Lauren Anne Dickason in the High Court at Christchurch on 17 July 2023. Photo: Pool / NZME / George Heard
Warning: This story contains distressing content.
The High Court has heard Lauren Dickason's family had serious concerns about her mental wellbeing in the weeks before she moved to New Zealand.
During cross examination on Wednesday, her husband Graham Dickason said a stay in a psychiatric hospital may have been raised.
Lauren Dickason is on trial in Christchurch for the murder of her three young daughters, Maya, Karla and Liané in September 2021.
She has pleaded not guilty, with her defence arguing a case of insanity and infanticide.
Defence lawyer Anne Toohey said in March 2021, while still living in South Africa, Dickason began a wellness plan to become stronger and lose a little weight.
But by July, she was no longer following the plan - instead, anxiety was gnawing away at her, Toohey said.
"Now she's unable to eat, and the weight is coming off her at a sort of dramatic level," she said.
"She sent some text messages to friends indicating that she felt like she was a skeleton, looked like a cancer patient.
"It was well beyond the weight she wanted to lose wasn't it? This was not her trying to lose weight [any more]."
A few weeks later, Dickason had surgery on her foot.
When her husband Graham came to pick her up from the hospital, he knew something was off, Toohey said.
"You remember her just looking different. She was shaking and on the drive back, [it was] the same thing, she was shaking - basically having what looked like a panic attack," she said.
Graham Dickason told the court she was shivering and was "scrunched up" in her seat, so he asked what was wrong.
Toohey alleged it was during this conversation that Denmar, a psychiatric hospital in Pretoria, was brought up.
Lauren Dickason referred to it a few days later in a message to a friend, she said.
"Our house today. I literally tripped a switch in my brain this week. Graham almost took me to Denmar. But now that the packing is underway, I feel better," Toohey read.
Graham Dickason said he did not remember asking his wife directly about the hospital, but it was possible it was raised in conversation.
His wife's mother also told him she was very worried about Lauren, he said.
"I was concerned definitely. Everybody that's interacted with Lauren was concerned at that stage."
Lauren Dickason sobbed in court while a conversation between her parents and husband was recalled.
Graham Dickason said his wife showed signs of improvement once they landed in New Zealand.
"She seemed better to me, but she was not back to her old self, definitely not," he said.
"But she was functioning. Everything was new and I can't really say there was enjoyment yet. We were just arriving in the new country, into new circumstances.
"There was nothing really yet to start enjoying," Dickason said.
In Timaru, Lauren Dickason was isolated, and not messaging family as regularly, Toohey told the court.
Graham Dickason tried to help, she said.
"You remember talking to some of your new colleagues... encouraging them to encourage their wives to persist in messaging Lauren," Toohey said.
"To keep going in the contact they had made that week [in the lead-up to the night the children died] to try and engage her to go out for coffee and things like that.
"Lauren hadn't responded to those messages," she said.
The trial continues.
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