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Antonie Ronnie "Tony" Dixon (1968 – 4 February 2009) was a convicted New Zealand thief and murderer. His most notorious crimes were committed in an 11-hour spree of violence in 2003 in which he completely or partially severed the hands or arms of two women with a Samurai sword, shot a man dead with a sub-machine gun and kidnapped another man. He later beat and attempted to gouge the eye of a fellow prison inmate and pulled a weapon on his own lawyer. He died in prison of apparently self-inflicted injuries.

Early life

Dixon suffered horrendous abuse as a child, according to evidence given at his 2007 Appeal Court hearing. It was reported that he had been frequently tied to a clothesline, sexually abused, could only bark like a dog, and showed paranoid behaviour over several years.

Dixon acquired over 150 convictions, mostly for theft and burglary, and was imprisoned at least 14 times. He used the drug methamphetamine, known in New Zealand as "P", from at least 2001.

Major violent crimes

Dixon attacked two of his friends, Renee Gunbie and Simonne Butler, with a Samurai sword at Pipiroa on 21 January 2003. Before the sword broke, Gunbie's left hand was completely severed and both of Butler's arms were partially severed.

After stealing a vehicle and travelling to Auckland, Dixon fatally shot James Te Aute in Highland Park with a burst of ten bullets from a home-made sub-machine gun. He then took a man hostage and engaged in a stand-off with the police. Eleven hours after he started, Dixon surrendered to the New Zealand Police. He used methamphetamine throughout the episode. Renee Gunbie lost her left hand; Simonne Butler's arms were both reattached.

Trials

During his trial, Dixon advanced a defence based primarily on insanity. Throughout much of the trial he bore a wild, wide-eyed look and an odd haircut, and photographs of this appearance featured in leading newspapers around the country. At the conclusion of the trial, he was convicted of murder, wounding, kidnapping, shooting at police and aggravated burglary, but acquitted on five charges of attempted murder. For the murder, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with 20 years' minimum non-parole.

He appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand with several arguments. Firstly, it was argued that the trial judge, Judith Potter, did not properly instruct the jury on the law relating to insanity. Secondly, it was argued that manslaughter should have been available to the jury as an alternative verdict to murder. On 7 September 2007 the Court of Appeal overturned Dixon's convictions and ordered a new trial.

The retrial began in June 2008 and concluded with a second guilty verdict on 30 July 2008. Dixon was remanded in custody pending a sentencing hearing set down for 5 February 2009. Dixon was reported to have made it known that he intended to appeal the outcome of this second trial as well.

A cousin of Dixon's was later jailed for attempting to bribe a juror during Dixon's second trial.

Crimes in prison

In December 2007, whilst awaiting retrial, Dixon badly beat and attempted to gouge the eye of a fellow inmate in Auckland Central Remand Prison with a fork.

On 17 January 2009, during a prison interview, Dixon attempted to pull a "makeshift weapon" on his lawyer; Barry Hart. Prison staff intervened quickly to subdue Dixon and avoid any injury to Hart. Corrections Minister Judith Collins was informed of the incident and ordered a full report. She also encouraged Hart to lay a complaint with police. Hart chose not to lay a formal complaint as he felt that his client was suffering from severe mental health issues. On National Radio on the afternoon of 4 February, Hart denied that an attack had happened at all, refusing to speak further about it with the interviewer.

Death

At 10.30pm on 4 February 2009, the night before his scheduled re-sentencing, Dixon was found dead in his cell at Auckland Prison. It was reported the next morning that he had apparently died of self-inflicted injuries.

Wikipedia.org

Killer Antonie Dixon dies in prison

Stuff.co.nz

February 5, 2009

Samurai sword attacker and convicted killer Antonie Dixon, who died in prison this morning, was seen by a psychiatrist just hours before his death.

Dixon died in Paremoremo Prison in the early morning. He was due in court this morning.

A prison source told NZPA Dixon had suffered head and neck injuries.

