It is claimed a mother who stands accused of murdering her three children allegedly sent a number of chilling texts about them, as she has taken an insanity plea in court.
As per the Daily Mail, 42-year-old Lauren Anne Dickason is on trial regarding the deaths of her three daughters - Liane, six, and twins Maya and Karla, both two - who she has been accused of murdering.
The children were found dead at their home in Timaru in New Zealand on September 16, 2021. Dickason has admitted that she killed the three children but denies that it was murder as her legal team seeks to get her a not guilty verdict by the reason of insanity.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the accused mother sent a series of shocking texts prior to the deaths of her children, allegedly detailing that she was frustrated by them.
Dating back to 2016, Dickason claimed via text that her children had "killed all the passion and a lot of the happiness," in her life and that she "wanted a day alone" as they were "making [her] crazy".
One message explained that she, along with her husband Graham, were going to put their foot down when it came to bad behavior, and alleged that the children had been hitting them.
"Our children will not abuse and scream at us and hit us any further," she wrote. "From [now] on they will get hidings and all their nice things will be held back until they start showing some respect.
"Tonight they threw corn at me and said the meat is disgusting. Then they hit me when I told them off. Maybe the twins are just in terrible twos but f***, they are going to kill me. I was so angry tonight, I was shaking."
Another message stated that Liane had kept her up all night and that she had sent her to school otherwise she would have "strangled her".
Expressing that the children "really tire me out physically and emotionally," Dickason appeared to suggest that she was suffering from depression.
"[The children] sniff me out wherever I go and if they can't find me they start screaming hysterically," another message read. "Other people make it all look so easy that I feel abnormal because I perceive it as intense and I struggle to enjoy it [being a mum to twins]."
The prosecution alleges that the text messages indicate that the killing of the three children was "methodically and purposefully, perhaps even clinically" carried out.
While acknowledging that the mother-of-three was depressed, they believe that she was sound of mind when her daughters were killed.
Dickason's lawyer Kerryn Beaton said: "This tragic event happened because Lauren was in such a dark place so removed from reality, so suicidal, and so disordered in her thinking that when she decided to kill herself that night, she thought she had to take the girls with her."
Following the discovery of the deceased children by her husband, Dickason was remanded in custody in a hospital's psychiatric unit and has remained there since.
The trial will proceed for the next two weeks and experts will determine whether Dickason was and is of sound mind.
