Lauren Dickason was originally due to be sentenced in December. Photo: Pool / NZ Herald / George Heard
Warning: This story contains distressing content that may upset some readers.
The long-awaited sentencing of convicted killer Lauren Dickason will take place today on Wednesday, nearly a year after she was found guilty of murdering her three children.
The 43-year-old has been remanded at Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital for several months, where she has undergone psychiatric testing as instructed by the court.
Sentencing was originally scheduled for December, but had been pushed back multiple times.
The delays centered around questions about where she would ultimately serve her sentence, under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act.
Psychiatrists'reports had been prepared to advise on whether Dickason should be detained as a "special patient" at a mental health facility, or serve a custodial sentence in prison.
A jury found Dickason guilty in August of the murders of her three young daughters at their Timaru home on 16 September 2021.
Dickason had pleaded not guilty on all three counts, her defence lawyers arguing cases of insanity and infanticide.
Six-year-old Lianè and 2-year-old twins Karla and Maya were found after their mother smothered them, one by one, in their beds.
The killings occurred less than three weeks after the family had arrived in New Zealand from South Africa.
After returning home from a work dinner, father Graham Dickason found his wife in a serious condition, before finding the bodies of his daughters.
The verdicts, decided by an 11-to-1 majority, concluded a harrowing four-week trial at the Christchurch High Court.
Crown prosecutors argued there was no medical defence available to Dickason, who methodically killed her children "out of anger, resentment and the need for control".
The defence case advanced that the mother was in the grips of a severe depressive episode, linked to the lingering effects of postpartum depression.
A total of four possible verdicts were available to the jury, which was comprised of eight women and four men.
Photo: Supplied
Details of Dickason's long history of mental health battles, IVF struggles, tensions with motherhood and angst around the family's move to New Zealand were laid bare during the trial in front of Justice Cameron Mander.
The court also heard troubling evidence of violent visions Dickason had in the weeks before the deaths, alongside her web search history, detailing inquiries on "how to cause child drug overdoses".
Evidence was heard by a total of five expert psychiatric clinicians - three for the defence and two for the Crown - during the trial.
Dickason's parents Malcolm and Wendy Fawkes issued a statement on behalf of extended family, immediately after the verdicts.
"Post-partum depression is a terrible thing, as has been shown by what happened to our family on 16 September 2021.
"This was not our daughter, but a debilitating mental illness which resulted in an awful tragedy, the details of which you are by now well aware.
"Our beloved Lianè, Karla and Maya were taken from this life to another as a result of this crippling disease."
The Timaru house where the children were killed. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown
Support for Dickason also bubbled to the surface.
A petition was started a week after the verdicts asking Justice Mander for leniency upon sentencing.
"We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the issue of Postpartum Depression (PPD) and its impact on women worldwide.
"PPD is a chronic, debilitating condition and when left untreated, it can result in tragic consequences.
"We acknowledge the precarious plight of women who suffer from this illness and its presence as a public health crisis. We plead with Judge Mander to consider this in his sentencing of Lauren."
It had garnered more than 1800 signatures.
Another petition urging for Dickason's deportation had received more than 2500 signatures.
Following the convictions, then-deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni told First Up because the crime was committed in New Zealand, Dickason would serve her sentence here and not be extradited to her native South Africa.
The Fawkes are expected to be at Wednesday's hearing with several victim impact statements by family members to be read to the court.
Her husband, who testified from South Africa during the trial, will not be present for sentencing.
The hearing in the Christchurch High Court begins at 10am.
