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The only man who survived unscathed during Antonie Dixon's deadly samurai sword attack says the convicted killer's death has finally closed a "bad chapter" of his life that has lasted six years.
Ian Miller was held hostage for more than four hours during Dixon's deadly rampage in 2003. Since then, he has had to give evidence in court, not once but twice after Dixon was granted a retrial. The retrial meant reliving the horror of that night - something Mr Miller thought he'd put behind him after Dixon's first trial.
Despite all he'd been through Mr Miller and his family had accepted things and carried on with their lives.
"It was quite a shock when it [the 2003 attack] happened but we move on. He's been part of our lives for six years so he's just somebody you live with in your life."
Yesterday, when news broke that Dixon was found dead in jail Mr Miller reacted with mixed emotions, including surprise.
"You just regard Dixon as being there, he has been for ever and he's about to get sentenced and put back in jail for 20 years. It's not happening now so I guess that's good news for the country."
If Dixon had received a similar sentence to his first one he it would have cost at least $1.8 million to keep him in prison for the next 20 years. It has already cost about $543,000 to have him in jail since his arrest in 2003.
"It's not good news or bad news as far as I'm concerned because it didn't really effect me any more but as I say it's just like taking a bad chapter out of your personal book and throwing it away and moving on."
Mr Miller said he never feared Dixon escaping and arriving on his doorstep but was frustrated that he got a retrial.
It was "one of the more pathetic things that's ever happened in our judicial system but those things do happen unfortunately", he said.
He admitted there was an element of celebration.
"By the end of the day I'll probably throw my hands up in the air and say 'yahoo, let's have a couple of beers'."
