In New Zealand, a jury found a mother guilty of murdering her three young children after claiming that she was mentally ill at the time of the murder and should not be held responsible.
Lauren Dickason, 42, had earlier admitted killing her 2-year-old twin daughters Maya and Karla, and their 6-year-old sister Lianè, at their home in the town of Timaru nearly two years ago.
She pleaded not guilty to murder during her trial, arguing that she had suffered chronic depression from PTSD.
While stating their case, the prosecution accepted the dangers of PTSD but argued that the murders were premeditated. They showed the court Lauren’s phone messages and history in the weeks leading up to the murder.
Those messages and searches had suggested that she wanted to kill her children as they read ‘most effective overdose in kids.’
Lauren and her husband were licensed medical professionals and they were practicing. They had moved from South Africa to New Zealand to find a better life days before the murder.
Lauren had first tried to kill them using zip ties. She had also suffocated them with pillows. She then placed them on their beds under the covers and tried to kill herself.
Her husband told the police that he knew his wife was struggling with her mental health but he had no idea that she was capable of killing. The guilty conviction for three counts of murder came after the jury deemed her guilty by split decision (11-1), a decision allowed under New Zealand law.
