The NT Court of Criminal Appeal has slashed the sentence of a man who pleaded guilty to the 2022 hit-and-run death of an Indigenous woman and subsequent cover-up. Joshua Mason, 25, was originally sentenced to six years in prison with a non-parole period of three years.
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00:00A horror discovery on a territory highway. The start of a nightmare for the family of
00:07Kumunjai Dixon. The 43-year-old's dismembered body found in an unmarked grave following
00:14a fatal hit and run in 2022. Joshua Mason was driving on a suspended licence when he
00:20struck and killed the victim on the Stuart Highway in Darwin's rural area. Instead of
00:25calling an ambulance or police, Mason called his mother, Debra, and the pair then dragged
00:31Ms Dixon's body into the back of a ute before burying her in a shallow grave. Joshua Mason
00:37pleaded guilty to hit and run causing death, perverting the course of justice and interfering
00:43with a corpse and was jailed for six years. Today, the NT Court of Criminal Appeal ordered
00:49that sentence be set aside on the grounds the punishment was manifestly excessive for
00:54the crime. Mason was re-sentenced to a total of three years suspended immediately. Prosecutor
01:01Lloyd Babb argued the sentence was in line with the seriousness of the offending. Had
01:06the plan succeeded, the deceased would have been a missing person and the family would
01:10never have known what happened to her and that is extreme criminality in terms of perverting
01:16the course of justice. Mason's barrister, Senior Counsel Egan Reid, told the court his
01:21client had already served 30 months in prison, longer than other sentences for the same charges.
01:28In handing down the new sentence, Judge Sonia Brownhill noted Mason's guilty plea and remorse
01:34as factors which entitled him to a greater penalty reduction. Debra Mason was sentenced
01:40to two years suspended after 12 months for her involvement, a mother and son about to
01:46be reunited while another family grieves.