AMPUTEE TELLS OF DAY OF DRUGS AND VIOLENCE

Auckland: An amputee has told of how she consumed a cocktail of drugs
before the man who is accused of attacking her, allegedly maimed her with a
samurai sword.

Renee Joy Gunbie, also known as Renee Hills, yesterday gave evidence at a
depositions hearing in the Manukau District Court against Antonie Ronnie
Dixon, who is facing a raft of violence charges after an incident which
began at a property in the Hauraki Plains township of Pipiroa in January
this year.

Dixon (35) appeared in court guarded by plain-clothed police officers. He
was also chained to his seat in the prisoner's dock during the hearing
before justices of the peace Colin Davis and Mark Sinclair.

Dixon is charged with the murder of James Te Aute who died in Pakuranga on
January 22, after being shot 10 times in the back.

He is also charged with attempting to murder Miss Gunbie, another resident
of the Pipiroa property, Simonne Butler, and two policemen. He faces
further charges of using a firearm against law enforcement officers, using
a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, kidnapping and
aggravated burglary.

Miss Gunbie said she, Ms Butler and Dixon had moved to the Pipiroa property
from Silverdale, north of Auckland, after Miss Gunbie broke off a
relationship with a man she said sold methamphetamine.

Dixon had been Ms Butler's boyfriend, but Miss Gunbie said she started
going out with him in Pipiroa.

Miss Gunbie told the court how on January 21 she had woken about 8.30am.
She mixed and drank part of a cocktail of fruit juice, methamphetamine and
cocaine, before doing some housework.

Miss Gunbie said she assumed that Dixon drank the rest of the drug mixture
that day.

"I was curious about how he was still standing for a start. I was in half a
mind as to whether to ring a doctor," she told Dixon's defence counsel
Barry Hart.

After he drank the mixture, Miss Dunbie said Dixon got agitated and began
sweating.

"His eyes turned black," she said.

Richard Marchant, prosecuting, said the attack began when Miss Gunbie was
hit with a hammer.

He said her arm was broken and bleeding, but it was not until several hours
later that she and Ms Butler were assaulted with a samurai sword, resulting
in wounds to their hands, heads, necks and backs.

Mr Marchant said surgeons worked in shifts to close wounds and reattach the
women's limbs, but in Miss Gunbie's case, it had not been possible to save
her hand.

Miss Gunbie, who was called by the prosecution to give evidence, wore a
beanie-style hat and kept her arms hidden in the pockets of a jacket while
giving evidence.

She told Mr Marchant she had no idea why Dixon struck her with a hammer and
could not remember Dixon doing anything else to her on January 21.

She "believed" she had suffered an amputation and a scalping, but did not
recall anything.

"My left thumb was severed as well."

When she woke from a coma in hospital she said police told her Dixon - whom
she called Anton - had caused the wounds.

Under cross examination from Mr Hart, she said after Dixon drank her
cocktail mixture, he became aggressive and fired a lot of questions "very
fast" at her.

When she took just a couple of sips of the mixture, she said she felt alert
and energised. She was not able to perform tasks better but was more
motivated to perform them.

Miss Gunbie said the conversation with Dixon before the attack was about
police surveillance and she said Dixon had accused her of being a police
nark. She believed he thought she was a police officer as well, she said.

The Crown alleges that after leaving Pipiroa, Dixon drove to Pakuranga
where he shot Mr Te Aute and fled the scene firing shots at witnesses and
police officers.

He ended up at Flatbush, 7km north or Manurewa, where the Crown says he
held a man hostage until 6.15am on January 22 before giving himself up.

Mr Marchant asked later whether Miss Gunbie had spoken to Dixon about her
evidence. She replied that she had not, but said she had spoken to him at
Mount Eden prison since the attack .

The hearing continues today. - NZPA