Antonie Dixon

Dixon attacked both of his partners, 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 homemade sub-machine gun. He then took a man hostage and engaged in a standoff with the police. Eleven hours after he started, Dixon surrendered to the New Zealand Police. He used methamphetamine throughout the episode.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/coromandel/news/article.cfm?l_id=123&objectid=10009978|title=I'll go down in a blaze of glory: accused|last=Carter|first=Bridget|date=8 February 2005|work=New Zealand Herald|accessdate=2009-06-27}} Renee Gunbie lost her left hand; Simonne Butler's arms were both reattached.

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. 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; he was acquitted on five charges of attempted murder. For the murder, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with 20 years' minimum non-parole.{{cite web |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10127953 |title=Murderer's madman persona vanishes|last=Taylor|first=Phil|date=28 May 2005|work=New Zealand Herald|accessdate=2009-06-27}}

He appealed against his conviction to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand with several arguments. First, it was argued that the trial judge, Judith Potter, did not properly instruct the jury on the law relating to insanity. Second, 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/563928 |title=Why Dixon was tried twice |date=4 August 2008 |work=Stuff.co.nz |accessdate=11 September 2011}}

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 against the outcome of this second trial as well. A cousin named Andre Joel Wilkie Mail was later jailed for attempting to bribe a juror during Dixon's second trial.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10580930|title=Cousin jailed for trying to corrupt juror|last=Savage|first=Jared|date=27 June 2009|work=New Zealand Herald|accessdate=2009-06-27}}

Prison staff intervened quickly to subdue Dixon and avoid any injury to his lawyer Barry Hart after Dixon made moves to attack Hart.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1387844 |title=Dixon pulls weapon on own lawyer |author=Jonathan Marshall |date=31 January 2009 |work=Stuff.co.nz |accessdate=11 September 2011}} 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.

At 10:30 PM 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 died of self-inflicted injuries.{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555287 |title=Corrections 'stuffed up', says Dixon's lawyer |date=5 February 2009 |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=11 September 2011}} An inquest confirmed that Dixon's death was self-inflicted.{{cite news |title=Traces of P found in Dixon's blood after cell suicide |url= http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7551904/Traces-of-P-found-in-Dixons-blood-after-cell-suicide |newspaper=Auckland Now |via=Stuff |date=27 August 2012 |accessdate=4 July 2020}}

Due to the nature of the crimes and the prominence of the trial, images of Dixon took root in the public psyche. Some aspects of the crime, such as Gunbie's severed hand giving the bird, or the use of the homemade sub-machine gun and claims of being followed by 747s, were viewed as humorous.

• On the television programme Eating Media Lunch, cast members could be seen wearing T-shirts with an unflattering portrait of Dixon's face printed on them. A shot of Dixon with his notorious facial expressions and haircut also features in the shows opening credits.
• On an episode of Bro'town, Vale Pepelo described "upside-down b" (P is a common slang term for 'Pure' (methamphetamine)) as "that highly addictive drug that makes you cut off peoples hands!" a reference to the Dixon case.
• Deja Voodoo referenced the case in their song "P" with the lyrics "I smoked P and I didn't cut anybody's hands off".{{cite web |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5794797794946852500 |title=Deja Voodoo - P |website=video.google.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604113157/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5794797794946852500 |archive-date=2011-06-04}}
• Craccum, the Auckland University Students' Association magazine, referenced "Antonie Ronnie" (as his name was commonly misspelled) Dixon in issue 9, 2007, saying that Dixon had made his hairstyle "...the most popular haircut in West Auckland since the mullet."
• In August 2008, it came to light that a MySpace page attributed to Dixon had been created with the help of an unknown third-party outside prison.{{cite web |url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/1974830 |title=Antonie (sic) Dixon has MySpace page |date=2 August 2008 |work=Television New Zealand |accessdate=11 September 2011}}
• The name of indie band Cut Off Your Hands references Dixon's crimes.
• Hip hop artist Cyphanetik referenced Dixon's crimes in the song "Misfits My Bitches" - "Write another diss and I'll find the hands the writ them / chop them motherfuckers straight off like Antonie Dixon".
• In 2011, a television comedy series Hounds renamed a racing greyhound from Lundybainwatson to Lundydixonwatson after David Bain's lawyer, Joe Karam complained to the network, citing bad taste{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10805510 |title=Bain 'joke' spurs anger |date=13 May 2012 |publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=13 May 2013|author=Blackstock, Russell}} and a possible defamation lawsuit.{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/television/news/article.cfm?c_id=339&objectid=10805786 |title=A Dog Called 'Lundybainwatson' |date=14 May 2012 |publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=13 May 2013|author=Casserly, Paul}} Writers and producers The Down Low Concept had named the dog after three infamous and controversial New Zealand murder cases due to the original owner of the dog being a high court judge. The name referred to the cases of Mark Lundy, Scott Watson and the recently acquitted David Bain. At the behest of the network the production company re-shot and re-recorded audio in the few scenes where the dog's name was mentioned,{{cite news |url=http://chortle.co.uk/news/2012/05/15/15388/bad_dog |title=Bad Dog! |date=15 May 2012 |publisher=Chortle |accessdate=13 May 2013}} the Dixon in the name referring to Antonie Dixon.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10462256 NZ Herald article covering the result of Dixon's appeal]
• [http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/corrections-defends-guards-after-coroner-s-criticism-5414285/video?vid=5414376] TVNZ news report showing Dixon's full name on coroners report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Antoine Roni}}

Category:1968 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:New Zealand people convicted of murder

Category:New Zealand people who died in prison custody

Category:Place of birth missing

Category:People convicted of murder by New Zealand

Category:People who died by suicide in prison custody

Category:Prisoners who died in New Zealand detention

Category:Suicides in New Zealand

Category:2009 suicides