And hundreds of messages sent to and received by Dickason in the lead-up to the alleged murders were read by police in court.
In many, Dickason speaks about having “rough” days with her children, being depressed, anxious, overwhelmed, emotional, stressed and tired - and often crying for long periods or being on the verge of tears.
The
messages span from 2016 to several hours before the children were killed - through the pandemic, lockdowns and growing political unrest and violent crime in South Africa, the family’s emigration process and a number of delays to them moving to New Zealand including having to reschedule flights twice due to the children testing positive for Covid.
She described having three young children as “a hard hard season”, saying there was “no time to just sit and talk” with her husband because “there is always a kid in the middle”.
There were also a number of positive messages sent by Dickason talking about how much she loved her children and how she was happy and “super excited” about their “new adventure” in New Zealand.
“We want to give our three little princesses for whom we have prayed so long and hard, the adventures of a lifetime,” Dickason told a friend
Police analysed hundreds of thousands of messages sent and received by Lauren Dickason.
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