Dixon 'was almost too crazy'

Antonie Dixon

A psychiatrist yesterday described murder accused Antonie Ronnie Dixon's malingering as "almost too crazy to be genuine".

Dr Rees Tapsell was giving evidence for the Crown to rebut Dixon's claim of insanity in the High Court at Auckland.

Dr Tapsell said Dixon had some "core" delusions, such as being followed by planes and satellites, but it was difficult to tell if other experiences he claimed were genuine.

He told Simon Moore, the Auckland Crown Solicitor, that some of Dixon's claimed experiences - such as seeing dancing goblins and hanging vampires - were highly unlikely to be genuine.

"If I could put it in lay terms, these things are almost too crazy to be genuine," Dr Tapsell said.

He said that Dixon had exaggerated some symptoms, some were feigned, other symptoms changed or were added over time.

The Crown alleges that Dixon, 36, attacked and mutilated Renee Gunbie and Simonne Butler with a samurai sword at Pipiroa, on the Hauraki Plains, in January 2003.

Dixon has denied the attempted murder of the women, and shooting dead James Te Aute at Highland Park in East Auckland on the same day, as well as a number of other charges.

Dr Tapsell, who was refused permission to examine Dixon, said he would like to have interviewed him to challenge him on inconsistencies in his story. He wanted, for example, to explore why he did not mention to police in the negotiation tapes and in other conversations that he believed the man he shot and killed was the Devil, a claim he later made to others.

Dr Tapsell said that Dixon suffered from a methamphetamine-induced psychosis.

He said he could possibly have suffered a disease of the mind, part of the legal test for insanity.

However, in another part of the test, Dr Tapsell said Dixon knew the quality and nature of his actions and had the capacity to understand that they were morally wrong.

Defence psychiatrists have said that Dixon did not know what he did was morally wrong.

Dr Tapsell told the court that the drug P tended to accentuate paranoia and users could appear to be suffering acute schizophrenia.

Users were uninhibited and those who became violent knew it was wrong, but were unable to stop.

Dr Tapsell referred to a letter written from jail by Dixon to Renee Gunbie, agreeing with Mr Moore that it appeared to be "an instruction" as to what she witnessed.

The trial continues today.