Warning: This story contains distressing content.
Lauren Dickason has pleaded not guilty to murdering her three daughters, instead seeking a verdict of insanity and infanticide. Photo: Pool / NZME / George Heard
The High Court in Christchurch has heard Lauren Dickason spoke about harming her daughters on three separate occasions before they died.
Liané, aged six, and two-year-old twins Karla and Maya were killed in Timaru in September 2021.
Their mother has pleaded not guilty to all three charges of murder, instead seeking a verdict of insanity and infanticide.
Speaking by video link from South Africa, the girls' father, Graham Dickason, told the court on Tuesday his wife struggled to cope with mounting anxiety.
Dickason rested his face in his hands as he talked about the South Africa his family experienced in July 2021.
"The political issue that started it was quickly forgotten and it just went over to... basically a civil unrest," he said.
"There was a lot of destruction of infrastructure, burning of buildings, looting and theft... especially targeting shops and shopping centres. And it started flowing over into areas where people lived."
Across the country, power was also shut off for hours each day as load sharing began [amid a rising electricity crisis], Dickason said.
The system diverted power from one region to keep the lights on in another - essentially a planned power cut, he said.
"If you don't have electricity in your house between six and nine in the afternoon, it makes your family dynamics a bit more difficult, in terms of cooking, bathing the kids or drying their hair," he said.
"It's a bit of a problem, especially in July, one of the colder months - you don't necessarily have the heat in the house that you need."
Dickason told the court these uncertainties took a toll on his wife, Lauren.
"She had a real fear that these riots would spill over to the area that we lived in and with load sharing going on, in the darkness, people in the streets could potentially harm you."
The decision to emigrate to New Zealand added to the strain, he said.
His wife was not eating well by this point and had lost a considerable amount of weight, he said.
Crown Prosecutor Andrew McRae at the High Court trial on 17 July, 2023. Photo: Pool / George Heard
Crown Lawyer Andrew McRae said Lauren Dickason's growing anxiety also began to impact her family.
"Lauren has talked about having some previous thoughts of hurting the children. Did she make you aware of any previous incidents where she had had thoughts of hurting the children?" he asked Graham Dickason.
Dickason teared up a little when he confirmed he was aware of the instances, which he described as anxiety attacks.
"Lauren was helping [the nanny] settle down the twins [in May 2019]. When she came back, I could see that she was crying and looked anxious," Dickason said.
"I asked what was wrong, and I cannot remember the exact words but she said something along the lines of she felt like she could do something to the babies, the twins."
He told the court there were two further, more explicit incidents in July 2021 when the family was preparing to leave for New Zealand.
In one, Lauren Dickason described a method to kill their daughters.
On another occasion, her husband found objects she had prepared to use on the girls, after she had admitted to again feeling like she could harm them.
But Dickason believed staying in South Africa would be worse for his wife's mental health.
"I was convinced that once we got to [New Zealand], a lot of the things stressing Lauren out, the load sharing and crime causing anxiety, would be behind us," he said.
"Hopefully she could just relax, open up and spend all her time being herself."
Dickason also felt the family were in "a tight spot" having given up everything in South Africa, including their house, cars and jobs.
"Personally, I did not see not going as an option at that stage."
Graham Dickason will be cross examined by the defence on Wednesday morning.
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