Joshua Mason: Hit-run driver walks free after sentence successfully appealed

A young man who moved the body of a beloved Territory grandmother twice in an fumbled attempt to cover up a ghastly hit and run on the Stuart Hwy has won his appeal.

Joshua Mason successfully appealed his six year prison sentence over the fatal hit and run which claimed the life of Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon on May 30, 2022.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the names and images of Indigenous people who have passed, used with the permission of their families.

A man who dragged the body of a Territory grandmother into a shallow bush grave in a fumbled attempt to cover up a ghastly hit and run will walk free.

Joshua Mason successfully appealed his six year prison sentence over the fatal hit and run which claimed the life of Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon on May 30, 2022.

The Anmatyerre grandmother was walking to see family on the outskirts of Darwin, but she never made it from the bus stop to the home of her loved ones.

Ms Dixon was intoxicated and wandering over the highway when Mason came sweeping around a bend of the Stuart Highway, near Morgans Rd.

Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon 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.

The 23-year-old’s Holden Commodore collided with the grandmother in an “unavoidable” crash in the 100km/h zone, throwing her 6.5m and severing her leg.

Instead of calling triple-0, the unlicensed driver called his mother Deborah Mason.

Together they dragged Ms Dixon’s body into the dumped her 20m into bushland and scattered plants over her lifeless body.

To explain the damage to his car, Mason told family he merely “hit a dog”.

And when her abandoned leg was spotted by the highway, Mason hauled her another 4km further into the bushland.

Human remains were found on the Stuart Highway, Coolalinga.

On Friday Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb said the 23-year-old’s lies and cover-ups were all to avoid any “liability” for killing the beloved Aboriginal grandmother.

“Had the plans succeeded the deceased would have been a missing person, and her family would have never known what happened to her,” Mr Babb said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb leaving the Supreme Court in Darwin. Picture: Zizi Averill

Joshua Mason pleading guilty to hit-and-run driving causing death, attempting to pervert the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.

In December 2023 Justice Jenny Blokland said his actions were “callous” and “morally reprehensible” and sentenced him to a total of six years, with a non-parole period of three and a half years.

However, the Court of Appeal has now found this sentence to be manifestly excessive, as five years in prison went beyond the range of sentencing for perverting the course of justice.

Chief Justice Michael Grant said that given the crash was “inevitable”, the only driving offence that could be proven was an unlicensed driving charge – which carries a maximum fine of $2980 or less than 12 months in prison.

Janita Dixon, the daughter of alleged hit and run victim Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon, at her mother's roadside memorial.

Mr Babb argued there were too many unknown factors about the actual crash investigation because of the “mischief of a hit and run offence”.

But Justice Sonia Brownhill said unlike other pervert the course of justice cases – such as those involving threats to kill victims of domestic violence – this was a harm to an already deceased person, and ultimately only held off the investigation for two days.

The sentencing judge said the young man showed no remorse for her death in the immediate wake of the crash, telling police: “Some idiot that wants to walk around drunk at night-time in dark-coloured clothes, it’s end of the life”.

“Her life is over, my life is over, my mum’s life is over, all because an idiot wants to walk on the road,” Mason told the cops.

Deborah Karen Mason, 50, and her son Joshua Gary Mason, 23, allegedly tried to cover up a fatal hit and run by burying grandmother Kumanjayi Napurrurla Dixon in an unmarked grave on Monday May 30. . Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

However, Justice Brownhill said Mason would go on to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, with nightmares and flashbacks to that night.

“By the time of the sentencing hearing he had developed remorse,” she said.

Mason’s barrister Ian Read said the young man had glowing character references, a solid work history and a relatively small criminal record.

The Court of Appeal halved his original sentence to a total of three years, and Justice Brownhill said since Mason had already served 30 months, the remaining six months of his sentence would be suspended immediately.

His mother Deborah Mason was previously sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended after 12 months for attempting to pervert the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.