Lauren Anne Dickason Wiki & Latest News

Lauren Anne Dickason is a South African woman infamous for strangling her three children to death in New Zealand.

Dickason is currently facing a murder trial in New Zealand, having pleaded guilty by reason of insanity or infanticide. She claims she did not know her actions were wrong at the time she took them due to her mental challenges.

In this article, Nigeriabombshell.com breaks down Lauren Anne Dickason wiki & biography, her crime, latest news, parents, dr Graham Dickason, children etc.

Lauren Anne Dickason wiki

Lauren Anne Dickason is a South African doctor who killed her three daughters in New Zealand and is currently on trial.

Lauren Anne Dickason (neé Fawkes) was born some 42-years ago in South Africa to her parents, Malcom and Wendy Fawkes. Not much is known about her early life and education but she did manage to study to become a doctor. Lauren Anne Dickason was a qualified doctor and General Practioner in Pretoria.

After her studies, she met another doctor known as Dr Graham Dickason and they got married.

The couple welcomed three children – daughters, Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla Dickason.

In August 2021, Dr Graham Dickason emigrated with his family to Timaru, a city in the South Island of New Zealand, after getting a position at Timaru Hospital.

The couple rented a home in Timaru and Dr Dickason started his new job.

One month later, on September 16, 2021, Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly smothered her three daughters to death in their beds while her husband attended a work function. She was arrested and charged with three counts of murder the next day and appeared in the Timaru District Court on September 18, 2021.

Lauren Anne Dickason pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity or infanticide to the three counts of murder. Her defence team argue she’s suffered from depression and other mental disorders for a good chunk of her life and was suffering a severe mental breakdown at the time of the murders.

She was subsequently remanded to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and later transferred to the Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch for psychiatric evaluation ever since.

Dr Lauren Anne Dickason’s murder trial has captivated two nations and shocked the world. Her trial, after several delays, began on July 17th 2023 at the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Graham Dickason, for his part, is said to have forgiven his wife. He released a statement calling her a ‘victim’ as well and urging others to forgive her.

“In this time of terrible tragedy and adversity, I can only ask for prayer for myself, my family, and my friends – prayer for strength, and for healing. Please also pray for my lovely Lauren, as I honestly believe that she is a victim of this tragedy as well. People that know her well will testify to that – I have no doubt.

“I’ve already forgiven her, and I urge you, in your own time, to do the same. It is the key to healing from this loss we have all experienced,” Dr Graham Dickason said.

Lauren Dickason latest news trial

The trial of Lauren Anne Dickason for the murder of her three children commenced today, Monday, July 17th 2023 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The New Zealand reported on the trial in a comprehensive piece which read…

Lauren Anne Dickason gathered her three young daughters in a room and then smothered them to death one by one, just minutes after her husband left their Timaru home to attend a work dinner.

Dr Lauren Dickason has admitted killing 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla on September 16, 2021.

However, she denies it was murder and is mounting a defence of insanity or infanticide, claiming that at the time she killed the children, she was severely mentally disturbed and did not know what she was doing was morally wrong.

Dickason’s trial began at the High Court in Christchurch today before Justice Cameron Mander as she faces three counts of murder.

Until today much of the detail about how the children were killed has been suppressed but for the first time, some disturbing details of how Lauren Dickerson murdered her own brood was released in open court.

According to the prosecution, Dickason and her husband emigrated from South Africa after he accepted a job at Timaru Hospital.

They spent time in managed isolation and were released on September 11, 2021.

The day the girls died Graham Dickason left home at 7pm to attend a work function, leaving his wife alone with the girls.

Crown Prosecutor Andrew McRae soon after her husband Graham left, Lauren Anne Dickason used cable ties to try and asphyxiate the girls.

“When they failed to die by way of the cable ties being applied, the defendant smothered the girls with their blankets before she made an attempt on her own life,” he revealed.

Graham Dickason found his children dead in their beds when he arrived home just before 10pm.

