On Wednesday, a New Zealand judge sentenced a woman to 18 years in prison for the 2021 murders of her three young daughters.
Lauren Dickason will start her sentence in a mental health hospital under state custody, according to a court official at Christchurch High Court, in connection with the triple homicide.
Following her sentencing, Dickason expressed in a statement to local media that she had “failed” her children and her husband, who has since returned to South Africa.
She admitted responsibility for taking the lives of her three daughters and expressed profound regret for the pain and suffering her actions caused her children and family.
Justice Cameron Mander did not impose a minimum non-parole period on Dickason, who avoided life imprisonment, the typical punishment for murder in New Zealand. Last August, she was found guilty of three counts of murder for smothering her two-year-old twins, Maya and Karla, and her six-year-old daughter, Liane.
The killings occurred in September 2021 at their Timaru home while her husband was out to dinner with colleagues. He discovered the bodies of their children when he returned.
The family had relocated to New Zealand from South Africa just weeks earlier.
During last year’s trial, Dickason admitted to killing the girls but claimed a defense of insanity and infanticide, brought on by the stress of the move. Under New Zealand law, infanticide is a defense for a mother who causes her child’s death when her mental state is disturbed at the time of the offense.
According to local media reports, Dickason’s lawyer argued that a mental health unit was the most appropriate place for her.
