Dixon knew what he did says psychiatrist

The country's top psychiatrist told a jury yesterday he believed Antonie Ronnie Dixon knew what he was doing when he slashed two women with a sword and shot a man dead.

The Health Ministry's director of mental health, Dr David Chaplow, said he believed that at the time Dixon was stressed, high on drugs and feeling betrayed.

The Crown alleges that Dixon, 36, attacked and mutilated Renee Gunbie and Simonne Butler with a samurai sword at Pipiroa, on the Hauraki Plains.

Dixon has denied the attempted murder of the women, and shooting dead James Mr Te Aute at Highland Park in east Auckland in January 2003, as well as other charges.

The Crown called Dr Chaplow to rebut defence claims that Dixon was insane at the time of the events.

The legal test for insanity is whether a person has a disease of the mind to such an extent that it prevents him understanding the nature and quality of his acts and that they were morally wrong.

Dr Chaplow, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, was unable to examine Dixon and had to rely on examinations by defence psychiatrists and the notes of other psychiatrists as well as other material.

He said he accepted that it was possible, though not probable, that Dixon had a disease of the mind.

Dixon's case, Dr Chaplow said, was confused by drug-taking, his abnormal personality and long-standing paranoia.

But Dr Chaplow said in respect of all the charges, he believed that Dixon understood what he had done.

He said that from all he had read and heard, including the 111 tape and the recordings of the police negotiations while Dixon held a man hostage, he believed Dixon knew the moral wrongfulness of his actions.

He said he was strongly influenced in his conclusions by evidence he could see and hear of events that happened at the time, rather than accounts given 12 months to 18 months later.

The tapes revealed the words of a man with little to lose because he believed he was going to die in a shoot-out with the police.

Crown prosecutor Richard Marchant asked Dr Chaplow to put aside all the "psycho-babble" and give his opinion about what had happened in plain language.

Dr Chaplow said he believed the case was that of a stressed young man who had marked traits of paranoia and other abnormal personality traits who had been using amphetamines for three months in quite large doses.

He was confronted with a situation where he believed he had been betrayed and reacted, but had misgivings soon after and rang 111.

Dr Chaplow said Dixon told Detective Sergeant Darryl Brazier: "I think I have gone too far."

He told the police negotiator, Senior Sergeant Wendy Spiller: "I have slashed two innocent girls."

And to the arresting officer, he said he hoped Mr Te Aute died.

The trial continues today.