Quick Lauren Dickason murder trial recap as court faces unexpected delay

The headline-grabbing trial of Lauren Dickason, charged with murdering her three young daughters, will take longer than anticipated after court proceedings have been adjourned until Monday due to a juror being unwell.

This week, the jury – comprising eight women and four men – has been hearing evidence from psychiatric experts about their assessment and formal opinion of Dickason’s mental state when she killed her children in 2021, in Timaru.

Lauren Dickason murder trial delay

That evidence was set to continue on Friday in the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand. However, a jury member fell ill and was unable to attend court, according to NZ Herald.

Justice Cameron Mander agreed to adjourn proceedings until Monday.

The trial – which started on 17 July – was set down for three weeks, but according to Mander, will likely continue for at least another week. 

The jury is expected to hear evidence from two more experts before closing addresses from the state and defence.

Mander will then summarise the case and give instructions to the jury before they deliberate.

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Timaru triple murder shock

The 42-year-old Dickason has admitted to strangling her three little girls − Liane, six, and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla − with interconnected cable ties before smothering them to death one by one at their Timaru home, in Canterbury, on 16 September 2021.

She then tucked them in with their soft toys before attempting to commit suicide with a knife and pills.

Her orthopaedic surgeon husband, Graham, discovered his daughters’ bodies when he arrived home from a work dinner.

The Pretoria family immigrated to New Zealand and had just completed their hotel quarantine, in Auckland, a week before to the horrific killings.

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Dickason defence based on insanity and infanticide

As the tragic and shocking events of 16 September has been playing out in court, Dickason has pleaded not guilty to the triple homicide charges and has mounted a defence of insanity or infanticide.

Infanticide as defence under NZ law

Under New Zealand law, infanticide operates both as a stand-alone offence and as a partial defence to murder or manslaughter, according to NZ Herald.

Infanticide is defined in the Crimes Act 1961 as a woman causing the death of any child of hers under the age of 10 where at the time of the offence “the balance of her mind was disturbed”.

In other countries infanticide applies to children under the age of one, but in New Zealand it’s extended to kids under 10 due to varying takes on the effects of postpartum depression

That disturbance can be caused by:

• The woman “not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to that or any other child”;
• By reason of the effect of lactation;
• Or by reason of any disorder consequent upon childbirth or lactation, to such an extent that she should not be held fully responsible.

Should the jury rule infanticide as the reason for the deaths, Dickason could be sentenced to just three years in jail. If they believe the prosecution’s version, she could be incarcerated for life.

Dickason trial evidence from experts so far

NZ Herald reported last week on prosecutor Andrew McRae’s argument that Dickason was “resentful of how the children stood in the way of her relationship with her husband” and killed them “methodically and purposefully, perhaps even clinically”.

On Monday, the jury heard evidence from top forensic psychiatrist Dr Erik Monasterio, who became involved with the case in October 2021 when Dickason was sent for a mental evaluation after her arrest, Stuff reported.

He told the court that in his opinion, Dickason does not have an insanity or infanticide defence.

Monasterio argued that Dickason did not suffer from postpartum depression by saying she battled depression since she was 15 and therefore could not claim her “disease of the mind” was connected to childbirth.

In her evidence given in court on Thursday, forensic psychiatrist Dr Simone McLeavey, said that once Dickason started killing the girls, at no point did she consider stopping.

Because the cable ties she had used initially to asphyxiate her children girls had left marks on their bodies, she said Dickason felt she could not stop as there would be consequences, the NZ Herald reported.

She then tried to end her own life, but her husband returned home earlier than expected.

“Her motive for her suicide attempt was one of ‘self-destruction’, and the children’s killing was an extension of the suicidal act – the two were entwined,” said McLeavey.

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