By transporting and burying the majority of an Aboriginal lady’s body in a rural area of Darwin, a mother and son team attempted to hide the hit-and-run death of the woman. They have pled guilty to a number of serious offences.
Two days after her limb was discovered disembodied by the side of the Stuart Highway in June 2022, a 43-year-old Anmatyerre woman, identified for cultural reasons as Kumanjayi Nungarrayai Dixon, was discovered dead in some nearby woodland.
Deborah Mason, 51, and Joshua Mason, 25, were both charged with a number of charges in connection with the woman’s death and subsequent attempt at a cover-up.
Joshua Mason entered a guilty plea to one count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death, attempting to obstruct justice, and dealing with a corpse on Tuesday in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
His mother entered a guilty plea to charges of interfering with a corpse and attempting to corrupt the course of justice.
A woman sitting on the ground with a blanket over her legs is wearing a black t-shirt. The woman is grinning at the camera.,
On May 30 of last year, Ms Dixon was going home after getting off a bus when she was struck by Joshua Mason, who at the time was operating a vehicle with a suspended licence.
According to testimony given in court, Kumanjayi had been drinking and other motorists swerved to avoid hitting her.
Joshua Mason contacted his mother instead of dialling triple-0 for assistance, and the two worked together to take Kumanjayi’s body and bury it in an unmarked grave in the bushland outside of Darwin.
However, her severed leg was left behind and was discovered the following day by oncoming traffic.
The two were allegedly spotted cleaning out the ute used to transfer Kumanjayi after concealing the body, and Joshua Mason then purchased a car cover to conceal his damaged cars.
Joshua allegedly “panicked” after hearing that the leg had been discovered on the highway, dragged her body once again into the countryside, and left drag marks on the ground as he tried to conceal her body.
He claimed to have hit a dog or a kangaroo on the side of the road before going to a friend’s house to drink drinks and consume marijuana.
Deborah Mason admitted to authorities that she was unaware that her son had repositioned the body.
According to testimony given in court, Joshua told police that his “life is over” because “a drunk idiot wants to walk across the road” after being apprehended.
He was quoted as stating, “Her [Kumanjayi’s] life is over, my life is over, my mother’s life is over, all because an idiot wants to walk on the road.”
When asked where he had concealed the body again, he eventually admitted to detectives that he had “freaked out” and called his mother instead of 911 because he “didn’t know what to do.”
He said to the cops, “As soon as you pulled my mother into it, that was it; she did nothing but help me. I hate having her go down for my f**k up.
a large entryway to a white, modernist structure with a flat front that reads “supreme court” in capital letters.
More than 20 family members of Kumanjayi filled the courtroom after travelling from Sydney and Central Australia.
As the horrifying details of the case were recounted to the court, several of them shook their heads and turned to face the mother and son who were sitting in the dock.
Justice Jenny Blokland volunteered to take a break after the session had been going on for around 25 minutes because some distraught family members had already gone.
Kumanjayi’s cousin-sister Carol Dixon told the ABC that it was hard for the family to hear what had happened to their loved one.
Large groups of Aboriginal families move towards Darwin’s Supreme Court.
She said, “I just can’t understand why someone would do that to someone else.”
“It’s barbaric to treat someone in this way—to bury their body, then dig it up and bury it again.
She was recently cruelly snatched from us and her body neglected, which is painful in and of itself.
In court, Ms. Dixon also addressed the Masons directly, calling what they done “wrong” and claiming that her cousin-sister had been “ripped” from their family.
Another relative of Kumanjayi, Cecelia Chavey, told the mother and son in court that she had to pass the scene of Ms. Dixon’s death every day on her way to work while looking directly at them.
We are both mothers, she replied, turning to Deborah Mason. As mothers, we are tasked with teaching our kids right from wrong, thus what you did was completely unacceptable. You had the power to stop this from getting worse, but you didn’t.
Justice Jenny Blokland of the Supreme Court is seated at her desk.
Joshua Mason, who was visibly moved, turned to her and said, “You have a sister. Place yourself in our position. Imagine your sister being disrespected. twice, not just once.
Joshua Mason could spend 10 years behind bars for hit-and-run that results in death.
While the penalty for attempting to obstruct justice is up to 15 years in prison.
Since his arrest, he has been in detention, but Deborah Mason is still free on bond.
Some Kumanjayi family members yelled out at her as she exited the courthouse, referring to her as a “dog” for her misdeeds.
Both defendants will be sentenced at a later time when pre-sentencing and psychiatric reports have been produced, per Justice Jenny Blokland’s decision.
