Lauren Dickason sentencing: Mum's apology for killing her kids - and the sentence that will leave you fuming Mum killed two-year-old twins and six-year-old She smothered them with pillows as they slept READ MORE: Mum's chillingly calm words to daughters before she killed them By Olivia Day For Daily Mail Australia Published: 05:57 BST, 26 June 2024 | Updated: 06:12 BST, 26 June 2024 e-mail 6 View comments A mum who killed her three young daughters by smothering them in their sleep has been given an 18-year prison sentence. Lauren Dickason, 41, was found guilty last August of murdering her two-year-old twins daughters, Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Lianè at their home in Timaru, New Zealand , on September 16, 2021. Dickason at first tried to kill her children using zip ties and then suffocated them with pillows.
She then placed them in their beds under the covers and tried to kill herself. She admitted to killing the girls but pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing she was experiencing post-partum depression and was mentally disturbed at the time. The judge ruled Dickason will spend 18 years - six for each daughter - detained in a mental health facility with no minimum term of imprisonment.
Justice Cameron Mander told the court that a life imprisonment with a minimum parole period of 17 years or more would be too unjust, the NZ Herald reports. He sentenced her to three determinate sentences of 18 years to be served concurrently and did not set a minimum term o.
