A court in New Zealand found a South African woman guilty on Wednesday of murdering her three young daughters, with media saying she faced a life sentence for each killing.
Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly killed her twin daughters Maya and Karla, 2, and their older sister Liané, 6, on the night of September 16, 2021 – about a week after the family moved into a property on Queen St in Timaru, South Canterbury of New Zealand.
Her lawyer, Kerryn Beaton, said Dickason relied on an insanity and infanticide defence, claiming that she was not in her senses when she committed the act.
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However, a majority verdict by a jury of eight women and four men held Dickason was not insane at the time of the killings and was guilty of murder, following a month-long high court trial in the city of Christchurch.
Reports say her husband Graham had found the three children dead and his wife in a serious condition upon arriving home after a dinner with colleagues, New Zealand media have previously said.
The prosecution also confirmed Dickason knew when she killed her daughters that what she was doing was morally wrong and the act was murder, according to broadcaster Radio New Zealand.
Some of the jury were heard crying as they left the courtroom, media said.
The judge, Cameron Mander, remanded Dickason to custody in a hospital psychiatric unit until her sentencing. She has been in hospital since the murders.
