Warning: This story contains evidence from the trial which some readers may find extremely upsetting.
The first expert psychiatrist to evaluate Lauren Dickason said she killed her children out of control and anger, not love.
The Crown expert witnesses told the court Lauren feared her three little girls would be mothered by someone else if she died and her husband ever remarried.
"This is a tragic case where a mentally disordered woman with a vulnerable personality allegedly killed her children in the context of a situation which she perceived to be beyond her limited capacity to manage."
Over the course of the trial, the jury will hear from five mental health experts who assessed Dickason after the children's death - three called by the defence and two by the Crown.
She is accused of murdering her little girls - 6-year-old Liané and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla - at their Timaru home on September 16, 2021.
The children were found dead by their dad Graham Dickason after he returned home from a work function.
Lauren has admitted to killing her children by smothering them to death but pleaded not guilty to murder. Her defence is arguing insanity and infanticide - that she did not know what she was doing at the time of the killings.
However, the Crown alleges Lauren is guilty of murder, saying she was aware of her actions before, during and after the crime.
The trial continues for its fourteenth day at the High Court in Christchurch in front of a jury of eight women and four men.
Killed for control, not love
The Crown has summoned Simone McLeavey, a forensic psychiatrist who is an expert in offenders with mental disorders. She works at Hillmorton Hospital where she treats offenders kept in its psychiatric units.
Dr McLeavey was the first expert psychiatrist to evaluate Lauren after her children's deaths. She interviewed Lauren for a total of eight hours over five occasions between September 24 and October 11.
She was appointed by the court to provide a report on whether the defendant was insane and then updated the report in June 2023 to provide an opinion on infanticide.
Dr McLeavey concluded Lauren killed the children because she perceived it to be in her own best interest. She was fearful her little girls would be mothered by someone else if she died by suicide and Graham remarried.
"This is a tragic case where a mentally disordered woman with a vulnerable personality allegedly killed her children in the context of a situation which she perceived to be beyond her limited capacity to manage."
In Dr McLeavey's opinion, Lauren was most likely suffering from a reoccurrence of her known major depressive disorder without psychotic symptoms at the time of the alleged offending.
Dr McLeavey told the court she believed Lauren did not have an infanticide defence available. Her reasoning was she found evidence in support that Lauren had a sustained remission in 2021 for more than two months and achieved regaining control in her life.
"I did feel that there was a recovery," Dr McLeavey told the jury.
Around that time Lauren stopped taking her anti-depressant medication but noted that may have laid the groundwork for the breakdown she was trying to avoid.
When determining whether Lauren was insane at the time of the events, Dr McLeavey said the killings may have been understood in terms of altruistic filicide - the belief the deaths were in the children's best interest.
But while Lauren did not want to leave the children without a mother, she also didn't want them to be mothered by another woman, Dr McLeavey said.
Lauren had told her during one of the interviews she "didn't want them raised by another mother".
"There was no indication to me that killing her children was out of love… It seemed to be more a manifestation of control of not wanting another mother, another woman, to parent her children," Dr McLeavey said.
"Any altruistic motivation was, in my opinion, fuelled more so by a need for control and anger - reflecting her vulnerable personality with the prospects of another woman, if her husband was to remarry, potentially assuming the role of mother to her children beyond her planned suicide an untenable proposition."
There was no known infidelity within Lauren and Graham's relationship.
The psychiatrist said Lauren was not incapable of knowing it was morally wrong, nor was it motivated by psychosis. She noted Lauren's mental disorder did not prevent her from thinking rationally the day before and after offending.
"Despite the defendant expected to be suffering a disease of the mind at the time of the alleged offending, it is my opinion… the extent of her abnormal state of mind was not sufficient to render her incapable of understanding the nature and quality of her actions," Dr McLeavey said.
"The defendant intended for the victims to die."
Lauren sobbed quietly in court as Dr McLeavey claimed the children's deaths were a result of her wanting control.
Lauren was pleasant, friendly and sad
Earlier on Thursday, Dr McLeavey told the jury Lauren appeared in the interviews reasonably well kempt. She wore casual clothes and no makeup. She was polite and respectful but also appeared tired, tearful, sad and underweight. The psychiatrist said Lauren's demeanour was pleasant and friendly, and she would cooperate well.
Dr McLeavey told the jury during her visit, Lauren endorsed features of dissociation and out-of-body experiences but what she described as the most disabling was feeling as though she was "looking at the world through a fog". She denied any emergent psychotic symptoms or delusions.
In Lauren's account of the alleged offending, she described an altruistic motive for killing the children which is when the parent kills their child out of love to rescue them from a fate worse than death.
"The defendant said that her motive for her suicide attempt was one of... 'self-destruction'... and the children's alleged killing was an extension of the suicidal act, the two were intertwined," Dr McLeavey said.
"It was, as the defendant described it, an altruistic motive... 'To save the children from suffering from me being such a bad mother.'"
As part of her assessment, Dr McLeavey also spoke to Lauren's husband and parents who all said she was never violent before the alleged offending.
Graham told the psychiatrist he had no concerns for the safety of his children or Lauren in the lead-up to the killings.
He described her as a good wife and mother that leaned on him for support.
"She was never violent… I just don't know how it came to this," Graham said.
Graham said he thought Lauren was making progress in managing depression and anxiety. He added he saw no signs of psychosis.
Lauren's parents described her as a "very loving and caring mother" who was never violent.
Dr McLeavey said in the days after the killing, Lauren's mental health further deteriorated.
The trial continues before Justice Cameron Mander.
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
