The third victim impact statement read at Chris Dawson’s sentencing hearing last month was from Lynette’s only sister, Pat Jenkins.
He discovered that Lynette was missing from a letter from his mother, which he said he had “delayed writing for more than a week in the hope that he might give me the good news” he had heard from the young 33 years old
Lynette Dawson’s older sister Patricia Jenkins in 2003. Credit: Sean Davey
“I was in shock and traumatized to hear the news of Lyn’s passing and it brings me to tears now to remember that time,” Jenkins said in the statement, read by a support person.
“I was confused, alarmed, distressed and in a deep dark void not knowing what had happened to my sister. There was no news. It was [as] if this beloved person had inexplicably fallen off the face of the earth.”
She did not physically attend the court proceedings and testified at the trial via video link.
Jenkins said she had been in a “total panic” for her sister’s welfare and six weeks after her disappearance, the weather had turned cold and wet.
“I was upset, in tears, because she wouldn’t have had warm clothes or a raincoat.”
He said that because there was no body, “beyond reason” they had “held out some hope”.
Jenkins said the loss hung over her like a “black cloud” as she tried to live a normal life and raise her own children.
“How do you describe the impact of 40+ years of living without your sister?”
She said she knew her sister as a calm, confident, vibrant, caring, funny and intelligent person.
“The ripple effect of this man’s selfish actions [Dawson] that he had to have what he wanted at all costs without caring about anyone but himself, it was incredible.