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More than 1000 people have joined a support group for triple child murderer Lauren Anne Dickason - and are planning to protest a month before she is sentenced to life in prison for killing her three little girls.��

Last month - following a five-week trial - the 42-year-old was found guilty of murdering Liané, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at the family’s new home in Timaru.��

Dickason systematically smothered the children to death - just weeks after emigrating to New Zealand - after an unsuccessful attempt at strangling each of them with cable ties.��

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

The 42-year-old doctor admitted killing the children but pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder, mounting a defence of insanity or infanticide.��

She maintained that she was so mentally disturbed at the time of the offending that she could not be held fully responsible.��

However, after hearing exhaustive evidence from Dickason, those closest to her and a number of experts a jury found Dickason guilty of murdering all three children.��

Dickason will be sentenced by Justice Cameron Mander to three life sentences - expected to be served concurrently - on December 19.��

The��Herald��has sought comment from Dickason on the verdict and the online support.��

Her lawyers today said - repeating their stance at the end of the trial - they were not in a position to make any comment on Dickason’s behalf.��

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Lauren Dickason moments before the jury delivered a majority verdict of murder. Photo / George Heard��

On that date he will be tasked with deciding her minimum non-parole period and where she will be detained.��

Since her first court appearance two days after the murder, she has been held at Hillmorton Hospital in a secure psychiatric unit.��

During her trial it was confirmed she remains under intense monitoring due to her risk of suicide, and is heavily medicated.��

Justice Mander has ordered a number of mental health and other reports about Dickason’s condition so he can ascertain where she should serve her sentence - or at least where she should start serving her time.��

Since the verdicts, more than 1000 people - mostly women - have joined a Facebook page supporting the murderer.��

“Support Lauren Dickason” was created in July 2022 and it is understood the killer’s father is among the members.��

South African media have reported that a recent discussion on the page related to organising a protest in Christchurch in November, a month before sentencing.��

A petition has also been launched demanding Justice Mander consider the “crisis” of post-partum depression when sentencing Dickason.��

As of this morning, it had 712 signatures.��

“By signing this petition, we acknowledge the precarious plight of women who suffer from this illness and its presence as a public health crisis,” wrote petition organiser Tanya Parker.��

“We plead with Justice Mander to consider this in his sentencing of Lauren.”��

People who have signed the petition have also left comments.��

“I would like to support Lauren as I am a mental health nurse. I understand it’s not easy to live with a mental illness,” said one woman.��

“When your brain is not working, emotions are high. She has done this crime when she is not in a good state. I hope she gets free and can go back to Africa (sic).”��

Lauren Dickason during her police interview. Photo / Pool��

Joanne Frazer wrote:��

“Having sat through much of Lauren Dickason’s trial, it is my opinion that she has been the victim of a huge miscarriage of justice.”��

Other people who put their names to the petition said - without having been present at the trial or hearing the full evidence - they felt Dickason was not treated fairly, her mental health was misunderstood and it was inappropriate for a jury of civilians to decide her fate with no expert knowledge or training of her disorder.��

Another person said Dickason “deserves our love and support.��

“She is unwell and needs treatment... she would be best served being returned to South Africa where she would have the support of family and friends.”��

Another stated: “I don’t think Lauren is guilty”.��

During her trial, her mental illness - a major depressive disorder - was not in question.��

Under New Zealand law Dickason must serve her sentence here and returning to South Africa would not be an option until such time - if ever - she is granted parole.��

If she is released she may be deported.��

The Dickason children. Photo / Facebook��

After the verdict was read in court Dickason’s parents Malcolm and Wendy Fawkes - who travelled to Christchurch from South Africa to attend every day of their daughter’s trial - released a statement.��

In it they said postpartum depression was “a terrible thing” and that had been shown by what happened to their family.��

“This was not our daughter, but a debilitating mental illness which resulted in an awful tragedy, the details of which you are by now well aware,” they said.��

“Our beloved Lianè, Karla and Maya were taken from this life to another as a result of this crippling disease.��

“There are no winners in this tragedy.��

“We would like to encourage families and individuals around the world to be aware of the symptoms of post-partum depression as early as possible, both for yourselves as well as close family and friends around you.��

“If treated early and managed correctly, people can experience a full recovery. The person experiencing depression and those closest to them may not be able to recognize the signs or how serious postpartum depression can become.”��

During the trial defence experts said Dickason was in the grips of postpartum depression when she killed the girls.��

But Crown experts refuted that, saying while she was certainly experiencing depression after the births of Lianè and the twins - the bouts were reoccurrences of the major depressive disorder Dickason was diagnosed with at 15.��

The King v Lauren Anne Dickason - the Crown and defence cases��

The Crown’s case was Dickason murdered the children in a “calculated” way because she was frustrated, angry and resentful of them.��

It acknowledged Dickason suffered from sometimes-serious depression, but maintained she knew what she was doing when she killed the girls.��

Crown Prosecutor Andrew��McRae alleged Dickason was an angry and frustrated woman who was “resentful of how the children stood in the way of her relationship with her husband”��and killed them “methodically and purposefully, perhaps even clinically”.��

The defence argued Dickason was a severely mentally disturbed woman in the depths of postpartum depression and did not know the act of killing the children was morally wrong at the time of their deaths.��

Further, it says she was “in such a dark place” she had decided to kill herself and felt “it was the right thing to do” to “take the girls with her”.��

The jury returned a majority verdict after two days of deliberation.��

They were convinced by the Crown case and found Dickason guilty of three counts of murder.��

SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION��

��Where to get help:��

•��: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)��
•��: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)��
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906��
•��: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234��
•��: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)��
•��: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)��
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737��If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111��