A jury has watched the police interview with the father of three girls killed by their mum in Timaru on day two of a woman's triple murder trial. Video / NZ Herald / TVNZ Pool
WARNING: This story contains graphic and sensitive content.
A school mum who met Lauren Dickason just hours before she killed her three young children in their Timaru home says she seemed “out of it” and “looked like she was going through a hard time”.
Dickason’s husband asked the woman to support her because the move to New Zealand and spending two weeks in managed isolation “broke her”.
A jury at her murder trial has also heard from a witness first to the scene that Graham Dickason was “distraught” soon after finding his children dead and he told her: “It’s my fault... she did this to hurt me”.
The 42-year-old and her husband Graham, an orthopaedic surgeon, arrived in New Zealand from South Africa on August 28, 2021.
Since Monday, the jury has heard extensive evidence about the alleged murders, how Graham Dickason found his children dead in their beds and the family’s life leading up to the terrible day.
The day of the alleged murders, a woman with a child at the same school as Liane met the couple.
Laetitia Smit said about 8.20am, she was dropping her own daughter off when the head teacher approached her.
The teacher pointed out Dickason and her husband and said “they had just arrived in the country and may need to be supported”.
Smit went and introduced herself to the couple.
“Graham seemed so excited to be here,” she said in a statement read to the court this afternoon.
He then said to Smit: “Can I ask you one thing - can you just support my wife? The last two weeks in South Africa and two weeks in managed isolation broke her.”
“She didn’t say much,” Smit recalled.
“She seemed out of it - like a cloud was over her.
“It’s hard to explain, but it looked like she was going through a hard time and had the weight of the world on her shoulders.”
Smit took Dickason’s number and suggested their families meet up and spend time together on Friday.
She messaged the woman later in the day to make plans but never got a reply.
Another woman Dickason met in the 48 hours before the alleged triple murder spoke of messaging with her in the weeks before the family arrived in Timaru.
Dickason had been seeking advice from ex-pat South Africans in the South Canterbury town about schools, churches, the cost of living and other day-to-day things like banking.
Graham and Lauren Dickason with their daughters Liane, Maya and Karla. Photo / Facebook
Isabella Kruger met her in person at a school drop-off.
“Lauren looked very overwhelmed … she wasn’t bubbly … she wasn’t excited,” she said.
She noted Dickason was wearing loose-fitting clothing “that showed how thin she was” and recalled she had earlier explained she’d lost three kilograms in a week because she “couldn’t eat” due to the stress of moving.
“I was doing most of the talking,” Kruger recalled.
“Lauren said everything was overwhelming for her and she was still trying to find her feet here.”
Kruger was not alarmed by the meeting, having emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa herself and being well aware of the challenges and exhaustion.
The jury also heard from a number of Graham Dickason’s colleagues and their wives who had attended a welcome barbecue the Sunday before the alleged murders.
David and Teresa Templeton hosted the event, and she said the family “all seemed really happy” and there were no red flags.
“It was lovely and so great to meet you all,” Dickason said.
Police at the scene after Lauren Dickason allegedly murdered her three daughters at their new home in Timaru. Photo / George Heard
The women chatted further about where to shop for homewares, where to take the children - the library, Chipmunks - and other things in New Zealand that were different to back home.
The day the girls died, Teresa Templeton met her husband and Graham Dickason for lunch.
She asked if Dickason was coming and was told “she wasn’t ready to go out to lunch”.
Teresa Templeton had offered to call in and see Dickason at home that night but did not hear back. She mentioned to Graham Dickason she was more than happy to go and visit later in the evening, and he said he would pass that on.
After that lunch, Teresa Templeton did not hear from either of the Dickasons again.
The last witness today was Cathy Cvitanich - whose husband Mark worked with Graham Dickason.
The men had been at the same function and after Graham Dickason found his kids dead he called Mark Cvitanich to come and help him.
Cathy Cvitancih went with her husband and said on the way to the Dickason house “we didn’t really know what to think”.
“I heard Graham howling, it was horrible,” she said.
“He had his coat over his head, hands over his head... He said ‘they are dead’ and he mentioned cable ties... He mentioned “she is mad” and that he couldn’t believe she killed them and he’d been married to her for 15 years.
“He said she suffered from depression and anxiety... I just held him... He said he did not know what he was going to to - they were his babies.
“He was crying and saying ‘my babies’ - he was really crying.”
Graham Dickason told Carin Cvitanich that he did not know if his wife was dead or alive and when he’d gotten home “she was out of it” and he felt she had “taken something”.
“He was distraught... he was saying ‘it’s my fault’ - I think he meant by bringing them here, he thought she was overwhelmed,” she said.
“He said ‘she’s done this to hurt me’.”
The trial is set for three weeks before Justice Cameron Mander and a jury.
The Crown will call more than 30 witnesses, including five experts on insanity and or infanticide.
The defence will then open its case and is expected to call a number of witnesses, including its own experts, to give evidence about Dickason’s mental state.
