Lauren Anne Dickason in the High Court at Christchurch on 17 July 2023. Photo: Pool / NZME / George Heard
Warning: This story contains content some readers may find distressing.
Lawyers have made their closing arguments in the Lauren Dickason murder trial in Christchurch.
Dickason, 42, is accused of murdering her three daughters at their Timaru home in September, 2021.
While she does not deny killing the children, she has pleaded not guilty to to their murders on the grounds of insanity and infanticide.
The Crown and the defence gave their closing arguments in the Christchurch High Court on Friday.
Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae told the jury they should not let emotions cloud their thinking when it came to determining Dickason's guilt.
"You may not agree with her actions on the 16th of September, you may feel sorry for her given everything she's lost. You can acknowledge those feelings but you need to put them to one side. You must come to your verdicts, clinically, dispassionately and without emotion."
The Crown argued that on the night Dickason killed her children, she knew her actions were wrong.
McRae said the Crown agreed she was severely unwell in September 2021, not so unwell that she could avoid responsibility for the girls' deaths.
"You might think that it is hard to sit here and understand Mrs Dickason's behaviour that night: 'Why would a mother do this to her children- she must've been so unwell for that to have occurred.' They are all natural reactions.
"However, while there was no doubt she was significantly unwell with depression, the Crown say she wasn't so unwell that she has a medical defence available to her."
McRae said she acted out of anger and resentment, and the need for control.
But defence lawyer, Kerryn Beaton KC, told the jury that was not the case.
Defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC. Photo: Pool / George Heard
"Mothers don't kill their children the way that Lauren did just because they're angry, or resentful, or stressed or anxious. So the girls' deaths have nothing to do with anger and resentment, and everything to do with what was clearly a severe mental illness."
Beaton said Dickason was experiencing a depressive episode of such severity that not only did she think she had to kill herself, she thought she had to take her girls with her.
"From July 2021, Lauren's mental health deteriorated in the context of these significant stresses that were going on- the riots, the power cuts, the immigration, Covid-19 - to the point that she was severely unwell by the 16th of September, 2021."
Justice Cameron Mander will sum up the case for the jury next week, before the 12 men and women begin their deliberations.
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