Deborah Mason sent to Supreme Court over alleged bungled hit and run cover-up

The Territory’s highest court will assess if a Palmerston mother-of-three conspired with her son to bury an Aboriginal grandmother in an unmarked grave following a brutal hit and run.

A Palmerston mother accused of dumping an Aboriginal grandmother in an unmarked grave to cover-up her son’s alleged hit and run will soon face the Supreme Court.

Deborah Karen Mason, 50, has not yet entered a plea over allegations she helped her son, Joshua Gary Mason, 23, hide the body of Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon in a bungled hit-and-run cover-up.

It is alleged Joshua hit Ms Dixon with his car while driving on the Stuart Highway near Coolalinga on May 30, and called his mother for help.

Police allege that rather than call triple-0, the mother and son dragged her body into the back of Ms Mason’s ute before dumping her on a rural road 15 minutes away.

It is alleged the 50-year-old Anmatyerre woman was almost turned into a missing person’s statistic, had the pair not noticed a critical piece of evidence.

Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon, 50, was fatally struck in an alleged hit and run on the Stuart Highway, Coolalinga on May 30, 2022. Her severed leg was later spotted by motorists.

Her disembodied lower leg left by the side of the Stuart Highway, sparked a major investigation after it was reported by distressed motorists.

It would be three days before police located the rest of Ms Dixon, after allegedly spotting Mason’s blood stained ute in Palmerston.

The 50-year-old mother was charged with misconduct with a corpse, attempting to pervert the course of justice and destroying evidence.

Her son was charged with hit and run causing death, unlicensed driving, attempting to pervert the course of justice, destroying evidence and misconduct with a corpse.

On Wednesday January 11, Mason was committed to the Supreme Court, with her new bail to be confirmed in a hearing on February 23.

Deborah Karen Mason, 50, and her son Joshua Gary Mason, 23, allegedly tried to cover up a fatal hit and run by burying 50-year-old grandmother Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon in an unmarked grave on Monday May 30. Deborah appeared in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday August 17.

She also pleaded guilty to a minor bail breach, admitting to driving her other son to work after her curfew on July 6.

Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris convicted her and issued a $250 fine.

“Despite the serious nature of your other charges I can imagine in the middle of the night when one of your kids needs to go to work you just forget,” Ms Morris said.

Prosecutor Tamara Grealy also said the incident was not “a significant breach of bail by any stretch of the imagination”, but used it as evidence to maintain strict bail conditions.

Human remains were found on the Stuart Hwy, Coolalinga

Ms Grealy said to avoid any reoffending and allow police to track the 50-year-old mother the “strict” conditions were needed.

“There’s no victims that are put at risk,” she conceded.

But Ms Morris said the mother-of-three’s current bail conditions were unnecessarily restrictive, with both electronic monitoring and a reporting requirement at Palmerston Police Station three times a week.

Ms Morris removed the condition that Mason check in with Palmerston police.

Her ban on contacting her co-accused son, leaving the Territory, electronic monitoring and her $10,000 bail remain in place.

Originally published as Deborah Mason sent to Supreme Court over alleged bungled hit and run cover-up