Man walks free after crash that left his cop wife in induced coma

A man who drunkenly crashed an ATV in the Rural Area leaving his police officer wife in an induced coma has avoided additional jail time, despite an outstanding warrant over a previous fatal crash.

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A MAN who drunkenly crashed an ATV in the Rural Area leaving his police officer wife in an induced coma has avoided additional jail time, despite an outstanding warrant over a previous fatal crash.

Michael Peter Dixon pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to drink driving and driving the 999cc buggy dangerously causing serious harm to his wife, Kristi Wenck, in the early hours of January 3.

The court heard the pair had been at a barbecue in Bees Creek the previous evening when Dixon got behind the wheel of the ATV with Ms Wenck in the passenger seat.

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After about 1.7km, prosecutor Damien Jones said Dixon reached back to stop a tarpaulin flapping behind the seats before veering off the road, colliding with a street sign and rolling the vehicle into a large table drain.

Ms Wenck was thrown clear and ended up unconscious in the ditch where Dixon tried to render first aid, along with a number of nearby residents who heard the crash.

Mr Jones said Ms Wenck ended up in hospital in an induced coma for several weeks and it was “just by sheer luck that this matter isn’t proceeding via the Coroner’s court”.

“At the end of the day, it was a conscious decision to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle while intoxicated,” he said.

Michael Dixon and Kristi Wenck outside the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“Not only that, the sheer bewildering stupidity to try to attach a flailing tarpaulin while you are driving as opposed to, I don’t know, pulling over and correcting it.

“Why you would be driving at 1.30 in the morning after consuming that amount of alcohol over that period of time is frankly bewildering.”

Dixon’s lawyer, Ray Murphy, said his client had become Ms Wenck’s full time carer since her release from hospital and would likely remain so until she was fit to return to work in two years time.

“My client’s doing what he can to repair the damage that’s been caused,” he said.

“He’s in a position where he’s able to assist his wife on a daily basis and that’s his intention until, the end of time, frankly.”

In suspending Dixon’s 12 month prison sentence after 10 weeks and five days served on remand, judge Michael Carey said there was no evidence before the court Dixon was at fault in the earlier crash in WA and his wife supported him staying out of jail.

“Because of her injuries, you are now her full time carer and it seems to me that that’s something that should continue,” he said.

“No doubt whatever occurred in Western Australia will catch up with you and be dealt with in it’s own facts and time.”

Dixon also copped a total of $2300 in fines.

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