“There is no doubt in this case that the defendant was responsible for killing her own children – the issue is whether she intended to kill the children in anger … frustration … or resentment for how they were getting in the way of her relationship,” McRae said.

He said it was likely Dickason was “suffering from a major depressive episode” but the Crown believed she knew what she was doing and intended to kill her daughters.

“She knew what she was doing before, during and after – she acted methodically … even clinically.

“There is no medical evidence here.”

McRae said Dickason was diagnosed with an intermittent mood disorder some years ago and set high standards for herself, struggling with perfectionism.

But by March 2021, Dickason was controlling her mental health issues with a lifestyle and health plan and was off medication for the first time in 12 years.

She often commented to friends about the impact the children had on her life and her relationship with her husband.

“She felt that the children favoured Dr Dickason and the Crown says she was resentful for that,” McRae said.

McRae added that Lauren Anne Dickason had a lifelong issue with anxiety and perfectionism.

“The unpredictable nature of children clashed strongly with that … the defendant was angry at her children … for not listening and for jumping on the couch.

“The pressure she was under made her snap – the anger was bubbling over … she was resentful at the way the children got in the way of her relationship with her husband.”

Cellphone records obtained during the police investigation gave an insight into Dickason’s anger towards her kids.

“The number of these messages and the type of messages … along with internet searches and her statement to police … ultimately what she has admitted to the children shows a relationship with the children was loving at times and fraught at others.

“The message shows Mrs Dickason harboured resentment and anger towards her children when they were misbehaving.”

One message from when Liané was young highlighted that further.

Lauren Dickason messaged a friend saying she was going to start the child on augmentin because she was keeping her mother awake at night.

“She moans all the f**king time,” Dickason before referencing strangling the child.

In another message, she said: “I’m afraid one day I will smack her too hard”.

She spoke of screaming so loud at the children after the twins were born that Liané became scared of her.

She said with three children she was “outnumbered” and spoke of the financial and other pressures.

“Three kids has really killed all the passion and a lot of the happiness,” she said.

Lauren Anne Dickason also expressed many times in other texts her frustration with the kids and her just trying not to ‘murder them’.

On one occasion a friend asked her what Netflix show she was watching and Dickason replied, and said it was, “very good – otherwise I’m just trying not to murder the twins”.

She also spoke of murdering the twins or all three children in various other messages including:

“It feels like my fuse is so short… I want to explode over the smallest things.”

“I regularly want to smack mine but Graham stops me.”

McRae said messages to her best friend the night before the girls die were “revealing” and “a chief indicator” of what was running through Dickason’s mind.

“Our kids are driving us crazy, they are wild, cheeky and disobedient. Graham and I are run down.”

They spoke about a couple they knew who had separated as a result of stress with their children.

“I would rather divorce my children,” Dickason wrote.

“I wish I could give them back and start over, I would decide differently.”

The jury also heard how Dickason searched the internet while still in South Africa about drugs that could be used to overdose children.

Meanwhile, the defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC also gave a short opening statement to the jury.

She said a full defence opening would occur later in the trial, but she wanted them to know Dickason was a loving mother and wife who went through 17 rounds of IVF to have her daughters.

“And yet she killed them … and it was violent and it was prolonged. But afterwards she put them in their beds, tucked them in with their soft toys.

“This is brutal and confronting. You will be rightly shocked and horrified…but the truth is that Lauren Dickason… wanted those children very much and she loved her family.”

Beaton said when Lauren Dickason killed the girls she was suffering a severe breakdown in her mental health.

“Not only did she think she had to kill herself, she thought she had to take the girls with her,” she said.

Beaton said Dickason had raised fears with her husband and health professionals about thoughts of killing the girls.

She said Dickason was “not a bad person” and by the time of the alleged murders she was “very unwell”.

“But tragically no one realised how unwell she was until it was too late,” she said.

Beaton will elaborate more on Dickason’s mental state and history after the Crown case closes.

She rejected the Crown’s portrayal of her client.

“If she just wanted more time with her husband, then why try and kill herself?” she said. “Lauren was in such a dark place, so removed from reality, so disorder in her thinking… that when she decided to kill herself that night she thought she had to take the girls with her.”

