A woman whose hand was cut off by a sword-wielding drug-abuser 14 years ago is now being imprisoned on serious methamphetamine convictions.
Renee Gunbie faced a traumatic 11-hour ordeal with P-fuelled Antonie Dixon in 2003, after he severed her right hand off with a Samurai sword in the Hauraki Plains.
Mr Dixon's rampage also involved cutting off the hands of Simonne Butler, before driving north of Auckland and shooting James Te Aute. The cases were responsible for bringing the dangers of drug P to the fore in New Zealand.
Mr Dixon was found dead in his prison cell in 2009, aged 40, and while one of his victims Ms Butler was able to turn her life around, Ms Gunbie's trauma lead her to a path of self-destruction.
Arrested in 2016 after intensive police investigations into methamphetamine distribution, Ms Gunbie was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail, on nine charges of possession or supply of the Class-A drug and two charges of possessing iodine, NZME reported.
Ms Gunbie was initially sentenced to nine years, however 15 percent of her time was cut due to guilty pleas, and a further 25 percent was cut due to personal circumstances.
Though never explicitly stated, the leniency on her prison sentence is likely a result of the trauma inflicted on her by Mr Dixon.
A psychologist's report given to Justice Davidson diagnosed Ms Gunbie as suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
"You know what the contents are," said Justice Davidson to Ms Gunbie, NZME reported.
"Your condition is triggered by a number of things present in the prison environment. In particular, being behind locked doors and confined reminds you of events in your past during which you were detained and injured.
You also continue to suffer the efects of a head injury inflicted on that occassion."
NZME reported that Ms Gunbie's PTSD is likely to worsen with her time in prison, exposing her to anxiety and depression.
Newshub.
