I was a sacrifice, says sword victim

Simonne Butler says all she remembers about her hands being mutilated was screaming, blood and silver. Picture / Greg Bowker

One of two women attacked with a samurai sword says her former boyfriend told her she was a "sacrifice" and asked her to bend her head so he could chop it off.

Simonne Butler yesterday gave evidence for the defence in the trial of Antonie Ronnie Dixon.

Dixon, 36, is accused of attempting to murder Ms Butler and her friend Renee Gunbie at Pipiroa, on the Hauraki Plains, in January 2003.

Dixon is also charged with murdering James Te Aute, 25, in Pakuranga hours after the attack at Pipiroa.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and others including shooting at police and kidnapping.

Ms Butler said that on the day of the sword attack, Dixon accused the women of being police informers and of trying to kill him.

Ms Gunbie, a childhood friend, had moved in to the shed in October 2002 after leaving an abusive relationship.

Ms Butler said she was aware her friend had a drug addiction and later learned she was a "P cook" - or someone who manufactures methamphetamine.

She said that on the day of the attack, Ms Gunbie was confused and frightened.

Dixon accused Ms Butler of trying to poison him and said she was sleeping with a police officer.

He said both she and Ms Gunbie were "in with the police" and were working against him.

"Then somehow we all ended up on Renee's side of the table and I was trying to calm him down [saying], 'I don't understand where this is coming from' and 'Let's sort this out, calm down, what are you doing and I don't understand'.

"I don't know how it all started and then we were all screaming and I don't know who he went for first. I think he went back and forth between us.

"Once he started attacking us he was telling me that I had to admit it, that I had to admit I was a police informant and if I admitted that I wouldn't be sacrificed.

"[He said] that I had to bow my head to him so he could chop it off but I wouldn't."

Ms Butler said Dixon was yelling "that his God had told him he had to sacrifice me and we were all going to die and the New World was taking over and we were all going to die".

"He was screaming and yelling and bouncing about everywhere. Crazy and psycho. It was just horrible. I'd seen him crazy but not to that extent.

"I was trying to get in his face so he could see I wasn't going to hurt him. I was just asking why continuously, and trying to stop it all."

Ms Butler said she did not remember the sword during the attack, "but I remember my hands going. I remember it happening to me, but I guess I have it from my perspective as opposed to watching it. All I remember about it was so much screaming and blood and silver."

Ms Butler said she first met Dixon in 1997 when he started hanging out at her flat in Morningside.

She said Dixon suffered large mood swings and would go from being happy to "flipping out", where he would pace up and down and "rant and rave" about whatever was on his mind.

"He was always unbalanced and I used to put it down to the fact he'd had a stressful childhood."

Dixon's sister, Carla Dixon-Foxley, told the court he had been sexually and physically abused as a child.

She said their mother had chained Dixon to a washing line at the boarding house she ran in Ponsonby when he was a child.

Mrs Dixon-Foxley said their mother would lock Dixon in the toilet for hours at a time and make him sit on his potty with no pants in the cold.

She had been a heavy drinker who had become heavily involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Their parents separated when Dixon was 7 and his father died when he was aged 10.

The trial continues today.

The charges

Attempted murder of Renee Joy Gunbie, with the alternative charge of intending to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Attempted murder of Simonne Rachel Butler, with the alternative charge of intending to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Murder of James Te Aute.

Aggravated burglary. Kidnapping of Ian Miller.

Attempted murder of a man who has name suppression, with the alternative charge of discharging a firearm with intent.

Use of a firearm against Eugene Gage, a member of the police.

Attempted murder of David Templeton, with the alternative charge of discharging a firearm with intent.