Pretoria expat and former doctor Lauren Dickason was handed a sentence of 18 years for the murder of her three daughters, with the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, accepting her defence of mental illness in August last year.
The jury had found her guilty of murder after rejecting her defences of insanity and infanticide.
Dickason will begin the sentence in a mental health hospital until experts believe she can cope with a prison environment, ruled Judge Cameron Mander, according to a TimesLIVE report.
He did not set a minimum non-parole period, meaning she will be eligible after serving six years.
The 43-year-old murdered six-year-old Liané and two-year-old twins Karla and Maya in September 2021, having suffered from post-partum depression after the births, which compounded mental health issues, including anxiety, since her teenage years.
Mander said: “There is a direct causal connection between your mental illness and your offending which significantly reduces your moral culpability.” He said he did not consider that she was acting in a fit of rage when she killed her children, because of the methodical and systematic way she did so, and was satisfied that her actions were the product of her mental disorder.
There was a connection between her offending and mental illness, which significantly reduced her moral culpability, he added.
“This tragic event would not have occurred if not for the major depressive disorder you suffered.”
In a statement issued on her behalf after her sentencing, Dickason said: “I loved Liané, Maya and Karla with all my heart. I failed them.
“"I am horrified by my actions, and the pain, distress and trauma I have caused everyone who loved them. I would like to convey the deepest and most sincere remorse for the extreme pain and hurt caused to my children and my family.”
She said she continues to undergo treatment for severe mental illness, and “I owe it to everyone and myself to get mentally healthier. I will do whatever it takes, although I know that will never change the past”.
“My family and I want people to know about the risks, warning signs and extreme impacts of post-partum depression. We urge other families to look for and act on unhealthy signs.
“We urge women experiencing the symptoms of post-partum depression to tell the ones they love. This pain and heartbreak cannot happen to any other families.”
Forgiven
Earlier in the hearing yesterday, reports Stuff, her husband Graham Dickason said he had forgiven his wife for what she had done, despite the tragedy having “changed my life forever”.
Her father, Malcolm Fawkes, had pleaded with the judge to show her mercy, saying: “She has been punished enough already and has lost everything.”
Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae had urged the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum period of imprisonment of 17 to 18 years before Dickason could be eligible for parole, saying the murders were “brutal and callous”, and “unprecedented” in New Zealand.
But the defence argued Dickason should receive a less than life sentence, with counsel Kerryn Beaton KC saying a determinant term of 14 years would be appropriate.
Her client had no inherent propensity for violence and would not have killed her children but for her severe depressive illness, she said.
“She is not a risk to others. She is only a risk to herself.”
Despite the jury rejecting the defence argument of insanity, Beaton told Mander he did not have to conclude that Dickason had acted out of anger or frustration, as the Crown had suggested.
“(She was) in despair and she was very unwell…Mental illness was the cause of her offending.
“But for her illness, her children would be alive today. Such a finding is not inconsistent with the jury’s verdicts.”
He said a sentence of life imprisonment would be “manifestly unjust”.
Dickason was a mother afflicted with a disease that was causative of her actions, the judge said, and she was not assessed as being a risk to the community.
Dickason’s other lawyer, Anne Toohey, said the best place for Dickason to serve her sentence was in a hospital – a position agreed by all three of the mental health experts who had assessed her.
Christchurch forensic services was unable to provide her with the treatment she needed, Toohey said, and it was recommended that Dickason be treated at a female-only unit in Wellington.
The experts cited Dickason’s high risk of self-harm, as well as access to family support, medication and treatment – all limited in prison – being critical to her care.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
New sentencing date for Dickason
Dickason likely to be sentenced in March for children’s murders
Triple murderer Lauren Dickason’s sentencing delayed