SA Doctor Lauren Dickason Who Killed 3 Kids in New Zealand Committed Murders in Grips of Depression - Expert

• The trial of former Pretoria doctor Lauren Dickason’s triple murder is continuing in a Christchurch court in New Zealand
• A forensic psychiatrist claims that Dickerson's worsening state of depression motivated her to murder her three young children
• The woman killed her daughters and then tried to take her own life shortly after the family emigrated to Timaru, New Zealand, in 2021

NEW ZEALAND - South African doctor Lauren Dickason is back in the dock as her triple murder trial continues in a Christchurch Court in New Zealand.

Forensic psychiatrist Justin Barry-Walsh has taken the witness stand and testified that Dickason was in the grips of severe depression, which motivated her to end the lives of her three little girls.

SA doctor murders kids in New Zealand

The horrifying incident happened in September 2021 when Dickason and her children emigrated to Timaru, New Zealand, where her husband, orthopaedic surgeon Graham Dickason, got a job.

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Just over two weeks after arriving in New Zealand, Dickason murdered six-year-old Lianne and her two-year-old twins, Maya and Karla, TimesLIVE reported.

Forensic psychiatrist refutes triple murders were motivated by anger

The prosecution has alleged the former doctor was motivated by anger, jealousy and a need to control her family when she strangled and smothered her children. However, the forensic psychiatrist has refuted the claim.

According to Barry-Walsh, Dickason’s depression worsened to a level where she could not see any way of going on. The psychiatrist added that she decided to commit suicide and felt her children would also be better off dead, NZHerald reported.

Barry-Walsh said:

“In my view, it was more than likely - because of her depression - that she acted in the way that she did. In that mental state, she was unable to reason as to the moral wrongfulness of her actions… and, beyond that, would seem to believe her actions were morally correct.”

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SA doctor accused of killing her 3 kids in New Zealand says she thought she was doing the right thing

SA doctor accused of killing her 3 kids in New Zealand says she thought she was doing the right thing

In a related story, Briefly News reported that the South African doctor accused of the murder of her three daughters says she killed them because she thought she was doing the right thing.

Lauren Dickason is on trial in New Zealand for strangling and then suffocating her three young daughters, Liane, 6, and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, shortly after relocating to the country.

Dickason's husband, Graham, moved the family to a small town called Timariu in 2021. The defence team explained that the move and Dickason's long-standing mental health issues played a role in the killings.

Source: Briefly News