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The Jerusalem Post

South African mother faces life sentence for murder of three daughters in New Zealand

 
 Leah Spies, 7, stands with her mother Chantelle outside where Lauren Anne Dickason, a woman charged with murdering her three young daughters just weeks after arriving in New Zealand from South Africa, used to live, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 24, 2021. (photo credit: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO)
Leah Spies, 7, stands with her mother Chantelle outside where Lauren Anne Dickason, a woman charged with murdering her three young daughters just weeks after arriving in New Zealand from South Africa, used to live, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 24, 2021.
(photo credit: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO)

Lauren Anne Dickason killed her two-year-old twins and their six-year-old sister in September 2021, about a month after the family had migrated from South Africa to New Zealand.

A jury in New Zealand found a South African woman guilty on Wednesday of murdering her three young daughters, with media saying she faced a life sentence for each killing.

Lauren Anne Dickason killed her two-year-old twins and their six-year-old sister in September 2021 at their home in Timaru, a city of 29,000 on the South Island, about a month after the family had migrated from South Africa.

Media said a majority verdict by a jury of eight women and four men held Dickason was not insane at the time of the killings and was guilty of murder, following a month-long high court trial in the city of Christchurch.

Her husband Graham had found the three children dead and his wife in a serious condition upon arriving home after a dinner with colleagues, New Zealand media have previously said.

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The prosecution said Dickason knew when she killed her daughters that what she was doing was morally wrong and the act was murder, according to broadcaster Radio New Zealand.

 A teddy bear is seen among flowers placed outside where Lauren Anne Dickason, a woman charged with murdering her three young daughters just weeks after arriving in New Zealand from South Africa, used to live, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 24, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO)
A teddy bear is seen among flowers placed outside where Lauren Anne Dickason, a woman charged with murdering her three young daughters just weeks after arriving in New Zealand from South Africa, used to live, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 24, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO)

Convict in custody

Some of the jury were heard crying as they left the courtroom, media said.

The judge, Cameron Mander, remanded Dickason to custody in a hospital psychiatric unit until her sentencing. She has been in hospital since the murders.

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