Triple-murderer mum Lauren Dickason's fate to be handed down in June

Author: Anna Leask,
Publish Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2024, 1:13pm

The South African doctor convicted of murdering her three young daughters will be sentenced in June - almost a year after her high-profile trial.

Lauren Anne Dickason, 41, smothered Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16, 2020.

The family had emigrated from Pretoria, arriving in New Zealand on August 28.

They spent two weeks in managed isolation and then travelled to Timaru where Dickason’s husband Graham had taken a job as an orthopedic surgeon.

Dickason admitted killing the girls but denied charges of murder. She had mounted a defence of insanity or infanticide on the basis she was so mentally unwell at the time, she could not be held fully responsible for her actions.

Graham and Lauren Dickason with their daughters (from left) Maya, Karla, and Liane.

After an intense and exhaustive five-week trial in the High Court at Christchurch, a jury found Dickason guilty of three counts of murder.

A December 19 sentencing was adjourned, and her case has been called several times since then.

Today, Justice Cameron Mander confirmed a final sentencing date of June 26.

Detailed reports from psychiatric experts will be presented to the court before that date, and the Crown will seek Victim Impact Statements from any of the little girls’ family who wish to be heard in court.

The consequence in New Zealand for a murder conviction is life in prison - unless that sentence is deemed to be “manifestly unjust”.

A life sentence will also likely carry a minimum non-parole period, which Justice Mander will determine.

He will also decide where Dickason commences her sentence - in prison or at the forensic psychiatric facility where she has been held since shortly after the murders.

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz