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Wednesday saw the continuation of the second day of the triple murder trial involving the mother of three young South African children, Maya and Karla (2) and Liané Dickason (6).
Also read: Lauren Dickason, accused of murdering her children, will plead insanity
The mother of the children, Lauren Dickason, was on trial for their murders, and her defence lawyer interrogated their father, Graham, about worrying indicators that their mother was mentally unstable in the months before their deaths.
The Citizen reports that on 16 September 2021, not long after the family arrived in Timaru, Lauren was accused of killing the couple’s three young daughters.
When Graham got home from a business meeting, he discovered cable ties had been used to strangle his children.
During the cross-examination, defence attorney Anne Toohey emphasised Lauren’s mental health prior to the family of five moving to New Zealand, claiming there were numerous indicators and pieces of evidence indicating Lauren’s mental instability that were ignored.
New Zealand publication, Stuff, reports that Lauren’s defence team is claiming the mother-of-three was going through a major depressive episode when she had the urge to kill herself and take her daughters with her.
During Tooney’s grilling, Graham revealed Lauren’s mood was ‘flat’ and she did ‘not really appearing to have joy in anything.’
According to Toohey, Lauren had started crying a week before the flights, lost weight, which caused physical pain, and cut back on communication with friends and family.
The court was informed that Lauren’s mother was also concerned about the mental health of her daughter.
‘Everyone who interacted with Lauren was concerned for her at that stage,’ Graham told the court.
Another publication, RNZ, quoted Graham as saying that his only concern at the time was getting his wife away from stressors, such as the July unrest that had broken out a month earlier in KwaZulu-Natal and some areas of Gauteng.
Lauren’s anger towards her daughters was described in several messages to friends and family, and the court heard damning evidence about this on Monday.
When the family moved to Timaru during the COVID-19 pandemic, messages between the mother of three and a friend showed dissatisfaction with the size of the quarantine room assigned to them, the prosecution’s attorney Andrew McRae told the court.
A month prior to the girls’ passing, there were a number of damning Google searches, including ones for ‘most effective overdose in children’, ‘drugs to overdose kids’, and ‘common culprits of medication overdose in children – what you need to know.’
Graham must have been extremely alarmed upon hearing Lauren say that one of the ways she could kill the kids was by giving them sleeping pills and severing their femoral arteries, according to Toohey.
‘I was surprised by what she said. I would say I was concerned … I wouldn’t describe myself as angry, as my primary response, but yes, caught by surprise, and concerned,’ he said.
Toohey then moved to another incident, in which Graham allegedly told his wife, ‘Do you know how crazy you sound? We’re emigrating to New Zealand in 13 days,’ and she needed to ‘get your shit together’. Is it possible you might’ve said words like that?’
Graham claimed he was unsure whether those were Graham’s exact words or the sound of him slamming his hands on the bed as Toohey related the story.
‘I don’t remember slamming my hands down on the bed. I don’t remember being aggressive. I remember sitting with her on the bed, and she was just out of the bath and she was crying, and I tried to speak with her about what she said.’
Graham also acknowledged telling Lauren that their daughters were hesitant to visit her because they could sense her anxiety.
As the cross-examination started, Lauren buried her face in her hands. The case continues.
Also read:
Unsettling details reveal how Lauren Dickason killed her children
Picture: Facebook
