The Crown has closed its case seven days into the High Court trial of Lauren Dickason.
Warning - This story contains distressing details that may upset some readers.
Dickason, 42, is accused of murdering her three young girls, six-year old Liane and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, in Timaru in 2021.
She has pleaded not guilty, and is using the defences of insanity and infanticide.
Defence lawyer Anne Toohey told the jury her decision to kill them was impulsive.
She did not plan it, Toohey argued.
"In her mind she was killing them out of love because she was killing herself she did not want to leave her children behind. She was so sure this was the right thing to do that she persisted in killing her children even when Liane asked her not to and reminded her that she was a good mother, she had no emotional response to that."
The lawyer posed the question, "Why did she kill her three beautiful girls she fought so hard for with brutal IVF treatments?"
She told the jury three defence experts will answer that question.
It told the jury that in Dickason's mind she killed her daughters out of love. (Source: 1News)
"Lauren was severely mentally unwell on that night. There is no question about that.
"If you find that Lauren's mind was disturbed at the time this happened due to post-partum depression then this is not murder, it's infanticide."
She continued, if the jury accepts she didn’t know what she was doing when she killed was morally wrong, then they would have to find her insane and therefore not guilty of murder or infanticide.
"You will hear that Lauren said to a psychiatrist that she did not want to leave her children without a mum, she also wanted to save her children from suffering from her being such a bad mother."
After she killed her children, and had given a police interview the next day, she was committed to Hillmorton Hospital.
She refused to eat, dropping to 47kg and was on a round the clock watch and couldn’t be left alone.
"For a long time after this happened Lauren continued to tell psychiatrists that while she felt guilty and remorseful she still felt it was best for her girls that they had died," Toohey said.
Defence witnesses from the Dickason family have begun to give evidence.
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