Appeal hearing date set as triple child killer Lauren Dickason nears parole eligibility

News
Crime

Author: Anna Leask,
Publish Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2026, 2:57pm

Triple child murderer Lauren Dickason will appeal her convictions at a hearing in Wellington in early 2027 – just months before she becomes eligible for parole.

In 2024, the South African-born doctor was found guilty of murdering her daughters Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home in September 2021.

Lauren Dickason appears for sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch for the murder of her three children. Photo / Pool

Dickason admitted smothering the children but claimed she was so mentally unwell she could not be held criminally responsible for their deaths.

After an exhaustive five-week trial last year, a jury rejected her defence of insanity or infanticide and convicted the 43-year-old of murder.

In June 2024, Justice Cameron Mander handed down a finite sentence of 18 years.

He did not impose a life sentence nor did he order her to serve a minimum term of imprisonment before she could seek parole.

He said that imposing a life sentence on the killer would be manifestly unjust – and that it was clear to him her mental illness was a causative factor in the deaths of the little girls.

The next month, Dickason took her case to the Court of Appeal in a bid to have her convictions overturned.

Graham and Lauren Dickason with their daughters, from left, Maya, Karla, and Liane.

Dickason’s case will be called in the Court of Appeal at Wellington on February 9, 2027.

The hearing is set down for three days.

An offender with a finite sentence and no minimum term becomes eligible for parole after serving one-third of their time.

The Parole Board earlier confirmed that Dickason’s official parole eligibility date has been recorded as September 19, 2027.

Dickason’s parole date falls just three years and two months after her sentencing.

Alongside her sentence, an order was made that Dickason be detained as a special patient in a secure forensic mental health unit at Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch.

There, she will continue to receive the medication and specialist treatment she requires for her major depressive disorder.

Lauren Dickason, as the jury delivered a majority verdict finding her guilty of murdering her three children. Photo / George Heard

Neither the medication nor specialist treatment would be available to Dickason in prison.

Justice Mander said if Dickason’s health improved to a point where she could be appropriately managed in prison, she should be transferred from the unit.

But at the time of sentencing – and to date – her treatment needs were deemed “complex”, and she remained at high risk of self-harm, requiring constant monitoring.

Dickason had emigrated to New Zealand from Pretoria, South Africa, with her daughters and then-husband Graham, an orthopaedic surgeon.

The family had only been in Timaru two weeks – following a stint in MIQ – when the children died.

Graham and Lauren Dickason with their daughters before the alleged murders. Photo / Facebook

Graham Dickason found the three children dead and his wife in a serious condition when he arrived home from a dinner with colleagues.

In January this year, it was reported that Graham Dickason had remarried in South Africa.

The Pretoria-born doctor has since moved back to South Africa to rebuild his life after his children were killed.

Sources close to him told South African publication You that he was a married man once again and his new wife’s identity was being kept quiet to protect her privacy, given the family’s high-profile history.

Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers Christchurch and Canterbury issues as well as national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, and homicides. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz