A deranged doctor allegedly murdered her three daughters in their New Zealand home just weeks after the family moved there from South Africa, according to a disturbing new report.
Deranged New Zealand mother kills her three daughters in her home
Lauren Dickason, 40, an orthopedic doctor, killed her twin daughters Maya and Karla, 2, and older sister Liane, 6, in Parkside, a suburb of Timaru, Thursday, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Dickason was charged with the murder on Friday night local time and will appear in Timaru District Court on Saturday morning, the news outlet reported.
Lauren’s husband, Graham Dickason, an orthopedic surgeon, found the bodies when he returned home shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday.
He called for help when neighbors heard him yelling, “Is this really happening?”
His mother was taken to nearby Timaru hospital for treatment, where she was in stable condition on Friday, the media outlet reported.
The family arrived in New Zealand in late August and had only been in Timaru for a week, after emerging from the isolation and quarantine required of travelers arriving in the country at the height of the pandemic.
Both parents worked at Pretoria East Hospital in South Africa before coming to New Zealand, according to their Facebook profiles.
They also recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary, Stuff reported.
In a statement, Lauren Dickason’s parents, Wendy and Malcolm Fawkes, from South Africa, told Stuff they were “devastated” by the tragedy.
Maria Mandy Sibanyoni, who worked as a childminder for three years in their Pretoria home, told the Sunday Times she was “devastated” by what happened.
“I never saw any fighting in that family or anything like that,” she said. “We treated each other like family.
I was family too. There was nothing wrong.”
She said she had last spoken to Lauren in June, when the family was preparing to move to New Zealand.
