New Zealand man forgives his 'lovely' wife for killing their three children last week

A New Zealand man has already forgiven his wife for killing their three children last week.

Instead, orthopaedic surgeon Graham Dickason has started requesting others to pray for his wife Lauren Dickason who stands accused of murder of her three daughters- six-year-old Liane, and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla. Lauren, 40, is currently being kept at a psychiatric facility ahead of her next scheduled court appearance on October 5, reports Mail Online.

A candlelight vigil organised by the local community outside their home in Timary on Thursday night was attended by dozens of families, where the Reverend Alan Cummins read aloud a letter by Graham Dickason. In the letter, he wrote about his wife of 15 years, "Pray for strength and for healing, please also pray for my lovely Lauren, as I honestly believe that she is a victim of this tragedy as well. People who know her well will testify to that, I have no doubt. I have already forgiven her and I urge you, at your own time, to do the same."

Several young children had also attended the vigil, holding candles and putting flowers outside the deceased girls' house. In his message, Graham urged the parents of young kids to remember to let them play wildly and laugh. "Dear people of Timaru, my words are few at the moment. On Thursday the 16th of September 2021, my life and Lauren's was turned upside down when our three precious angels were ripped away from us. It is a loss that I will carry with me for the rest of my life," he had written.

Graham had returned home just before 10 pm on that fateful night last week to find the bodies of his three daughters. Neighbours called the police after they heard a man screaming and crying. Emergency services said that when they responded, they found Lauren Dickason, who was then hospitalised in stable condition and later charged by police.

Lauren's alleged crime came less than a week after the family moved into housing for medical professionals near the Timaru Hospital in New Zealand. The family had spent two weeks in a coronavirus quarantine hotel run by the military before shifting to the house, as they had travelled from South Africa.

Their neighbours speculate that being quarantined "for so long" with young children might have pushed Lauren to the edge leaving her unable to cope. Christine Wright, a patient of Graham from Africa was also at the recent vigil, where her husband Allan said that Lauren had assisted Graham in some surgeries and "seemed like a very nice person."

Mandy Sibanyoni, who worked as a childminder for the deceased children in South Africa, described the Dickasons as an "awesome family" with "wonderful kids," and said the only sign of stress she saw from Lauren was as a result of one of her daughters being born with a lip disfigurement, which needed surgical interventions. Sibanyoni said in an interview last week, "(both parents) loved their kids like nobody's business. I'm torn apart, a part of mine is gone. And it's like those kids, they are my kids too because I raised them."

"I don't know what to do about this because the only question that I've got now is, what happened? What went wrong? Because Lauren cared for her kids," she added.

Lauren's social media pages are also filled with happy pictures of herself with her husband and daughters. She had also spoken about coronavirus in some of the posts requesting people to get vaccinated. At her first court appearance at Timaru District Court on Saturday, she stood silently and looked drawn and distressed. She entered no plea and was remanded to a secure mental health unit until her next appearance.