Lauren Dickason trial

Justice Mander summarised each expert’s evidence to the jury in chronological order.

Dr Susan Hatters-Friedman’s evidence for the defence was that Dickason had both an infanticide and insanity defence available to her. The psychiatrist found that Dickason was suffering from postpartum depression at the time, with the presence of psychotic delusions.

Dr Erik Monasterio for the Crown believed while she was disturbed at the time of the killings, Dickason did not have a relevant defence available to her as her disturbance was not to such an extent that she did not know what she was doing was morally wrong.

Monasterio’s evidence was also that Dickason’s postpartum depression had likely remitted by early 2021. However, in cross-examination, Monasterio conceded he could not be sure the postpartum depression had fully remitted by the time of the children’s deaths.

Dr Simone McLeavey, who was engaged by the court to assess Dickason and gave evidence for the Crown, said she was sure that Dickason’s postpartum depression had remitted by the time she killed her children.

The killings were a product of control on her part, McLeavey said, unrelated to reproductive issues, and she could feasibly understand that what she was doing was wrong.

Dr Justin Barry-Walsh for the defence said while Dickason had made steps to recovery from her postpartum depression in early 2021, he did not consider this to be a full remission. She then deteriorated midway through the year leading up to the children’s deaths, by which time she was severely depressed and departed from reality.

Psychologist Ghazi Metoui’s evidence for the defence was that Dickason's postpartum depression was chronic and to a severe level at the time of the killings. Dickason’s problems with depression were embroiled with her infertility and pregnancies, he said.

Metoui considered the balance of her mind was disturbed by the effects of childbirth, and that she met the threshold for infanticide.

Both Monasterio and McLeavey found Dickason was not psychotic at the time. The experts for the defence found there were elements of psychosis present to varying degrees.