Prominent Christchurch eye surgeon Ian Dallison jailed for six years, 10 months for attempted murder of former landlord

Dr Ian Dallison sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch on Friday for attempted murder. Photo / John Kirk-Anderson / Pool

A prominent Christchurch eye surgeon who attempted to murder his former landlord has been jailed for six years, and 10 months.

Dr Ian Dallison, 66, pleaded guilty in December to attempting to murder Alberto Ceccarelli, 75, as well as one charge of wounding with intent to injure his wife.

On Friday, he was sentenced in the High Court by Justice Andru Isac.

At the beginning of sentencing, the victim impact statements were read by Crown prosecutor Claire Hislop.

In a statement read to the court, Ceccarelli said Dallison was a commercial tenant of his who owed his trust money for unpaid rent and expenses.

He said Dallison “invaded our home and shot a bullet aimed to kill me”.

Following the incident, the couple’s security was “violated”.

He suffered significant injuries to his eye after Dallison gouged it, and now had issues reading, with sunlight also affecting him.

He had “excruciating anxiety” and at night every single noise was “terror”.

“I hope time will restore some normality,” he said.

“My life has been completely shattered... A state of permanent anxiety.”

Ceccarelli’s wife also suffered significant injuries from the incident.

“We had to fight for our lives,” she said.

“I will never forget any of this.”

Sitting at their dinner table was a “constant reminder”, she said, with sirens, loud bangs, or fireworks making her “panicky”.

Christchurch eye surgeon Ian Dallison. Photo / Supplied

Hislop said Dallison had a “privileged upbringing”, which was referenced in psychological reports.

“Whilst unlike many cases before the courts where there is systemic poverty, Mr Dallison had a privileged lifestyle up until very recently… had a huge cache of firearms and racing cars… The Crown submits the background provides a very stark contrast to sadly what we see in the courts.”

She said Dallison had the means to pay back the debt with a $200k Porsche, firearms, and shares in his eye surgery business, but he “simply refused to”.

She said no discount should be given for any hardship.

She added reports showed a “well-established pattern”, where Dallison took umbrage with anyone who disagreed with financial issues.

While he had a low-risk of reoffending, reports showed his dynamic risk of reoffending would elevate in the context of financial disputes, particularly where he held a grudge against a person.

She said there appeared to still be a grudge held by Dallison towards Ceccarrelli.

As for the good character references provided to the courts, she said those people did not understand the full situation of what was going on. She added no credit should be given for any remorse, and referenced “name calling” by Dallison regarding Ceccarrelli in reports as well as attempts to minimise offending.

Dallison’s lawyer Paul Borich KC said having regard to what was known about Dallison what happened was “unfathomable”.

“It’s hard to describe and reconcile what he did with the other material,”

“He’s got himself into a civil dispute, one that would seem on its face could be resolved easily enough. His behaviour on this day was extreme, he did not look to others for help… being bankrupted was the final straw, he completely and totally lost the plot. His actions were way outside his normal character.”

Borich KC said Dallison had contributed to the community and had a “long, distinguished career”.

He said while he was not from a deprived background, he was “essentially a self-made man”.

“From his own stupid actions he has destroyed it all… his actions have ruined all he’s worked for.”

Borich KC accepted Dallison’s comments to a report writer were “unhelpful”. He had gone through the victim impact statements with Dallison, who had not appreciated how much the victims had been affected, or for how long.

He asked Borich KC to tell the court he wanted to express his “heartfelt apology” to the couple, and knew nothing he said or did could make up for what happened, he hoped his guilty plea provided some measure of comfort.

He added any fears the couple held of him going forward should not be held.

“He holds no animosity for them whatsoever. He recognises what he did and how bad it was and is committed to continuing treatment.”

Justice Andru Isac told Dallison his behaviour appeared to be “inexplicable”.

“You’ve had a privileged life,” he said.

From 2000 he had a successful business and enjoyed a substantial income with a comfortable life.

It seemed the profitability of the practice decreased significantly as time went on, and he was unable to rebuild the premises following the earthquakes and he sold the land to Ceccarelli who redeveloped it and they entered into a long-term commercial lease.

His practice continued to struggle financially, and he was unable to meet operating expenses. By the end of 2020, he had got into a large amount of debt and was evicted.

His financial situation did not improve, with Dallison telling pre-sentence report writers he felt “immense stress” and anger at losing things he worked hard to achieve.

He had been advised by friends and advisors to pay back the debt. However, he chose not to and blamed the victim for his own misfortune.

“Only you Mr Dallison know the reason for what followed,”

Justice Isac said one rationale may be related to what a psychologist said which suggested while the offending was a “major departure” from normal character, other aspects leading up to it presented patterns.

“In particular the report writer concluded you don’t take kindly to anyone with whom you have a financial dispute - former spouses, family, business partner… You seem to become arrogant, angry, and uncompromising.

“Some might describe the behaviour as entitled”.

There were a number of aggravating features including a high-degree of premeditation, home invasion, use of firearm, and vulnerability to victims.

The attempted murder

Dallison left his home in his red Porsche on August 4 last year at about 6.45pm. Earlier that day, about 1.40pm, he had been adjudicated bankrupt on an application by his former landlord Ceccarelli, 75, and Adam Armstrong, who owned a commercial building that Dallison previously leased.