Dr Graham Dickason

Dr Graham Dickason is a South African orthopaedic surgeon who immigrated to New Zealand with his wife Lauren Anne Dickason and three daughters in August 2021.

He is currently grieving the loss of his children, who were allegedly killed by his wife in September 2021.

Dr Graham Dickason is 42 years old and was born in South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Pretoria and graduated in 2004. He worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at Pretoria East Hospital Orthopaedic Theatre and later at Life Wilgers Hospital.

Graham Dickason married Lauren Anne Dickason, a general practitioner, in 2006 and they had three daughters: Liane, 6, and twins Maya and Karla.

He and his family moved to Timaru, a city in the South Island of New Zealand, in August 2021, where he got a job at Timaru Hospital.

On September 16, 2021, he returned home from work and found his three daughters dead in their beds. His wife Lauren Dickason was arrested and charged with three counts of murder.

He wrote a heartfelt letter that was read out at a candlelight vigil in Timaru on September 23, 2021, in which he said he had forgiven his wife and that she was also a victim of the tragedy. He also thanked the people of Timaru, New Zealanders, South Africans and many people from all over the world for their kindness and support.

The letter read: “My words are few at the moment. On Thursday the 16th of September 2021 my life and Lauren’s were turned upside down when our three precious angels were ripped away from us. It is a loss that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

“I’ve already forgiven her, and I urge you, in your own time, to do the same. It is the key to healing from this loss we have all experienced.

“For the people touched and affected by this – look after yourself. Look after your wives, your husbands, your partners. Look after your children. For those with faith in Jesus Christ – hold on to that. For the parents with young kids – remember them. Remember to let them run free, remember to let them play wild, allow them to laugh as much as they can. And they are never too young to be introduced to Jesus.

“I thank you for your love and support.”

Dr Dickason also thanked “the people of Timaru, New Zealanders, South Africans and many people from all over the world” for their kindness and support.

Dr Graham Dickason returned to South Africa in November 2021 and shared some photos on his Facebook page of him relaxing in the Bushveld with a goat.

Meanwhile, Dr Lauren Anne Dickason’s trial date has been set for July 17, 2023, at the High Court in Christchurch. She has pleaded not guilty and is mounting a defence of insanity or infanticide.

Graham is currently staying with his parents in Pretoria and is receiving counselling and support from his family and friends.

Lauren Dickason Parents

Lauren Anne Dickason parents are Wendy and Malcom Fawkes.

The parents of Lauren Dickason released a statement expressing shock following her murder of her three children in New Zealand.

“The extended families are in a state of shock as we try to understand what happened. We ask for your prayers and support during this difficult time,” Lauren Dickason parents Wendy and Malcom Fawkes said in a statement.

“We would also request privacy as we battle to come to terms with what happened,”

Meanwhile, neighbours back in South Africa expressed shock over the incident with Lauren described as a very soft, introverted person.

“I cannot comprehend what happened – she is a medical doctor and she wasn’t arrogant or anything like that. She was very humble,” said former colleague and neighbour, Natasja le Roux.

She said the couple struggled to conceive their children.

“They waited years for those children because she had troubles with fertility and stuff, so it really is a big shock,” she said.

She said Lauren Anne Dickason had a lot of support when she was in SA.

“The nicest person it could happen to is that woman; she was really just a nice person, she and her husband,” said Le Roux.

A neighbour who lived in the same area as the couple said they adored their children.

“They absolutely adored those children. They were so grateful for having them because they struggled to get pregnant and when they finally got the children, they loved them,” she said.

The neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, described Lauren Anne Dickason as a lovely person.

“Something just doesn’t seem right to us. We don’t know what happened. There is not a lot of information, but they are kind people.

“Something just doesn’t add up. I don’t know if it’s the stress from New Zealand, moving there, being quarantined for so long and everything – just not coping with that going on. So I think whatever happened is not normal, it wasn’t normal circumstances,” the neighbour said.