The Dickason Family Tragedy: Herald podcast revisits Timaru triple murder

Graham and Lauren Dickason with their daughters Maya, Karla, and Liane.
In 2023, South African doctor Lauren Anne Dickason was found guilty of murdering her daughters Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home.
She and her husband, Graham, an orthopaedic surgeon, had emigrated to New Zealand only weeks earlier seeking a better, safer life for their young children.
Dickason killed the little girls 20 minutes after her husband left for a work function. He found the siblings dead in their beds when he arrived home.
Dickason admitted smothering the children, but claimed she was so mentally unwell she could not be held criminally responsible for their deaths.
After an exhaustive five-week trial last year, a jury rejected her defence of insanity or infanticide and convicted her of murder.
In this episode of A Moment In Crime, senior journalist Anna Leask looks back at the murders and the aftermath. Leask covered the story from the day the girls died, attending every day of Dickason’s high-profile trial and her later sentencing.
A Moment In Crime — The Dickason Family Tragedy is told in two parts.
In part one, Leask goes into the family’s background and what brought them to New Zealand, as well as what happened that awful day in 2021.
Part two will focus on Dickason’s trial, sentencing and what it was like inside the courtroom at pivotal moments. It will be released a week after part one.
The double episode contains descriptions of the Dickason children’s deaths and also refers to mental health, self-harm, pregnancy loss and fertility issues. Both parts of A Moment In Crime — The Dickason Family Tragedy are intended for mature audiences.
A Moment In Crime is written and hosted by Anna Leask, a senior Herald journalist specialising in crime and justice.
This episode was produced by Leask, NZME podcast production manage Ethan Sill and Leanne McDonald from NZME sound and vision.
If you have a crime or case you would like to hear more about, email [email protected].
Since 2019, A Moment in Crime has produced more than 55 episodes, and has been downloaded over 1 million times, with listeners in more than 170 countries. It was nominated for Best True Crime Podcast at the 2024 Radio and Podcast Awards.
A Moment in Crime is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released monthly.
The series is hosted by Anna Leask, a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. If you have a crime or case you would like to hear more about email [email protected].
Since 2019, A Moment in Crime has produced over 55 episodes, and has been downloaded over 1 million times, with listeners in over 170 countries. It was nominated for Best True Crime Podcast at the 2024 Radio and Podcast Awards.