A veteran Sydney magistrate has warned that some of the widespread reporting of Chris Dawson's murder charge may undermine public confidence in ensuring he gets a fair hearing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"Someone would have to be living in a cave or be naive in the extreme to perhaps ignore the potential for unfairness to a person who receives this level of media scrutiny so broadly and over this period of time," deputy chief magistrate Michael Allen said on Thursday.
The 71-year-old appeared in Downing Centre Local Court after being charged in December with murdering his wife, Lynette Dawson, who disappeared in 1982.
He denied the allegation in June before he was charged with having carnal knowledge of a girl aged between 10 and 17 when he was a Sydney teacher decades ago at a northern beaches high school.
The case had been the subject of a podcast - The Teacher's Pet - by Australian newspaper journalist Hedley Thomas.
The magistrate on Thursday was told the podcast was no longer available in Australia but could be accessed on Facebook and YouTube overseas.
"I have been involved in the criminal law for 35 years," Mr Allen said before describing the case as "highly unusual".
"It received very broad and intense media scrutiny for many, many years before the charges were brought.
"If there are media organisations or individuals, both here or abroad, who continue to chip away at the community's confidence in the administration of justice, we will all end up in a very dark place."
The law was there to ensure guilty people were punished and innocent people set free, as well as to ensure even guilty people received a fair and transparent trial, the magistrate said.
Dawson's solicitor, Greg Walsh, said his client was repeatedly referred to as a "murderer", while prosecutor Craig Everson noted the problems with access to the podcast via YouTube in the United States.
Barrister Dauid Sibtain, acting for Thomas and the Australian, said he wished to correct a previous comment by Mr Walsh who alleged a psychic medium had taken a very active role with the journalist in interviewing witnesses.
"My instructions are it is completely wrong to say a clairvoyant had any role," he said.
A committal hearing, with five confirmed witnesses and six still in dispute, was set down for February 10.
The case will return to court on September 19 when Dawson - who lives in Queensland - is excused from attending.
Australian Associated Press
