A former student at the high school where convicted killer Chris Dawson taught has told a court of the moment she saw her schoolmate sitting on his lap.
Dawson, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for murdering his first wife Lynette Simms, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of carnal knowledge of a girl more than 10-years-old, and under 17 years of age.
The complainant, known by the pseudonym AB, claimed the two began engaging in sexual activity in the latter half of 1980, when she was his physical education student at a northern beaches high school in Sydney.
She said she was 16 years old at the time.
On Wednesday, a friend and former schoolmate of the complainant, who also cannot be identified, told the court that over the course of the 1980 school year, AB began spending more time alone with Dawson.
"[AB] started going missing from our lunchtime group ... we would see her go into Mr Dawson's office which was 8 metres away [from where we sat] and we knew she was in there for the whole of recess and the whole of lunch," she said.
"Later in [1980] it was every recess and every lunch.
"Once I opened the door and I actually saw her in there, sitting on his lap."
She said Dawson once become "very angry" at her and her schoolmates for approaching the closed door to his office.
The witness told the court AB was a private person, but as a 16-year-old had confided to her that Dawson "loved her" and was going to look after her.
"She told me Mr Dawson was trying to help her and help her situation," she said, referring to AB's difficult home life, which included an abusive and alcoholic stepfather.
"[She said] he was being kind to her. He was listening to her. He was giving her guidance, and this is why she needed to be in his office."
The witness said Dawson had wanted to absorb all of her friend's time, and that by the end of 1980 she and her friends were not seeing AB at any social gatherings.
Under cross examination, defence lawyer Claire Wasley suggested to the witness that if she had observed AB sitting on Dawson's lap, it could have been in the following school year.
"If that is something you observed ... you couldn't be sure that wasn't in [1981]," she said.
The suggestion was strongly refuted.
"It was definitely [1980],"" the witness said.
"And once I saw that, I thought 'there's more to that than what she's telling me'."
Dawson has not denied he had a relationship with AB, but has disputed the timing of when the alleged sexual activity occurred.
The trial, which is set down for two weeks, will resume before Judge Sarah Huggett tomorrow.
