WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand jury on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, found a mother guilty of murdering her three young daughters in a case that shocked the nation.
Lauren Dickason, 42, had earlier admitted killing her two-year-old twin daughters Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Lianè, at their home in the town of Timaru nearly two years ago.
But she had pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing she was mentally disturbed at the time of the killings and didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong.
Prosecutors, however, pointed to Dickason’s troubling phone messages and online history in the weeks before the killings, including comments about wanting to kill her children and Google searches for “most effective overdose in kids.”
Dickason and her husband Graham Dickason, both qualified medical professionals, had moved from South Africa to New Zealand just days before the murders, seeking a more stable lifestyle away from the turmoil in their home country.
Lauren Dickason at first tried to kill her children using zip ties and then suffocated them with pillows. She then placed them in their beds under the covers and tried to kill herself.
The guilty verdict came after a four-week trial. Jurors rejected Dickason’s legal defenses under New Zealand’s insanity and infanticide laws. Jurors were not unanimous, voting 11-1 for conviction, a split allowed under New Zealand laws.
Dickason faces a sentence of life imprisonment. / AP