Killer ma waits on a verdict
|Published
TRAGEDY: Dickasons
The final day of evidence in the murder trial of Lauren Dickason, the South African mother accused of killing her three young daughters, was concluded in the High Court in Christchurch on Thursday, New Zealand media reported.
The 12 jurors will now hear closing statements before they enter a period of deliberation on Monday.
Since the start of July, the jurors heard evidence covering Dickason’s struggles with mental illness and postpartum depression, and thoughts she had of harming her daughters, six-year-old Lianè, and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla.
body copy_bold: Jurors heard accounts of first responders on the night of September 16, 2021, when Lauren first choked her children with cable ties, but then by smothering them with blankets.
The girls were found dead, tucked into their beds.
Lauren entered a plea of not guilty, by means of insanity and infanticide.
In-depth discussions about her upbringing, marriage to her husband Graham Dickason and her fragile mental state were discussed with clinical and forensic psychiatrists to determine if Lauren did suffer a major depressive episode when she decided to kill her children.
According to forensic psychologist Ghazi Metoui, Lauren told him the last thing she remembered doing was lying down with Lianè afterwards.
“It is my opinion that she did not know that the alleged acts were morally wrong to the commonly accepted standard of right and wrong... she has a defence of insanity,” Metoui was said
He maintained she did not act out of anger.
The crown alleges Lauren acted in a calculated manner and knew exactly what she was doing.