Chris Dawson Appears In Court, Has Bail Conditions Altered

Chris Dawson has appeared in Downing Centre Local Court today, with some amendments to his bail conditions approved by the court.  

Wearing a navy suit and sitting next to his brother Peter, Chris Dawson appeared composed as proceedings got underway.

Mr Dawson was arrested and charged with the murder of his former wife Lynette in December last year, following her disappearance in 1982.

There were originally nine bail conditions outlined in preliminary proceedings last year, with Magistrate M Greenwood allowing three amendments.

The first regarded Mr Dawson’s ability to travel near international points of departure. It was noted at earlier proceedings that Mr Dawson was to surrender his passport due to the potential of him being a flight risk, and the close resemblance he had to his twin brother, Paul.

An amendment was made to allow Mr Dawson to drive past Maroochydore airport – which is an international airport – as this was necessary for Mr Dawson to check in at Maroochydore Police Station in compliance with his bail conditions.

Another point was revised to allow Mr Dawson to travel to Sydney to meet with his legal team and appear in court.

The Magistrate allowed for an amendment to reflect this change, in which Mr Dawson would provide 48 hours’ notice of interstate travel for court reasons.

Finally, Mr Dawson was originally to remain within a 20km radius of his residential home in Queensland.

This was extended to 25km.

After submissions from both sides, it was noted by the Magistrate that the “voluminous nature of the material” that was to be submitted for the murder case would mean that an extension of time would be necessary to prepare all of the paperwork.

The matter will be before the courts again in May.