Thursday 16 June 2022 08:58 AM Who is the shady figure with gangster links who became star witness in Chris ... trends now
A self-confessed arsonist, thief and a liar, Robert Silkman has emerged as the star witness in the Chris Dawson murder trial.
But who is the shadowy figure with the bombshell testimony?
Silkman, a former Newtown Jets' teammate of Dawson, has rocked the Supreme Court with an explosive claim the accused asked him to find a hitman to kill his wife Lynette on a footy trip in 1975.
But the mysterious man in black - who appeared via videolink - is also a convicted arsonist with underworld links, who was grilled for hours about his chequered past and reliability as a witness.
In bizarre, sometimes almost comical exchanges with Dawson's barrister Pauline David, Mr Silkman agreed he'd lied to police and authorities to stay out of jaill....but maintained he was telling the truth about Chris Dawson.
Convicted arsonist and thief Robert Silkman (above at Bansktown police station) gave bombshell evidence about a request by Chris Dawson in 1975 for a hitman to kill his wife Lynette, six years before police allege she was actually murdered
Asked by Ms David if he had been 'lying since you were a young adult', Mr Silkman said 'I have lied, that's correct'.
But Silkman told the court he was not lying bout about Dawson's shocking question on a flight back from a team footy holiday.
He also said he didn't approve of Dawson's romance with schoolgirl babysitter JC, because 'I have daughters'.
'If my daughter is 15 and one 26-year-old bloke is wanting to groom her and get her in the bedroom ... I do know what he’s done to young girls,' Mr Silkman said
Silkman was an acquaintance of notorious Sydney gangster Neddy Smith, who he met while playing football with Smith's brother-in-law Jets halfback and later heroin trafficker Paul Hayward in the mid-1970s.
Barrister Pauline David (above with the accused Chris Dawson) contends that convicted arsonist and thief Mr Silkman has been 'lying for decades' and his hitman story is a fabrication
Newtown Jets rugby league game day book from 1975 when the side was playing Canterbury , showing Chris Dawson and his twin Paul listed on the same reserve side and Robert Silkman, who has given bombshell evidence that the accused asked for a hitman to get rid of his wife Lynette 'for good'
Initially testifying from gloomily lit room in his house because a back injury made it painful for him to travel, the bald-headed Mr Silkman, dressed all in black, has given evidence over two days via AVL from Bankstown Police Station.
His criminal record, which included stealing 5000 bricks in 1973, firebombing a Kogarah property in 1991 and dodgy investments via a crooked banker who visited him in jail, were tendered during his time in the witness box.
The court also heard Silkman had a massive cannabis habit back in his offending years, but hadn't used for 15 years.
The NSW Supreme Court heard Mr Silkman describe on Thursday his amazement when Chris Dawson allegedly approached him on a Coolangatta to Sydney plane flight to ask if he knew someone to help 'get rid of his wife'.
Mr Silkman and his teammates were returning home from an end-of-season Gold Coast holiday by Newtown Jets players when he was sitting in an aisle seat and says Dawson bent over and spoke to him.
'He came along and kneeled down to my level ... and asked me did I know anyone to get rid of his wife. I was taken aback, I said "what do you mean for good?".
The murder trial of Chris Dawson (above with wife Lynette) has heard a claim that he approached a Newtown Jets teammate in 1975 and asked him if he could help 'get rid of his wife'. Lynette Dawson was allegedly murdered in 1982
'And he said "yeah" and I said "I'll talk to you when I get back to Sydney",' Mr Silkman told the court, adding that no further discussion with Dawson ever took place.
He said he then turned to the Jets player sitting next to him on the plane, Ray Lee.
'I said "you wouldn't believe what Chris Dawson just said to me?" and I was laughing, "he said he wanted to know if I can use someone to get rid of his wife".
'And I said "he's f***ing mad".'
In the course of Mr Silkman's cross-examination by Pauline David which ensued, Justice Ian Harrison took the step to grant the witness immunity against self-incrimination when being quizzed about his past crimes.
Justice Harrison said Mr Silkman's credibility as a witness, given his dishonest past, would have to be judged.
Now in his 70s, Mr Silkman told the court he had met Neddy Smith at a pub in the 1970s when he went for a drink with his friend, Paul Hayward.
The Chris Dawson murder trial heard a Newtown Jets team mate of Chris Dawson who had met gangster Neddy Smith (Smith is above, left, with wife Debra and a man Smith later murdered, Harvey Jones) had been asked on a plane flight by the accused for help in getting his wife Lynette Dawson killed
Robert Silkman, who has met Neddy Smith at a pub with Newtown Jets' teammate Paul Hayward (pictured above) - Smith's brother-in-law - said when Dawson asked him for help 'to get rid of' Lynette Dawsonm he replied 'you mean for good?'
Robert Silkman said when Chris Dawson (above) approached him on the return flight from a Newtown Jets team holiday with the request, he'd told another Jets player that Dawson was 'f***ing mad'
But he said Smith - a heroin dealer and later a convicted murderer who was a notorious Sydney criminal and died in jail last year - was not a friend of his.
'I didn't have no association with Neddy Smith, only a hello in a hotel,' Mr Silkman told the court, adding that 'nothing was secret' about that fact.
Mr Silkman said the approach by Chris Dawson on a plane flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney had occurred after a
