Ms Butler said she was not surprised that Dixon, who had stalked her for six months before they started dating and been physically abusive to her throughout the relationship, was capable of such violence. I didn't have the self-respect to say, 'You can't treat me like that,'' she said. I'd done so many dumb things, made so many bad choices and put myself in danger so many times. For me, the emotional side of it was forgiving myself.

'I was ashamed and embarrassed and it took me years to deal with that. Ms Butler says it took her years to deal with the emotional trauma of the attack, as well as the five-year abusive relationship she had with Dixon before it occurred. The physical healing process has been incredibly demanding, but the emotional recovery has proved even more challenging. Ms Butler was in a relationship with her attacker Antoine Dixon for five years and had separated from him when he went on a violent rampage, ending with him murdering a man at a petrol station Her right hand was sliced vertically in half and her forearm was chopped diagonally, though was not completely severed, and after multiple surgeries and years of physiotherapy she now has between 60 and 70 percent of normal function in her right hand. She still has very little function in her left hand and is only able to move her wrist and thumb a few millimetres.

The bones in her left arm were smashed so severely that she required a bone graft from her hips to reconnect the bones. It took five, six, seven, maybe ten hacks to get them off,' she said. 'It wasn't a really sharp samurai sword that just sliced my arms off. But I think my healing journey is what's defined me as a person, rather than the incident.'īetween 20, Ms Butler underwent 12 general anaesthetic surgeries and about 100 procedures to reattach and repair her arms. 'It was the most intense moment – or five minutes, or however long it lasted – of my life,' Ms Butler told Daily Mail Australia. More than 11 years after the horrific events, Ms Butler has written a book about the ordeal and her physical and emotional healing. He died in prison in 2009, from what were believed to be self-inflicted injuries. Antoine Dixon was convicted for murder, shooting at a police officer, wounding, aggravated robbery and kidnapping in relation to the attack in 2003ĭixon then murdered a man at an Auckland petrol station in a spray of bullets from a machine gun, before taking another man hostage and engaging in a standoff with police.ĭixon, who had taken methamphetamine during the day of the crimes, eventually surrendered to police and was sentenced to life in prison with a 20 year non-parole period.

Arm of revenge hacked