Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly killed 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16, 2021.
Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly killed 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16, 2021.
The woman charged with murdering her three young daughters in their Timaru home claims she was insane at the time of the alleged triple murder.
Specialist mental health experts will now be tasked with presenting evidence to a jury in the High Court at Christchurch to prove that claim asshe mounts a defence of not guilty by reason of insanity or infanticide.
Her husband, orthopaedic surgeon Graham Dickason, found the three children dead and his wife in a serious condition when he arrived home from a dinner with colleagues.
The family had emigrated to New Zealand from Pretoria, South Africa and had only been in Timaru two weeks - following a stint in MIQ - when the children died.
The trial is set to run for three weeks, during which a jury will hear evidence for and against insanity and infanticide.
While the defence will argue Dickason’s mental state at the time of the alleged murders renders her not criminally culpable, the Crown rejects that.
It says she was not legally insane at the time the children were killed and must be held criminally responsible.
After hearing from experts and witnesses from both sides the jury will be tasked with making the final decision.
So, how does an insanity case play out in court? And what is infanticide?
Insanity
Under New Zealand law every person before the court is presumed to be sane at the time of doing the act they are charged with until the contrary is proved.
The onus is on the defence to prove that the defendant was insane at the time.
Under the Crimes Act, a person cannot be convicted of an offence committed when they were “labouring under natural imbecility or disease of the mind” to such an extent they are rendered incapable of understanding the nature and quality of their actions or knowing their actions were morally wrong.
A person can be found insane either in the time before their offence or at the specific time of the offence.
Before 2003 a defendant could only be found not guilty by reason of insanity at the conclusion of a trial.
If found not guilty by reason of insanity or infanticide, Dickason could be detained at a psychiatric facility like Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch. Photo / NZ Herald
But changes to the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003 mean that if both the defendant’s lawyer and Crown solicitors agree, and if the judge is satisfied by expert evidence that the person was legally insane they can be found not guilty by reason of insanity without any need for a trial.
If an insanity defence is accepted by the court, the defendant will be been detained as a special patient and ordered to remain at a forensic mental health facility until the Minister of Health or the National Director of Mental Health deems they are no longer a risk to themselves or others.
The special patient order is indefinite - there is no minimum or maximum time for a person to be detained.
In cases where the Crown and defence experts disagree on insanity, the matter goes to trial. The onus is on the defence to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused was insane and thus not criminally culpable.
Infanticide
The jury at the Dickason trial will also hear expert evidence about infanticide - which, under New Zealand law operates both as a stand-alone offence and as a partial defence to murder or manslaughter.
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”.
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.
If the jury finds Dickason was suffering from any of the above at the time her daughters were killed, it could find her guilty of infanticide - and not of murder.
Police at the scene of the Dickason family home after the three children were allegedly murdered. Photo / George Heard
Someone found guilty of infanticide is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
The jury can also form the opinion that at the time of death, the balance of the defendant’s mind was disturbed to such an extent that she was insane.
In that case, the jury shall return a special verdict of acquittal on account of insanity caused by childbirth.
Murder
The jury could also reject both the insanity and infanticide defences and return a verdict that Dickason is guilty of murder.
This would mean the jury was convinced - entirely and without any reasonable doubt - by the Crown case.
If found guilty of murder Dickason will face life in prison and a lengthy minimum non-parole period.
Judge Justice Cameron Mander will preside over Lauren Dickason's trial. Photo / NZ Herald
Defence opens
Defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC today gave a short opening statement to the jury.
She said a full defence opening would occur later in the trial, but she wanted them to know Dickason was a loving mother and wife who went through 17 rounds of IVF to have her daughters.
“And yet she killed them… and it was violent and it was prolonged.
“But afterwards she put them in their beds, tucked them in with their soft toys.
“This is brutal and confronting. You will be rightly shocked an horrified…but the truth is that Lauren Dickason… wanted those children very much and she loved her family.”
Beaton said when Dickason killed the girls she was suffering a severe breakdown in her mental health.
“Not only did she think she had to kill herself, she thought she had to take the girls with her,” she said.
Beaton said Dickason had raised fears with her husband and health professionals about thoughts of killing the girls.
She said Dickason was “not a bad person” and by the time of the alleged murders she was “very unwell”.
“But tragically no one realised how unwell she was until it was too late,” she said.
Beaton will elaborate more on Dickason’s mental state and history after the Crown case closes.
She rejected the Crown’s portrayal of her client.
“If she just wanted more time with her husband, then why try and kill herself?” she said.
“Lauren was in such a dark place, so removed from reality, so disorder in her thinking... that when she decided to kill herself that night she thought she had to take the girls with her.”
Do you need help?
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