Marcia Dixon sentenced for Dubbo road rage incident

A woman who drove her car into another driver after a wild road rage incident has told a court she was called a “junkie” and racially abused beforehand.

A Dubbo woman who left another driver with life-threatening injuries after a savage road rage incident has been jailed.

Marcia Ann Dixon, 43, hit the woman after they clashed on the side of a busy Dubbo road on September 3, 2020.

She pleaded guilty to a reckless grievous bodily harm charge after spending more than nine months remanded in custody following her arrest.

According to court documents, the woman was driving a Toyota Prado around a roundabout at the intersection of Fitzroy and Cobra streets when she tried to overtake Dixon who was driving a Holden sedan.

Marcia Dixon claims she was racially abused before the road rage incident. Picture: Facebook

After exiting the roundabout, the occupants of the Prado and Dixon yelled at each other through car windows as they travelled along Cobra St.

Dixon pulled over near Brigalow Ave after another vehicle, driven by someone known to the woman, intervened in the dispute.

Court documents state Dixon started yelling at the driver of the other vehicle and threw a coffee cup at him, while occupants of the Prado pulled up and got out in front of her and began to kick her car.

While that was happening the woman who was driving the Prado reversed it back closer to where Dixon was pulled up and got out to start filming the incident.

Dixon then got behind the wheel and drove off, with the front passenger side of her vehicle striking the Prado driver.

A truck tried to block two lanes of traffic to stop Dixon from driving away, however she managed to leave the scene and drove to her son’s house to tell him what happened.

Dixon later presented to Dubbo Police Station where she was arrested.

The woman Dixon hit suffered a range of injuries including bleeding on the brain, a liver laceration and rib, pelvic and facial fractures. She has since recovered.

In Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday Dixon, who was released on bail in June, wept as she gave evidence about the incident and the woman she hit watched on.

“I didn’t intend to hurt the lady,” she said.

“I’d been distressed and I drove away. It happened so fast.”

Dixon told the court she was being called a “junkie” and a “black dog” by occupants of the Prado. In footage of the incident played in court the occupants could not be heard yelling “black dog” out the window.

“I’m not a junkie, those people didn’t know me,” Dixon said.

After she was previously diagnosed with epilepsy, Dixon told the court she was granted a conditional driver’s licence and the dispute at the roundabout caused her to become stressed.

She said to calm down, prevent a possible seizure from coming on and protect other road users, she pulled over near Brigalow Ave.

Dubbo Local Court Magistrate Gary Wilson sent Marcia Dixon back to jail. Picture: Ryan Young

The court heard multiple people got out of cars to confront Dixon.

“At the time I was in the car by myself so there was four of them at my car,” Dixon said.

“I heard a man, I was in a domestic violence relationship for a very long time, the sound of a man’s voice yelling takes me back.

“I drove away just to get away from what was happening. I would never intentionally hurt anyone.”

Crown prosecutor John Gibson told the court Dixon had “somewhat of a history of violence” which included a conviction for assault in March 2020 which saw her handed a nine-month community corrections order.

He said Dixon knew there was a risk she would hit the woman when she drove away.

“The injuries that were suffered were extensive,” Mr Gibson said.

“She spent 18 days in Westmead Hospital after being transferred from Dubbo Hospital because Dubbo Hospital couldn’t perform the surgery required.”

Defence barrister Joe Kellaway said it was clear Dixon had no intention to hurt the woman.

“The whole thing has to be viewed in the context of her suffering a pre-existing condition,” Mr Kellaway said.

“She pulled over on the side of the road, that’s where it ought to have stopped … the other people could have kept going.”

Magistrate Gary Wilson said whether or not Dixon intended to hit the woman was not relevant.

“I find there is a significant degree of remorse and there was no actual intent, but this offence does not consider the intent, it’s just the degree of recklessness involved,” he said.

“This unfortunate set of circumstances originated as a result of road rage which is an all too common form of offending it seems in these days.

“There’s no doubt a strong message has to be sent out.”

Dixon was convicted and handed a two-year term of imprisonment, backdated to March 14, 2021.

She will be eligible for parole in September 2022 and has launched an appeal against the severity of the sentence handed down.

The appeal will be heard in the District Court next year.