021.
https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2020-09-25 13:13:41Z
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