Christchurch eye surgeon Ian Dallison granted parole, banned from entering Canterbury

Dr Ian Dallison was sentenced to prison after admitting attempted murder. Photo / Pool

• Eye surgeon Ian Dallison, jailed for attempting to murder his landlord, was granted parole this month.
• Dallison was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison for the 2022 attack.
• The Parole Board has deemed him no longer a risk, and he will be released in early June, with conditions.

The prominent eye surgeon and partner of a district court judge jailed for attempting to murder his landlord will be freed from prison next month but banned from entering the Canterbury province.

Ian Dallison, 66, was jailed for six years and 10 months after pleading guilty to one charge of attempting to murder Alberto Ceccarelli and one of wounding the man’s wife, Antje Schmidt, 52, with intent to commit grievous bodily harm in August 2022.

Dallison, who has previously said he is in a relationship with District Court Judge Jane Farish, sold the Merivale property where his practice was located to Ceccarelli after the Christchurch earthquake.

After the property was redeveloped, Dallison took on a long-term commercial lease.

Over the years, his practice struggled financially, and he was unable to meet operating expenses, and, by the end of 2020, he had incurred a lot of debt.

Ceccarelli evicted him.

As a result, Dallison was declared bankrupt, and later that day he went to Ceccarelli’s home and tried to kill him.

Dallison appeared before the Parole Board for the first time in November 2024 and was refused an early release due to his risk of “extreme violent response to a stressful situation”.

He appeared again on May 12, and the board was satisfied he no longer posed a risk to community safety.

The eye surgeon was granted parole, subject to several conditions.

He will be released in early June.

He must appear before the board again for a monitoring hearing in October.

A full Parole Board decision released today says there is evidence of a “significant shift in [Dallison’s] thinking”, particularly with respect to his “approach to the views of others and his need for control”.

The board found that Dallison’s risk can be managed in the community until his sentence ends.

He will be released to an address in Marlborough, “well away from his victims”, with good support and with the “stigma and consequences of his convictions will mean that he will lead a very different lifestyle”.

He will be subject to electronic monitoring and is not to enter Canterbury unless he has prior written approval from a probation officer.

Other conditions of his parole include no contact with his victims and not to possess “or have under your control” any firearm or ammunition.

He is also not to “engage or have any role in the affairs” of any business, trust, company or other entity, unless given the go-ahead by a probation officer.