A mother who killed her three children by smothering them with a pillow while mentally disturbed has said she's "horrified by her actions" as she's sentenced to 18 years.
Lauren Dickason was convicted last August over the murders of Liané, six, and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, who were killed at home in Timaru, New Zealand, on September 16, 2021. The 41-year-old had told the girls they were going to make necklaces and tried to kill them with zip ties before suffocating them with a pillow then trying to take her own life.
Dickason, who had just moved with her family from South Africa at the time, had told the court during her trial last year she was suffering from severe post-natal depression. But a jury convicted her of murder, with a judge on Wednesday sentencing her to 18 years in a mental health facility.
Dickason was found guilty of murdering the three girls, who were suffocated by their mother (Facebook)Justice Cameron Mander ruled she should be detained at a unit before she was well enough to be moved to prison. She will be eligible for parole after six years.
The High Court in Christchurch on Wednesday heard a statement from Dickason, who claimed she had taken responsibility for the deaths and was sorry for the pain she had caused to husband and the girls' father, Graham. The statement, read by Dickason's lawyers, said: "I loved Liané, Maya and Karla with all my heart. I failed them, I failed Graham, and I failed our families."
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"I take responsibility for taking our three beautiful girls from this world," she said. "No apology will ever be enough, and words will seem hollow to many."
She added: "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."
Two-year-old twins, Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Liane, were killed at their home in Timaru, New Zealand (Facebook)Defence counsel Kerryn Beaton KC previously told the court during the trial that Dickason was suffering a major depressive episode at the time of the murders, and had been plagued by thoughts of harming herself, thinking she needed to take her children with her.
“Lauren had told her husband in 2019 and 2021 that she had thoughts of harming her children," said Ms Beaton. "She was scared of those thoughts and feelings ... and sought help.
Dickason had told her husband she had thoughts of harming herself and her children, the court previously heard (Facebook)“Despite that, she was loving, including on the day they died. They were not mistreated or abused until that night”. Dickason was unwell, and tragically, no one knew how unwell until it was too late, Beaton told the court. This was clear in how Dickason attempted to take her own life on the night, she said.
"I suggest an issue is why. Why would she do this? Is she just a bad person who wanted to be free of her children ... who planned this all along? Why then, did she try to kill herself?"
Dickason had claimed she had felt like a "shaken bottle of Coke" on the day of the murders, with the court hearing details of the couple's previous fertility struggles as well as her "lifelong" issues with anxiety and perfectionism.
- Anyone in the UK who is suffering can speak to the Samaritans 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 116 123.
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