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Speaker 1: Heather due to see Allen for the murderer. Lauren Dickerson

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Speaker 1: says she's horrified by her actions. She misses her daughters

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Speaker 1: every single day. She has been sentenced today to eighteen

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Speaker 1: years with no minimum parole period, which means she could

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Speaker 1: be out after six years. She murdered her six year

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Speaker 1: old leone and her two year old twins Maya and

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Speaker 1: Carla and Timaru. In September twenty twenty one. Newstalk zb's

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Speaker 1: reported Blake Benny was in court today.

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Speaker 2: Hey Blake, Hi Heather, how are you well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? Did the judge explain how he landed on

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Speaker 1: this sentence?

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Speaker 2: Yes, Justice Camermanda says he considered a vast range of

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Speaker 2: material and legal points and believed it would be manifestly

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Speaker 2: unjust to sentence Lauren to life imprisonment, which brings a

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Speaker 2: minimum non parole period of seventeen years or more. And now,

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Speaker 2: as you mentioned, of course, she was instead sentenced to

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Speaker 2: serve three eighteen year sentences concurrently with no minimum non

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Speaker 2: parole period, so that means Lauren's actually eligible for parole

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Speaker 2: after a third of her sentence has been served, so

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Speaker 2: in this case six years, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, She's starting the sentence in a mental health facility.

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Speaker 1: Is she at any point going to go to jail.

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Speaker 2: At some point? So she will be detained at christ

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Speaker 2: Church's Helmrton Hospital. There she'll undergo compulsory treatment. In following that,

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Speaker 2: mental health experts will make that call on whether she's

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Speaker 2: reached the point of actually being mentally well enough to

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Speaker 2: then be transferred to prison.

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Speaker 1: Before the sentence was actually handled down, there were a

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Speaker 1: whole bunch of victim impact statements who submitted them.

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Speaker 2: So there were eight victim impact statements read today, mostly

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Speaker 2: from family. A few have been suppressed, but what I

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Speaker 2: can tell you is one included Lauren's husband, Graham Dickerson.

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Speaker 2: He's moved back to South Africa, but attended via a

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Speaker 2: video link with the statement read on his behalf. He

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Speaker 2: said Lauren lost everything he has and he actually decided

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Speaker 2: early on to forgive her, saying having to live with

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Speaker 2: knowing what she did is severe enough punishment. Those sentiments

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Speaker 2: were echoed by Lauren's father, Malcolm Forks, when he bids

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Speaker 2: the court for mercy in its sentence. What was really

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Speaker 2: evident though he through most of the victim impact statements

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Speaker 2: from family, is the feeling that not only did they

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Speaker 2: lose the three young girls, but they lost Lauren two

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Speaker 2: and are still grieving their loss or her loss?

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Speaker 1: How did she appear in court today?

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Speaker 2: Little to no emotion on her face when that sentence

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Speaker 2: was delivered, and throughout the entire hearing, to be honest,

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Speaker 2: although there was clear emotion as she reacted to some

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Speaker 2: of those really tough to listen to victim impact statements.

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Speaker 2: Throughout those she was turned around and facing those speaking

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Speaker 2: directly otherwise very stylet throughout.

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Speaker 1: And she herself apologized and court today didn't she?

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Speaker 2: Yes? So after the sentence, seeing her defense counsel released

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Speaker 2: a statement on her behalf and that she took responsibility

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Speaker 2: for her actions and said she failed her three daughters.

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Speaker 2: She acknowledged no apology will ever be enough and while

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Speaker 2: her words mate will seem hollow to many, she is

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Speaker 2: horrified by the pain, distress, and trauma caused to so many.

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Speaker 2: Lauren said she will do whatever it takes to improve

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Speaker 2: her mental health and urged other women experiencing postpartum depression

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Speaker 2: symptoms to tell their loved ones so a similar pain

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Speaker 2: can be avoided.

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Speaker 1: Blake, thank you so much for running us through That's

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Speaker 1: black Beny News Talks, eb's reporter in court. For more

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Speaker 1: from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk

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Speaker 1: Said Bee from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio