Former doctor Lauren Dickason, convicted of the murder of her three daughters – and currently in custody at the psychiatric Hillmorton Hospital – will be sentenced in June.
The 42-year-old, found guilty by a New Zealand court in August 2023 for the murders of three daughters on 16 September, weeks after the family emigrated from South Africa, was due to be sentenced in December. However, reports IOL, this was postponed to March, with further delays now pushing the date to 26 June.
The sentence in New Zealand for a murder conviction is life in prison, unless that sentence is deemed to be “manifestly unjust”.
A life sentence will probably also carry a minimum non-parole period, which the judge will determine.
He will also decide where Dickason does her sentence – in prison or at the forensic psychiatric facility (Hillmorton) where she has been held since shortly after the murders.
Dickason pleaded not guilty to the murders by reason of insanity, with the defence arguing she was mentally unwell and had never recovered from post-partum depression after the birth of her children.
Psychiatrists’ reports on whether she should be detained under the Mental Health Act or serve her sentence in prison are, apparently, responsible for the sentencing delays.
IOL article – Child killer Lauren Dickason to be sentenced later this year (Open access)
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