Lauren Anne Dickason is on trial at the High Court in Christchurch, charged with murdering her three young daughters in 2021. Photo: Pool / NZME/ George Heard
Warning: This story contains distressing content that may upset some readers.
Crown lawyers in the trial of a South African mother accused of murdering her three daughters in Timaru in 2021 say she talked about harming her children in messages to friends.
In opening statements on Monday, the prosecution told the High Court in Christchurch that Lauren Anne Dickason also searched for information on how to overdose children.
The defence said Dickason had a history of mental illness and was experiencing an intense depressive episode at the time.
Dickason, 42, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae said in the year leading up to the deaths of six-year-old Liané and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, Dickason was under pressure.
"There were obviously stressors that were going on over this period. Life in South Africa was not straightforward, there was the Covid-19 lockdowns, there were immigration issues," he said.
"There was home schooling, which I'm sure we all remember well, there was MIQ [Managed Quarantine and Isolation] - many legitimate stressors on an already anxious woman."
Prosecution lawyer Andrew McRae. Photo: Pool / George Heard
A number of messages Dickason sent to friends in the months before her children's deaths referenced murder, McRae said.
Some could be explained as jokes, but the frequency showed a sustained anger towards her daughters, he said.
"She sent a message back to a friend of hers about the size of the MIQ room that they might have. She said 'He, as in God, knows that we might commit murder in that small room over those two weeks'."
The messages continued right up until the night before the girls died, McRae continued.
"Her friend says 'I wish sometimes I didn't want kids'. Dickason responds 'That's exactly what I told Graham tonight. I wish I could give them back, and start over'.
"'I would decide differently. Now he's extremely angry with me'," he read.
Maya and Karla, 2, and their sister Liané, 6. Photo: Supplied
A number of deleted Google searches from the month before the deaths were also found on Lauren Dickason's phone.
McRae told the court a search term was used on 1 August 2021 for a lethal dosage in children of a medication.
"There was also a search for 'most effective overdose in children', on August 21, 2021 as well as 'drugs to overdose kids' and 'common culprits of medication overdose in children - what you need to know' on the same day."
Defence lawyer, Kerryn Beaton, KC, told the court Dickason was experiencing a severe depressive episode on the night her daughters died.
"Lauren Dickason is a woman who longed to be a mother, who went through 17 rounds of IVF to have her three daughters," she said.
"She wanted those children very much and she loved her family."
Mental illness had been almost a lifelong struggle, Beaton said.
"Dickason has experienced depression since she was a teenager, including post natal or post partum depression. She'd been on anti-depressant medication for many years, including right through her pregnancies.
"You'll hear that she went off her medication in March 2021 and started it again about six weeks before this night [September 16, 2021]," she said.
The extent of depression was often hidden, Beaton told the jury.
"It affects women more than men. It can affect anyone, at any age, of any occupation... While Dickason had experienced ongoing depression for many years, you will hear that no-one who knew her would ever have thought she could do this to her babies."
The court will hear from the first witness, the girls' father Graham Dickason, on Tuesday morning by audio visual link from South Africa.
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