Marcia Dixon: Dubbo woman pleads guilty over road rage incident

A driver who became infuriated when someone tried to overtake her on a roundabout and left her victim needing surgery with bleeding on the brain, has been allowed to get behind the wheel again.

A Dubbo driver has pleaded guilty to a reckless grievous bodily harm charge after a serious road rage incident left a 42-year-old woman in need of surgery with multiple fractures and bleeding on her brain.

Almost 14 months after the incident caught on camera, Marcia Ann Dixon, 43, fronted Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday to enter her plea.

Marcia Dixon handed herself in to police after the incident. Picture: Facebook

Previously laid charges of negligent driving, cause grievous bodily harm with intent and fail to stop after vehicle impact were withdrawn.

According to court documents, the conflict between Dixon and the woman started when they were both driving through a roundabout on the corner of Cobra and Fitzroy streets in Dubbo on September 3, 2020.

The woman was driving a Toyota Prado and while going around the roundabout she tried to overtake Dixon who was driving a Holden sedan on the inside lane.

After the vehicles left the roundabout, Dixon and people in the Prado started verbally abusing each other and making gestures.

As both vehicles drove along Cobra Street, a third driver who was known to the woman driving the Prado, intervened and steered his vehicle so it was in between Dixon and the woman’s vehicles.

Dixon pulled over and stopped her car in front of the third driver and started yelling at him before she got back in her car.

After the other woman stopped her Prado about 20 metres in front of Dixon’s vehicle, one of the other occupants of the Prado got out and Dixon threw a coffee cup at her before she started kicking Dixon’s car.

While that was happening the woman driving the Prado reversed it back to where Dixon and the other occupant were.

Dubbo Local Court magistrate Gary Wilson adjourned Marcia Dixon’s case. Picture: Ryan Young

According to court documents, the woman started to film what was happening on her mobile phone and Dixon got in her car and accelerated onto the road.

When Dixon drove off, the front passenger side of her vehicle struck the woman who was driving the Prado.

“The impact caused the victim to ‘roll’ between the offender’s vehicle and her own,” court documents state.

Dixon did not intend to hit the woman with her car, however court documents state she was aware of where the woman was standing when she recklessly drove away.

After the woman was hit by Dixon, a witness tried to block two lanes of traffic in attempt to stop Dixon from driving away however she drove around the truck and went to a family member’s home to tell him what happened.

The family member took Dixon to Dubbo police station where she was arrested.

Dixon told officers she was scared because she found herself in conflict with two cars, the Prado and the vehicle driven by the man who intervened in the dispute.

The woman Marcia Dixon hit spent three weeks in Westmead Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

After the incident, the woman Dixon hit was flown to Westmead Hospital where she underwent surgery after being diagnosed with a range of injuries including bleeding on the brain, a grade four liver laceration and rib, pelvic and facial fractures.

The woman has since recovered.

Dixon spent more than nine months remanded in custody after the incident, before she was granted bail earlier this year.

In court after Dixon’s guilty plea was entered, defence lawyer Bill Dickens asked for her bail conditions to be amended so she could get behind the wheel of a vehicle again.

The court heard Dixon had not been charged with a driving offence and had no driving matters of concern on her record.

Magistrate Gary Wilson agreed to vary Dixon’s bail conditions so she could be permitted to drive.

A sentencing assessment report was requested and the case was adjourned to December 21 for sentence.