Warning: This story contains evidence from the trial which some readers may find extremely upsetting.
The Crown and defence in the Lauren Dickason murder trial have given their closing addresses after four weeks of harrowing evidence into the killing of three little girls.
The jury will soon decide whether the killer mum is guilty of murder, infanticide or not guilty by reason of insanity.
Lauren, a doctor from South Africa, is on trial accused of murdering her children.
Her three little girls - six-year-old Liané and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla - died at their Timaru home on the evening of September 16, 2021.
After her husband Graham Dickason left for a work function, Lauren tried to strangle the children one by one with cable ties and when that failed she smothered them with a pillow before tucking them into bed. She then attempted suicide.
Lauren has admitted to killing her children but pleaded not guilty to murder.
However, the Crown says she did murder her daughters, saying she was aware of her actions, before, during and after the alleged crime.
"You may think that is hard to sit here and understand Mrs Dickason's behaviour that night. How could a mother do this to her children? She must have been so unwell for that to have occurred," Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae said on Friday.
"They are all-natural reactions, however, while there is no doubt she was significantly unwell with depression the Crown says she wasn't so unwell that she has a medical defence available to her."
Lauren's defence is arguing insanity and infanticide - that she did not know what she was doing at the time of the killings.
Defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC told the jury that mothers don't kill their children the brutal way that Lauren did just because they're angry or resentful or stressed or anxious.
"We have all been angry, resentful, stressed and anxious ourselves - they are normal human emotions and responses - we haven't then gone and done anything remotely like what Lauren Dickason did that night," she said on Friday.
"We haven't killed anyone, let alone in such a violent and harrowing way - so the girls' deaths have nothing to do with anger and resentment and everything to do with what was, clearly, a severe mental illness."
After four weeks of evidence, including testimonies by five experts, the jury must decide whether Lauren is guilty of murder, guilty of infanticide or not guilty by reason of insanity.
"This has been a very difficult trial… What has been traversed has been distressing. It's natural that as the evidence has been given you've had various feelings perhaps of sympathy or even prejudice," McRae said.
"You may not agree with her actions… You may feel sorry for her given everything that she has lost. You can acknowledge those feelings but need to put them to one side because as jurors it's your responsibility to come to your verdicts solely upon the evidence you have heard in the trial. You are the judges."
Infanticide
The first issue for the jury is whether Lauren's actions were murder or infanticide and once that decision is made, they must decide whether was she legally insane at the time she killed her children.
The Crown says she does not have the defence of infanticide available as the balance of her mind was not disturbed by the reason of not having fully recovered from childbirth, nor any consequence of childbirth.
Beaton told the jury women with a history of depression are most at risk for postpartum depression. She said statistics show 41 percent of depressed mothers have thoughts of harming their children, 5 percent of whom act on those.
Suicide and infanticide are risks of postpartum depression, Beaton said.
Beaton said no expert has denied Lauren had aspects consistent with postpartum depression.
"This is the very kind of case that the law of infanticide was designed for," she told the jury.
The defence believes her killings may have been understood in terms of altruistic filicide - the belief that she was saving her children from a fate worse than death.
Beaton told the jury within all the accounts to the experts there was evidence consistent with an altruistic motive.
Not wanting to leave the kids behind, fear of their suffering, not wanting to leave them without a mum, loving them too much and not wanting to burden Graham - all explanations given by Lauren as to why she killed her children.
But the Crown says that is a model to "pigeon-hole" Lauren's motive and the defence expert witnesses ignored evidence that did not fit with that method. He also accused the defence expert witnesses of not challenging or scrutinising her account, like claims the Crown's expert witnesses did.
In his argument, McRae suggested the defendant changed her story because of her treatment and desire to rationalise the act, which is where the account of her altruistic motive appeared. He said there was no evidence of an altruistic killing in her early accounts of the offending but rather it arose after her clinical psychiatrist at Hillmorton Hospital highlighted it to her.
"We discussed that this decision, having been made, that thoughts about the alleged offending then arose in the context of an altruistic act. Lauren seemed to find this method of explanation helpful and agreed it would be a good way for Graham to understand what happened," a note from the psychiatrist said.
A note a week later read: "We then discussed that getting an understanding of what has happened will be a key to [Lauren's] own personal discovery."
The defence claimed she had given evidence consistent with an altruistic motive before that note by her clinical psychologist was made.
"If she was trying to mislead the experts. If she was trying to make her case for infanticide or insanity better then why would she not be trying to be more consistent?" Beaton asked.
"Why would she not try and show that she was psychotic? She understands the symptoms, the behaviours the doctors were looking for but she's not a malingerer, the experts all agree that and I suggest she wasn't faking anything."
The Crown also claims Lauren experienced a sustained remission and recovery from her depression between November 2020 and June 2021 - therefore, claiming the depression at the time of the alleged offending was not a consequence of childbirth.
She reported her life was better during that time and that everyone in the family was happy. She said in she felt the best she had been in years, even "euphoric" in March 2021.
The defence rejected this idea referring to evidence that showed Lauren was still struggling during this time period.
Graham gave evidence that he had memories of Lauren doing well but there were times when she was crying, feeling bad and down with some positive moments in between. He said in March 2021 he observed her feeling "consumed by fatigue".
All experts agreed Lauren was experiencing multiple stressors near the time of the alleged including COVID-19, moving countries and riots in South Africa.
