Dixon's look of madness an act, says Crown

Antonie Ronnie Dixon was yesterday accused of putting on an act to try to convince people he was mad.

The allegation came from the Auckland Crown Solicitor, Simon Moore, in an attack on the findings of defence psychiatrist Dr Karl Jansen.

Dr Jansen has testified that Dixon was suffering from a disease of the mind and did not understand the moral wrongness of what he had done - effectively satisfying the legal test for insanity if accepted by the jury.

Mr Moore contended that Dixon's appearance in court, wide-eyed and staring, was all a big act designed to "pull the wool" over the eyes of the judge and jury.

Dr Jansen has said that the staring eyes might be a thyroid problem, but there were other possibilities.

Mr Moore: "And one of those possibilities is that someone who walks around with his eyes wide open in an apparently staring way when they walk into a courtroom might be putting it on to give the impression, falsely, that they are mad ...

"And when you add the wide-eyed, wild look to what we already know is a pattern of deliberate pretending of symptoms, it would make you a little more wary that, hey, what we are seeing is not what we are getting."

Mr Moore said Dr Jansen had failed to mention in his report that Dixon met the criteria for "malingering".

Dr Jansen replied that other psychiatrists who also assessed Dixon at the Mason Clinic did not refer to malingering either.

He accepted that there was some malingering.

Dixon, he said, tended to exaggerate, but it was quite a step from there to saying that he was deliberately pretending to have had those experiences.

Malingerers sought a "mental health label" for themselves, but there was evidence from Dixon's behaviour towards hospital staff, inmates and prison guards that he "did not play along".

Dr Jansen said that caution was needed before classifying someone as a malingerer, because it would mean that a dangerous man would not get the treatment he needed.

He said that in his opinion Dixon was not pretending; rather, he exaggerated at times.

Dr Jansen said that Professor Paul Mullen, a leading Australasian psychiatrist, had said Dixon was not fit to plead.

He maintained that Professor Mullen did not mention that Dixon might have been pretending.

In reply to a question from Mr Moore, Dr Jansen said Dixon's hair was normal during his interviews with him, not the way it appears in court.

At that point Dixon remarked from the dock: "What's my hair got to do with it, dick-head?"

After a pause, Mr Moore said: "I think he's referring to me."

The Crown argues that Dixon's attacks were part of a drug-crazed crime spree.

The defence maintains that he was insane.

The trial, before Justice Judith Potter, continues today.

The charges

The Crown alleges that Antonie Dixon, 36, attacked 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 Te Aute at Highland Park in east Auckland in January 2003.

Dixon also faces charges of shooting at a police officer, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.