KEY POINTS:
An increasingly paranoid Antonie Dixon beat his partner Simonne Butler on numerous occasions, the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.
Ms Butler, who is now split from Dixon, told the court she gave his moods four names, ranging from Good Tony to Ugly Man, and said anything could trigger his violent outbursts.
Dixon, 40, faces eight charges relating to incidents in January 2003 when Renee Gunbie and Ms Butler were attacked with a samurai sword at Pipiroa near Thames and James Te Aute was shot dead in Auckland.
He was found guilty in 2005 but the Court of Appeal later ordered a second trial.
Ms Butler, who met Dixon in February 1997, told crown prosecutor Richard Marchant she first knew the defendant was smoking methamphetamine, or P, in 2001.
Mr Marchant asked if it was at this time his behaviours became a little more extreme.
"They did after the 9/11 attacks but the extreme, extreme, extreme was in 2002," Ms Butler replied.
Mr Marchant: "Did you see him smoke P after that?"
Ms Butler: "I don't remember, maybe I noticed or didn't want to notice."
At Pipiroa, where they had moved in June 2002, Dixon's talk of being followed by Cessnas increased, more so when Ms Gunbie moved in in October.
Ms Butler said his constant assertions that he was being followed had an effect on her own state of mind.
"I'm still paranoid," she told the court. "While I thought people may not be trying to kill him I did think maybe people were following him."
Ms Butler said Dixon used to be anti-drugs and would sit for hours talking about how bad they were.
"It never occurred to me that he would develop a problem."
Dixon was heavily influenced by things going on around him, including the 9/11 attacks and the increased security for the America's Cup.
Asked if she was sleeping with a policeman as Dixon believed when he attacked her, Ms Butler replied "no" but admitted to having slept with a policeman once before.
When Dixon found out in October 2000, he confronted her. "That was the first time I got a hardcore hiding."
She suggested they call the relationship off because Dixon was not happy but he told her, "No way are you getting away from me."
He took her home, cooked her dinner and promised never to hurt her again. But he continued to randomly punch her in the head for "being too slow, too quick, too useless".
The attacks "could be 30 seconds of violence or it could be three hours".
Once he smacked her in the face with a ratchet, Ms Butler said. He cut her hair as punishment and also hit her with a piece of timber for being too slow opening a door.
Holding a fulltime job was impossible and she quit to focus her time on Dixon, she said. He was controlling but "it was so subtle that I didn't notice it to begin until I realised I was in this self-imposed cage".
The trial continues today.
- NZPA
