Lauren Dickason. Photo: Stuff / Pool / Alden Williams
Lauren Dickason is appealing her conviction for murdering her three young daughters.
Dickason was in June sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2021 murders of her three girls in their Timaru home.
She smothered 6-year-old Lianè and 2-year-old twins Karla and Maya in their beds on 16 September, 2021, three weeks after the family had arrived to New Zealand from South Africa.
The 43-year-old had pleaded not guilty to all three murder charges, her legal team mounting a defence based on insanity and infanticide.
But on 16 August, 2023, and after more than 14 hours of deliberations, a jury found Lauren had murdered her daughters.
Justice Mander imposed no minimum non-parole period, saying her severe mental illness was not only a contributing factor to her actions, but the cause.
Dickason will be eligible for parole after she has served a third of her sentence.
She was initially sentenced to an in-patient care and treatment unit as a special patient because of her mental condition, in accordance with the Mental Health Compulsory Assessment and Treatment Act.
No date has been set for the appeal.
Dickason's lawyer has been approached for comment.