The order related to $247,000, most of which was rent owed to the pair.

Inside Dallison’s car were nine firearms and 167 rounds of ammunition. The guns included a loaded Ruger semi-automatic pistol, a loaded Smith & Wesson revolver, a Sterling Model 300 handgun, an Accelerator Model handgun, a Ruger revolver, and a double-barrelled Derringer handgun.

He also had a Maglite torch shotgun loaded with three 410-shotgun rounds, two mag pen guns, one with a silencer, and three Ruger 10/22 magazines.

The previous day Dallison used his laptop to access Google Maps. He scrolled the map to the South Island and zoomed in on Lyttelton. He then zoomed in and scrolled around the town toward St David St and zoomed in again on Ceccarelli’s home. He switched the default map view to satellite view and zoomed in and out and centred on the address. He then switched to street view and panned to the house to get a good look before zooming out to the street.

That evening his cell phone polled in the suburb where Ceccarelli lived with his wife, indicating he was scoping their address.

On this way to Lyttelton on August 4, Dallison stopped to fill $40 of fuel in his Porsche and then stopped a second time to purchase batteries for the Maglite torch gun.

Dallison parked his car around the corner from Ceccarelli’s home, where he lived with his wife.

He inserted the two batteries into the Maglite torch shotgun. The torch was either already loaded with one shotgun round or it was loaded at that time. Inserting the two batteries enabled it to be used as both a torch and a shotgun. The remaining two rounds were put into his jacket pocket.

He armed himself with the loaded Ruger .22 calibre semi-automatic pistol, and a spare magazine with 10 rounds in his pocket and walked to their home.

He entered the house at about 7.38pm and walked through the main door at the rear of the house into the lounge and to the entrance of the kitchen, where the couple were sitting at their dinner table.

Before they realised he was present he fired the gun at Ceccarelli. The round narrowly missed his head, lodging itself in the door frame over his right shoulder.

Ceccarelli and his wife got up and rushed him. A violent struggle ensued as they attempted to remove the pistol from his grip.

Dallison and the couple fell to the ground and continued to wrestle in the lounge, moving across the floor.

Dallison used his finger to gouge Ceccarelli’s right eye and forced the butt of the pistol into the side of his neck.

As Ceccarelli’s wife attempted to stand up, Dallison pinned her on the ground with the weight of his body and struck her on the back of her head four or five times using the butt of the pistol, concussing her.

Neighbours heard screaming and entered the home, restraining Dallison. This allowed Ceccarelli to remove the pistol from Dallison’s grip.

Dallison was restrained on the ground until police arrived.

The couple suffered serious injuries. Ceccarelli’s wife suffered a concussion and dizziness which affected her for several days. There was significant bleeding from her head injuries, and the wounds caused her agony when attempting to lay her head down to sleep.

As a result of having his eye gouged, Ceccarelli suffered significant damage to his vision and is being treated by a neuro-ophthalmologist.

The trauma to his eye resulted in eye misalignment, causing it to deviate outward as well as an inability to move his eye down and in toward the nose. The injury results in double vision and difficulties with depth perception, affecting his ability to work, read, type and exercise. It was unknown if the damage was permanent.

Ceccarelli also received bruising and scratches to the left side of his neck, a cut to the base of his right thumb and a cut lip.

Dallison declined to participate in an interview but told police at the scene that when he pulled the trigger of his pistol, it jammed.

Police sought an order for the destruction of the firearms upon his conviction.

Dallison’s bankruptcy matter was dealt with at an earlier hearing in the High Court before Associate Judge Dale Lester.

Judge Lester granted Dallison’s application for an annulment of his bankruptcy.

The creditors had been paid in full, and Dallison’s home on Helmores Lane, Fendalton, was sold in January for $2.95 million.

For years Dallison, a keen hunter who had been on a number of shooting safaris, had been collecting guns he housed in what was known as a gun room.

Inside the room were dozens of guns, including a Gatling machine gun, and several swords. There were stuffed birds, and mounted heads of animals including a ram, a goat and a stag in the room and throughout the house.

A source told the Herald about being given a tour of the room by Dallison. They described the room as “unbelievable”.

“We were like ‘holy heck!’. He was proud of the extent of the range he had and the history of them. It was like someone showing you their wine collection, and telling you about their vintage.”

The Herald understands there were about 200 guns in the house in total, many of which were unsecured. Ammunition was also found throughout the property.

Dallison, who said in a since removed bio he liked the “odd Pinot”, had an impressive wine cellar and was known to have kept quality whisky and cigars.

He also liked his cars and had a red Porsche and a Ferrari.

The Medical Council of New Zealand earlier confirmed that upon learning of the charges they asked him to cease practice. Dallison then “voluntarily surrended” his practising certificate.

Medical Council of New Zealand chair Dr Curtis Walker said the council’s primary focus was to protect the health and safety of the public by ensuring doctors were “competent and fit to practise”.

“Whenever any registered doctor is convicted of an offence with a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment or more, the Council must follow a statutory process to assess whether that doctor is fit to practise. This process will be followed with Dr Dallison [as it is with any doctor convicted of a serious crime].”