Christchurch eye surgeon Ian Dallison was jailed for attempting to murder his landlord. Photo / Supplied
Christchurch eye surgeon Ian Dallison was jailed for attempting to murder his landlord. Photo / Supplied
The prominent eye surgeon and partner of a District Court judge jailed for attempting to murder his landlord said “rationality had gone out the window” at the time and “things became a blur” after he pointed his Ruger semiautomatic pistol at the man.
Ian Dallison, 66, was jailed for six years and 10 months after pleading guilty to one charge of attempting to murder Alberto Ceccarelli and one of wounding the man’s wife, Antje Schmidt, 52, with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.
After the August 2022 incident, Dallison, who is in a relationship with District Court Judge Jane Farish, refused to tell police why he launched the attack on Ceccarelli, then 75.
It was revealed at sentencing that Dallision had sold the Merivale property where his practice was located to Ceccarelli after the Christchurch earthquake.
After it was redeveloped, Dallison took on a long-term commercial lease.
Later that day he went to Ceccarelli’s home and tried to kill him.
Dr Ian Dallison and District Court Judge Jane Farish. Composite photo / NZME
Dallison became eligible for parole this month and appeared before the board yesterday.
At the hearing he spoke for the first time about his offending.
Stuff reported Dallison told the board he’d “just given up” amid a “perfect storm”.
“It seemed like there was no future,” he said.
Dallison said as the day went on he got “wound up”.
“I think the thing that finally triggered me is something as simple as I received an invoice from a taxidermist for some work I was having done and I thought how am I going to pay this,” Stuff reported him saying at the hearing.
He admitted he wanted to “confont” Ceccarelli but “didn’t have any particular plan” as to what he would do or say when he arrived.
The court heard Dallison parked near Ceccarelli’s property, armed himself, walked into the property and fired a shot at the man as he sat at a dining room table.
Ceccarelli and Schmidt tried to wrestle the gun from Dallison.
Dallion gouged Ceccarelli’s eye and repeatedly pistol-whipped Schmidt on the back of her head.
Stuff reported the offender told the board he remembered pointing the Ruger at his former landlord and then the situation “became a bit of a blur”.
“Next thing it went off. I don’t remember deliberately saying, ‘I’m going to shoot you,’ bang, pulling the trigger hard or anything like that,” he said.
Eye surgeon Ian Dallison's home is on one of Christchurch's premier streets and sold for $2.95m. Photo / Google
Dallison claimed he was not “100% sure” if he pulled the trigger.
“I honestly don’t know … I had my finger on the trigger. It’s a very light trigger,” he said.
Stuff reported the eye surgeon admitted being declared bankrupt led to the “perfect storm” that ended with the shooting.
“Rationality had gone out the window,” he said.
“It was just like everything was narrowing down. I didn’t have access to any money.”
Parole Board panel convenor Kathryn Snook said Dallison remained too much of a risk to the community to be granted an early release from prison.
Dallison told the board he had a “really good support network” outside prison and he now had “something to live for” and “something to offer the community as well”.
He confirmed he still had a relationship with Judge Farish.
“I won’t be working, I’ll be in retirement mode, I’ve got skills and capability which I can give back,” he said at the hearing, attended by a Stuff reporter.
“It’s not like a case that I’ve got nothing left to live for, I think I’ve got a very positive future. Jane and I as well.”
Snook said Dallison still had work to do before he could be considered for release.
He will remain in prison until at least May 2025 when his next hearing is scheduled.
The board ordered a Corrections psychologist to review Dallison’s case before then.
