Lauren Dickason, a former South African doctor, has been sentenced for the murder of her three young daughters.
The High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, convicted her after a five-week trial in 2023.
Dickason was found guilty of murdering her daughters, six-year-old Liané and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, at their Timaru home in September 2021.
She strangled them with cable ties and smothered them before attempting to take her own life with a knife and a cocktail of pills, reports The Citizen.
As per New Zealand Herald, High Court judge Justice Cameron Mander ruled that a life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years or more, would be an unjust sentencing for Dickason.
Instead, the convicted is to serve 18 years at a mental health facility, with eligibility for parole after six years – one third of her sentence.
During sentencing, Mander acknowledged Dickason’s diagnosis of major depressive disorder in her teens.
In a written statement read by her lawyers, Dickason accepted responsibility for murdering her daughters, expressing “the deepest and most sincere remorse” for the consequences of her actions.
“I loved Liané, Maya and Karla with all my heart. I failed them, I failed Graham, and I failed our families. I take responsibility for taking our three beautiful girls from this world,” said Dickason.
“I would like to take this opportunity to convey the deepest and most sincere remorse for the extreme pain and hurt caused to my children and my family by my actions,” she added.
The report adds that Dickason will remain at the facility until she is mentally well enough to be transferred to prison.
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