"Those new stressors created the depression that followed. She had recovered from the postpartum depression," McRae alleged.
"They were the stressors in the context of her vulnerable personality, her perfectionist nature and her need to control everything that was around her. Those stressors were nothing to do with any distress caused by childbirth."
McRae said even if the jury is not satisfied that Lauren was not still suffering from postpartum depression, the Crown says the disturbance of her mind by postpartum is "minimal" and she should be held fully accountable for what she did.
Insanity
The jury will also have to decide whether Lauren was sane at the time of the killings and if she knew that they were morally wrong.
The defence argues due to her disease of the mind, Lauren was so depressed her beliefs were borderline delusional or psychotic.
The defence said Lauren viewed the world through a nihilistic lens.
As a result of her depression, she saw Timaru as cold and bleak. She reported thinking New Zealand was notorious for bullying and feared her children would be cyber-bullied when they were old enough to have a phone. She also compared the racism against Māori to racism in South Africa.
She said the children looked sad, the residents unkempt and the rentals were "disgusting". She was fixated on these aspects to the point, the defence experts say they became fixed, false beliefs - delusions.
There was also the issue of the boy in the park. Lauren repeatedly referred to a "creepy" boy in the park who was reportedly taking photos of her children. The defence said this made Lauren believe New Zealand was a dangerous place.
It was in this depressed and psychotic state that Lauren then decided to kill her children and herself.
But the Crown questioned why Lauren took no immediate steps to protect her children from those events, for example, she stayed at the park with the family after being warned about the boy.
McRae said Lauren's clinical psychiatrist at Hillmorton Hospital noted up until July 22, 2022 there was no evidence of delusional beliefs or psychosis. Evidence from Crown expert witness Dr Erik Monasterio said if Lauren was experiencing delusions it would have been obvious to her medical team.
But the defence said even after the offending, despite being grief-stricken and horrified at what she had done, Lauren still told the forensic psychologist her daughters might have been better off dead
"I suggest this awful event would not have happened if Lauren wasn't depressed," Beaton said.
Murder
If Lauren is not found to be insane, not guilty of infanticide, she will be found guilty of murdering Liané, Karla and Maya.
McRae alleges Lauren's actions on the evening she killed her children are explained by anger and a need for control.
"In the moment, that isolated moment there was a loss of control in the context of a situation that she found herself in. Undoubtedly the depression affected her judgement at that moment but not to such as degree that she was unable to understand her actions were morally wrong."
McRae said once Lauren started there was no turning back as she reported it would be known what she had done due to the ligature marks on her children's necks.
The Crown prosecutor said the events didn't happen in isolation.
In August 2021, Lauren had an image of sedating her children and cutting their femoral arteries. She was horrified by those thoughts and told Graham. But the Crown alleged the thought didn't just pop into her mind like she said, pointing to her internet search history which showed she was googling how to sedate her children in July 2021.
The Crown also noted Lauren previously knew her thoughts about killing her children was morally wrong as she was upset by them. Even when she was having these types of thoughts hours before the killings she reported being terrified by them and was able to rationalise they were wrong.
McRae then told the jury the day before she killed her children, Lauren was messaging her friend back in South Africa about how she wanted to divorce her children and that she wished she could "give them back and start over".
"What they show is a woman confiding in her nearest and dearest friend - someone who she talked candidly to regularly with detail - that demonstrated her true feelings about her children; that she wished she could divorce them, give them back and start over and an intent to return to South Africa and leave the girls with Graham," McRae said.
Discussing the alleged offending, Lauren reported killing Karla - which the Crown claims was out of anger.
"The first twin [Karla] was being really, really, horrible to me lately. She's been biting me and hitting me and scratching me and throwing tantrums 24 hours a day and I just don't know how to manage that. That's why I did her first," Lauren told the police detective after her children's deaths.
During the police interrogation, Lauren talks about her kids being wild again, jumping on coaches, pushing each other around, not listening and being "out of control".
Lauren told the detective she was trying to find a way to ease the pressure and something "triggered" her.
"There is no other interpretation and that, the Crown say, informs us as to what happened the night of the 16th when they were misbehaving and frustrating Ms Dickason even more… she snaps," McRae said.
"There is this very clear theme of anger that has been totally ignored by the defence experts and it is anger that explains the defendant's actions here - this was a long time brewing."
The Crown alleged Lauren knew what she was doing was morally wrong.
"As difficult as that conclusion might be, that is that the defendant is guilty of murder," McRae said.
The defence agreed Lauren did show frustration and sometimes anger towards the girls but noted only three messages out of 330,000 said she was angry - but amongst these messages were positive ones too.
An example was Lauren texting: "I can not imagine my life without these rascals, I wouldn't swap them for anything."
Beaton said Lauren was described as a great and loving mother by those close to her, including Graham.
She never once said she was angry in the police interview or to any experts, Beaton said.
"She did not use the word anger to anyone when describing her intention."
Lauren, nor any of the witnesses, reported that she was violent or abused her children
"She was not someone who snapped in anger, she was not an abusive mother," Beaton said.
"She decided to kill herself and also the girls and I suggest that is because she was so delusional and so disordered in her thinking… in her mind, it was the morally right thing to do.
"She tucked them into bed and told them she loved them."
On Monday, the jury will begin its deliberations.
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
