The first responders who attended the home of Lauren Dickason on the night she killed her three little girls have detailed what they found when arriving at the home.
Lauren Dickason killed their three daughters in September 2021. She has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, and is using a defence of insanity and infanticide.
The fourth day of the High Court trial in Christchurch began with a statement written by Mark Cvitanich, clinical director at Timaru Hospital.
He had been out with the children's father, Graham Dickason, that evening and was the first person the shocked father called.
"I'd only been home for approximately five minutes when Graham phoned me. Graham was crying and it was hard to understand him. He was really distraught."
His comments were shared in court by Crown Prosecutor Andrew McRae.
He read, "he said something along the lines of, 'I think she's killed my kids, I think they're dead'. He then said 'I need your help now'."
Cvitanich and his wife rushed to the Dickason’s home.
"I could see him sitting on the ground against the fence and I could hear him screaming and crying."
"Graham kept crying and saying, 'they're dead'. He was really distressed."
On day three of the trial, Graham Dickason has continued to give evidence via video link from Pretoria, South Africa. (Source: 1News)
"Kathy asked him where Lauren is, and Graham said he thought she was dead too."
He said Graham Dickason continued to mumble and cry, before asking, "how could someone do that?".
First officer on the scene
They called emergency services. Constable William Turnbull was the first officer on the scene, and asked for permission to enter the house.
“I looked in the room on my right, it appeared to be a child's room and I observed an adult female lying perpendicular across the end of the bed."
He noticed the adult female's chest was rising and falling and made the triage decision to delay treating her, before entering the room where the children were.
“I observed three young children in the room all were female. Two of the children were in individual beds with the sheets up around their chests. The third child was on the end of the right hand side bed."
He told police communications there were no signs of life from any of them.
He then went back to Lauren Dickason in the other bedroom, and tried to speak to her.
“She opened her eyes. I had to speak quite loudly. I observed no injuries on the female. She seemed drowsy and was able to partially sit up."
Constable Alexandra Schrader was asked to remain with Lauren Dickason.
Mother 'sleepy, weak, pale'
“She kept closing her eyes like she wanted to sleep," Schrader told the court.
"I told her she needed to keep her eyes open and she needed to talk to me so I knew she was okay."
She described the mother as "sleepy, weak, pale", and said her voice was muffled.
Cathy Cvitanich arrived at the Dickason home after her husband Mark was called by the distressed Graham Dickason telling him his wife had killed their children. (Source: 1News)
The officer continued to reassure her until ambulance staff arrived.
Paramedic Hayley Hooper told the court Lauren Dickason presented in a catatonic state, and all her vital sign were within normal limits.
A decision was made to walk Lauren Dickason to a waiting ambulance. She was taken 300m down the road to Timaru Hospital for assessment, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit.
Many of the first responders took moments to compose themselves throughout their evidence.
"I'm just gonna take a wee breather," one of them said, partway through reading their statement.
Before cross examining one of the officers, defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton acknowledged them coming to give evidence.
Evidence on day 4 of the three week trial continues.
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