A mother jailed for smothering her three young daughters has coldly described her 18-year triple murder sentence as ‘a win for mental health’.
Lauren Dickason, 41, murdered her two-year-old twins daughters, Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Lianè at their home in Timaru, New Zealand, on September 16, 2021.
Dickason admitted killing the kids but pleaded not guilty to the charges, arguing that she could not be held responsible because she was mentally unwell.
She faced an excruciating five-week trial before a jury found her guilty on three counts of murder last August.
Justice Cameron Mander last Wednesday said her mental health issues were a factor in her not being locked up for life.
He said the ‘systematic and methodical’ approach to the brutal murders reflected Dickason’s belief that the girls were ‘better off dead’.
Dickason released a statement after she was sentenced to six years in prison for each of the girls’ deaths, saying she ‘owed it to everyone and myself to get mentally healthier’.
‘I will do whatever it takes, although I know that will never change the past,’ she added.
That was not all she had to say, however, with Dickason sending a series of notes to her supporters, which have been shared on a Facebook group campaigning for the killer mum.
In the most recent ‘Note from Lauren’, seen by the New Zealand Herald, Dickason thanked those advocating for her release for their ‘love and support’.
‘Yesterday was a win for maternal mental health,’ the note reads.
‘Justice Mander heard me. His decision is fair and just.
‘Thank you all for your love and support over the last year.
‘Thank you for believing my version of events – that I am not an angry, jealous and selfish person; but rather a mother suffering from a severe mental illness while trying to raise my three beautiful little girls and supporting my husband in all his endeavours.’
‘I believe you can have it all, but just not all at once.
‘Be kind to yourselves and talk until someone hears you. Do not be ashamed to admit if you can’t cope.
‘There is a way out which doesn’t have to end in tragedy.’
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.
Justice Mander told Dickason during her sentencing that her children were not just vulnerable because of their age, but because they were ‘entirely dependent upon you as the mother who they look to for care and protection’.
‘They would have viewed you as an unconditional source of safety and love… The ending represents a fundamental breach of trust.’
He sentenced her to three determinate sentences of 18 years to be served concurrently and did not set a minimum term of imprisonment.
Judge Mander also ruled that Dickason would be detained at a mental health for compulsory treatment until she is mentally well to be transferred to prison.
Dickason will be eligible for parole after six years of her sentence has been served.
Through her counsel, the mother-of-three took responsibility for the deaths and apologised for the pain she had caused her husband Graham.
‘I loved Liané, Maya and Karla with all my heart. No apology will ever be enough, and words will seem hollow to many,’ she said.
‘I want people to know our girls brought me so much joy and were the centre of my world. I am horrified by my actions, and the pain, distress and trauma I have caused everyone who loved them. Like many others, I miss them every single day.’
Dickason, a former doctor, said she wanted people to know about the risks of post-partum depression and that she was dedicated to improving her mental health.
‘We urge other families to look for and act on unhealthy signs. We urge women experiencing the symptoms of post-partum depression to tell the ones they love.
‘This pain and heartbreak cannot happen to any other families.’
Judge Mander said Dickason had struggled with poor mental health for most of her life and was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder in her teens.
Her mental state worsened following the births of her daughters and she began seeing a psychiatrist for treatment for post-natal depression.
Dickason began experiencing intrusive thoughts of harming her children in the months leading up to the triple-murder, Judge Mander said.
Following her murder trial last August, the judge said he had been provided with three expert reports on Dickason’s current state of mental health.
The reports found she had ‘recognition of the impact of the offending on others’ and that she had expressed ‘regret and remorse’ for killing her three daughters.
Some experts said Dickason was still impacted by mental disorders.
Judge Mander said Mr Dickason, who is also a doctor, had conducted himself with grace and stoicism despite the ‘unfathomable loss’.
She and her husband had moved to New Zealand from South Africa just days before the murders, seeking a more stable lifestyle for their family.
Her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, returned from a work dinner to find his children dead. He later told police that he knew his wife was struggling with her mental health and with motherhood but had no idea she was capable of killing.
The guilty verdict came after a four-week trial. The jury – comprised of eight women and four men – rejected Dickason’s legal defences under New Zealand’s insanity and infanticide laws and voted 11-1 that she be found guilty.