Lauren Dickason SENTENCED TO 18 years in psychiatric facility for murder of her 3 children-BY Andre Smit

South African doctor Lauren Dickason was sentenced to effectively 18 years in prison for the murder of her three children.

However, instead of jail time, she should serve her sentence at a mental health unit at Hillmorton Hospital, the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, ruled on Wednesday. She has been at Hillmorton Hospital since her arrest.

However, prison is not completely excluded. The New Zealand publication Stuff reported that Dickason could later be moved to a prison. She is eligible for parole after six years.

Earlier, Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae reportedly asked that the court impose a sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum period of imprisonment of 17 to 18 years before Dickason could be eligible for parole. He reportedly described the killings as “brutal and callous” and “unprecedented” in New Zealand.

But the New Zealand Herald reported that Judge Cameron Mander ruled that life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years or more “would clearly be unfair”.

Instead, he received three sentences of 18 years, to be served.

Stuff reported that Mander said he believed Dickason’s actions were the product of her mental disorder and that she was a loving mother.

Dickason was charged with murder after strangling and suffocating Liané, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla on Sept. 16, 2021, while her husband was dining out with colleagues. She pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted by a jury on August 16, 2023.

During a trial that lasted five weeks, the jury heard arguments from the state that new stressors in Dickason’s life had caused her depression and that her actions the night of the alleged murders were “a response to the anger and frustration at her children’s misconduct,” which left her clapping.

The state said while Dickason was depressed, she acted out of anger and resentment toward the children. The prosecutor argued that Dickason knew what she was doing was morally wrong.

However, the defense argued that Dickason had not fully recovered from her postpartum depression. This was exacerbated by the family’s move to New Zealand, events of civil unrest in South Africa, Covid-19 lockdowns and Dickason taking her medication.

Mander said the defense claimed that Dickason was “so badly unwell that she was removed from reality … that she could no longer appreciate what she was doing is morally wrong”.

Five expert witnesses gave evidence about Dickason’s mental state, with three experts – Dr Erik Monasterio, Dr Simone McLeavey and Dr Justin Barry-Walsh – agreeing that while she suffered from “mental disorder”, she was aware that what she was doing was wrong.

Two experts, Dr Susan Hatters-Friedman and Dr Ghazi Metoui, believed that Dickason had a infanticide defence at her disposal.

During the sentencing on Wednesday, Dickason’s husband, Graham Dickason, said he had forgiven his wife for what she had done.

Dickason’s father, Malcolm Fawkes, pleaded with the judge to be lenient in the sentencing, saying she had been “already punished enough” and had “lost everything”.