Lauren Dickason sentencing: Here’s when killer mom will hear her fate

Former South African doctor Lauren Dickason heard on Valentine’s Day that 20 March has been set down as the new nominal date of her sentencing hearing.

Initially, she was to hear her fate on 19 December, but the hearing was adjourned until this month.

The 42-year-old Dickason was found guilty at the High Court of Christchurch, in New Zealand, on 16 August after a five-week-long trial which centred around the shock murder of her three young daughters by her. 

Lauren Dickason: Sentencing hearing date now set for March

If for any reason the hearing cannot proceed on 20 March, a new date will be allocated.

According to NZ Herald, Dickason faces a mandatory life sentence in prison. The minimum non-parole period will be set by Justice Cameron Mander.

He will also decide whether she would spend the start of her sentence in prison or in the secure psychiatric unit at Christchurch’s Hillmorton Hospital where she has been held since her arrest for the murders.

Timaru triple murder: Here’s what happened on that fateful night

During the headline-grabbing trial, Dickason admitted to strangling her daughters − 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 take her own life with a knife and a cocktail of pills.

Her orthopaedic surgeon husband, Graham, was greeted by the horrific sight of his daughters’ lifeless bodies when he arrived home from a work function.

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

ALSO READ: Lauren Dickason trial: Cable ties vs ‘too violent and messy’ shows ‘premeditation’

Postpartum depression

During the headline-grabbing trial, her defence argued Dickason was still suffering from postpartum depression when she committed the heinous crime.

This was allegedly exacerbated by the family’s relocation to New Zealand, the events of the July 2021 unrest in South Africa, Covid-19 lockdowns and Dickason’s decision to stop taking her anti-depressants.

Explainer: Life sentence under NZ law

NZ Herald previously explained that under New Zealand law, a life sentence requires an offender to stay behind bars for life unless a parole board deems them safe to live in the community again.

In such cases, the offender is still, however, subject to life-long conditions and rules and can be recalled to prison for any breach of those.

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