His lawyer Barry Hart told Stuff.co.nz of his growing concern for Dixon’s state of mental health, particularly following an attack by Dixon on Mr Hart. Dixon had pulled a "makeshift weapon" on Mr Hart last month.

Mr Hart arrange for a psychiatrist from the Mason Clinic to assess him yesterday. The psychiatrist confirmed to Mr Hart at 5pm last night that Dixon was mentally unwell but believed that Paremoremo had the facilities to care for Dixon. 

The next call Mr Hart took was at 6am today, advising him Dixon was dead.

Mr Hart says the Corrections Department "stuffed up".

Mr Hart said his client had refused to take his medication and had been beaten up several times by inmates.

He believed his client should have been put into a psychiatric unit, not a prison cell, he told Newstalk ZB.

Dixon was due to appear for sentencing this morning, however arrangements had already been made to have sentencing adjourned until February 20 so his sister, who lives overseas, could attend.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Leanne Field said prison staff who discovered Dixon had tried to provide medical assistance but were unable to revive him.
 
"He was pronounced dead by ambulance staff when they arrived at the prison.

"The Department is now undertaking an initial investigation to determine what happened," she said.

Ms Field said the death would be investigated by the prison authorities.

A coroner's investigation, assisted by the police, would be conducted ahead of an inquest to determine the cause of death, she said.

Dixon, 40, attacked Simonne Butler and Renee Gunbie with a samurai sword in Pipiroa near Thames on January 22, 2003, and murdered James Te Aute in Auckland the same night. He was high on the drug P.

In 2005, Dixon was convicted of charges, including murder, kidnapping and using a firearm against a police officer.

His defence had been that he was insane when he attacked Butler and Gunbie before driving to Auckland where he shot dead Te Aute with 10 bullets in his back. He took a hostage before giving himself up to police after a standoff.

However, the insanity defence was was always challenged by police who called Dixon a "gold-plated psychopath". Prosecutors accepted Dixon had a severe personality disorder and suffered from paranoia but maintained he knew what he was doing when he committed the crimes while under the influence of methamphetamines.

In Pipiroa, Dixon's increasing paranoia had exploded into rage when he hacked at Gunbie and ex-girlfriend Butler with a samurai sword - slashing at them until their hands were severed. The chopping stopped only because the sword broke.

It took a team of surgeons 27 hours to delicately reattach Butler's hands but Gunbie's hand couldn't be saved and she's lucky to be alive.

The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions in 2007, ruling the judge had erred in the summing-up of the case. In August last year, after a second jury trial, Dixon was again found guilty on the eight charges he faced.

His death comes just weeks after another prison incident involving Dixon. The Sunday News reported that Dixon had pulled a "makeshift weapon" on his own lawyer - Barry Hart - during a meeting at Auckland Central Remand Prison on January 17.

"Staff supervising the meeting between the prisoner and his lawyer saw the prisoner get agitated, and attempt to remove what they believed to be a makeshift weapon from his shoe," a Corrections spokeswoman said at the time.

Mr Hart told the Sunday News that "[Dixon] has some major mental issues at the moment"."The issues have deteriorated," he said.

The drama was the second time Dixon was reported to be involved in an incident with a weapon inside prison. In December, 2007, Dixon used a fork to try to gouge out the eye of another prisoner, who required hospitalisation. 

Justice Hugh Williams said he had received a letter from Dixon saying he had dispensed with Mr Hart's services and queried whether a new lawyer needed to be appointed.

Mr Hart said Dixon had dispensed with his services on a number of occasions.

"Everytime he got unwell, he had trust issues."

He said the system had let Dixon down badly. When asked if his death was a stuff by corrections department, Mr Hart said "Well it has to be".

Dixon had been jailed at least 14 times and had almost 160 prior convictions - predominately for theft and burglary.

During the 2007 Appeal Court hearing, Hart said Dixon had suffered a horrendous upbringing. As a child he was tied to a clothesline, could only bark like a dog, and showed paranoid behaviour over several years.

I'll go down in a blaze of glory: accused

The New Zealand Herald