A doctor who recently moved with her family to New Zealand was charged Friday with killing three young girls who are reportedly her daughters.
Police say that Lauren Dickason, 40, killed 2-year-old twin daughters Maya and Karla and their sister, Liane, 6, at a house Thursday in Timaru, where the family had been for a week following their arrival from South Africa late last month and managed isolation and quarantine, local news agency Stuff reports.
The children’s bodies were found by Dickason’s husband, orthopedic surgeon Graham Dickason, late Thursday night and though emergency services quickly arrived, it was too late, according to the outlet.
Police search the driveway of a house where three children were found dead in the South Island town of Timaru, New Zealand, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Three young children who had just moved to New Zealand from South Africa have died in what police are investigating as homicide.
“Police would like to reassure the community that this was a tragic isolated incident and we are not seeking anyone else,” said Detective Inspector Scott Anderson in a statement, according to Stuff.
The property where the girls were found is believed to be used as housing for staff of the nearby hospital, according to the outlet, which was told tenants often “cycled through.”
The suspect was transported to nearby Timaru Hospital for treatment and was in stable condition there on Friday afternoon local time, Stuff reports.
Lauren Dickason’s parents, Wendy and Malcolm Fawkes, told the outlet Friday that they were “devastated.”
“The extended families are in a state of shock as we try to understand what happened,” they told Stuff. “We ask for your prayers and support during this very difficult time.”
Her parents also requested “privacy as we battle to come to terms with what has happened.”
Leave a Reply