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Dickason murder trial: Accused’s husband grief-stricken on night of daughters’ killings – colleague
A work colleague of Graham Dickason has described finding the distraught father moments after he found his three daughters dead.
The Lauren Dickason triple murder trial continued into a fourth day in the High Court in Christchurch today.
The 42-year-old has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and infanticide to the murder of her two-year-old twin daughters Karla and Maya and their older sister, Liane, in September 2021.
Lauren Dickason, who is on trial for the killings. Photo: Pool / NZME/ George Heard
Several witnesses, including emergency service first responders, provided chilling testimonies today. It followed two days of evidence from the husband of the accused.
A written statement from Mark Cvitanich, a fellow orthopaedic surgeon who welcomed the Dickason family to Timaru in the days leading up to the deaths, was read to the court by Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae. Cvitanich remembered greeting the family when they arrived in Timaru on 11 September.
“The unit is a block of three on Queen Street, just across the road from the hospital, they were in the back unit down the driveway.
“They seemed like a nice family, I met Graham and Lauren and the children.
“The children were running around checking out the rooms.”
It would only be five days before tragedy would besiege his new work colleague. Cvitanich was the first person Dickason called after he discovered his girls dead in their beds. He drove to the house and saw a distraught Dickason sitting on the ground against the fence “screaming and crying”.
“I parked just past the driveway and [my wife] and I both got out.
“Graham was still sitting on the ground and his phone was beside him on the ground.
“Graham kept crying and saying ‘they’re dead’.”
Later in the day, his wife Cath Cvitanich gave evidence in court, where she broke down in tears as she recounted the night’s events.
“I just held him [Dickason]. I stayed with Graham and Mark called the police.
“At one stage I got up to speak to Mark, Graham got up to the end of the property and just fell into a seated position.
“He was crying and saying ‘my babies’ … he was really crying.”
Several emergency service workers, who responded on the night, also provided statements today. Constable William Turnbull was the first officer to enter the house.
“Two of the children were in individual beds with the sheets up around their chests and the third child was on the end of the right-hand side bed.
“I could see no signs of life in any of the three children.”
Attention then turned to the little girls’ mother Lauren Dickason. Police found her lying across the end of a single bed. Constable Alexandra Schrader told the jury she spent up to 10 minutes with Dickason, trying to get her to respond.
“She kept closing her eyes like she wanted to sleep.
“I told her she needed to keep her eyes open and she needed to talk to me, so I knew she was okay.”
Schrader described the woman’s speech as “quiet and muffled”.
The officer in charge of the crime scene Detective Scott Genet also gave evidence. The 12 jurors were shown photos of the Queen Street property during his testimony.
Genet said he saw the twins (Karla and Maya) tucked into their beds with soft toys and a blanket, and Liané laid across one of the beds about halfway up the bed.
The trial continues in the High Court on Friday.
RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
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