Triple murderer Lauren Dickason will be sentenced today for killing her three young daughters.
Legal experts told 1News it was hard to predict the nature of the sentence given the complexities of the case – including the mental health of the offender – but concluded a life sentence would be expected.
The South African mother was found guilty of the murder in Timaru of her daughters Liané and two-year-old twins Karla and Maya in their beds. (Source: 1News)
The mother killed her daughters at their Timaru home in September 2021.
Auckland University law professor Julia Tolmie said sentencing would be a balancing act.
"The judge in this case will be doing a difficult balancing act, by acknowledging the horrific nature of the murder and responding with compassion to the mental health issues that would have motivated the offender," she said.
Ten months ago, a jury reached a majority verdict after four weeks of harrowing evidence and 15 hours of deliberations at the Christchurch High Court.
A jury reached a majority verdict after 15 hours of deliberations at the High Court in Christchurch, having heard four weeks of evidence against the 42-year-old doctor. (Source: 1News)
The doctor, now aged 43, her husband, and their three young children had only been released from managed isolation five days before the killings, after arriving from South Africa.
Graham Dickason found the bodies of six-year-old Liané and two-year-old twins Karla and Maya in their beds at their temporary rental property on the night of September 16, 2021.
The father was due to start work at Timaru Hospital as an orthopaedic surgeon and had been attending a work function.
While he was out, his wife gathered the girls in a bedroom, telling them they were going to make necklaces, before smothering them to death.
In her police interview after the killings, she was asked: "Were they saying anything to you, Lauren?"
She replied: "Not the two little ones but the oldest one was very angry, and wants to know why I'm doing this to them, because I'm the best mum and she loves me."
As her husband was being consoled outside the house that night, waiting for police to arrive, he wailed: "She's done this to hurt me."
Dickason was relying on the defences of insanity and infanticide, with her lawyers arguing she had killed her daughters purely out of love. Defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton told the jury: "This is the very kind of case that the law of infanticide was designed for."
"The girls' deaths have nothing to do with anger and resentment and everything to do with what was, clearly, a severe mental illness."
But the Crown argued the deaths were caused by Dickason’s anger and a loss of control.
It argued that any disturbance of her mind as a result of childbirth "was long gone", and the explanation of the "altruistic motive" only arose after treatment at Hillmorton Hospital a month after the killings.
After the guilty verdicts, Lauren Dickason's parents, who sat through every day of her trial released this statement: "This was not our daughter, but a debilitating mental illness which resulted in an awful tragedy, the details of which you are by now well aware.
"Our beloved Lianè, Karla, and Maya were taken from this life to another as a result of this crippling disease.
The trial is nearing an end after four weeks in court. (Source: 1News)
"We would like to thank the people of New Zealand, South Africa, and from around the world who have been so understanding of the effects of post-partum depression and mental illness, and who have given us incredible support.
"The New Zealand Government agencies who have interacted with our family have reached out to us in a most generous and compassionate way. We thank the good people of New Zealand for that.
"There are no winners in this tragedy. We would like to encourage families and individuals around the world to be aware of the symptoms of post-partum depression as early as possible, both for yourselves as well as close family and friends around you.
"If treated early and managed correctly, people can experience a full recovery. The person experiencing depression and those closest to them may not be able to recognize the signs or how serious post-partum depression can become."
Since the murders, Dickason has been in Hillmorton Mental Health Hospital, and after the verdict, Justice Mander made an order under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act for a health assessor to prepare a report "for the purpose of assisting the court in determining the type and length of sentence that might be imposed".
Anyone convicted of murder faces a potential sentence of life imprisonment unless in very rare cases, it's deemed to be manifestly unjust due to circumstances of the offence and the offender.
Professor Julia Tolmie gave her assessment of the case.
She told 1News: "A lot of killings that are motivated by mental health are really horrific killings and it's hard to put aside the horrific nature of the killing.
"On the one hand, you've got a triple homicide, you've got three small children who are victims, you've got multiple attempts at the killing, and the person doing the killing is their mother – someone you would expect to protect and care for them.
"Then, on the other hand, you have a mother who is clearly mentally unwell and has killed children, whom she very much wanted and loved.
"These are babies who she went through IVF 17 times for. The fact she failed insanity doesn't mean she was mentally well at the time she killed her children."
It's expected six victim impact statements will be read in court today from close family members of the little girls, including their grieving father and grandparents.
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