Chris Dawson's daughter reveals the emotional last texts from her father
Chris Dawson's daughter has revealed the final messages she sent to her dad as the investigation into his wife's murder made mainstream news.
In August 2022, Chris Dawson was found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette in January 1982, and is now serving 24 years for the murder, and a three-year sentence for the unlawful carnal knowledge of a 16-year-old pupil.
Now, Shanelle has opened up about the conflicting feels she holds for her father in an emotional interview with The Australian Women's Weekly.
Shanelle spoke candidly about how her life changed when the investigation into her others murder gained so much traction on the award-winning podcast Teacher's Pet.
“My inner world [was] playing out for the masses. [I] couldn’t pretend anymore,” the mother-of-one told the publication.
In a text to her father, Shanelle told Dawson she loved him, “but I won’t live a life based on lies, nor will I keep subjecting myself to emotional manipulation and control”.
“You have dishonoured our mother so terribly,” her message read.
“One day, I will forgive you for removing her so selfishly from our lives.”
To which Dawson responded, “You’re clearly very lonely and depressed in the life you’ve chosen … It is your adult life, now 41 with a child and without a partner, that has clearly caused this terrible depression.”
That same month, she received what would be his final text to her, reading: “Hi Shanelle, hope you and Kialah are both well. Thinking of you constantly xx.”
She also recalled in the interview her father telling her when she was 13 that he “wished he had tried harder” to make his marriage with Lynette “work”.
It was a throw-away comment that Shanelle said was “possibly” prompted by “the realisation that he’d murdered our mum for no good reason”.
Now, she added, “I honestly believe that he’s got some kind of split personality disorder and he doesn’t remember [killing her]”.
Image credits: 60 Minutes