The trial for a woman charged with murdering her three young daughters has started in the High Court at Christchurch.
Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly killed 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16.
Her husband, orthopaedic surgeon Graham Dickason, found the three children dead and his wife in a serious condition when he arrived home from a dinner with colleagues.
Jury selection began at 11am with Dickason present in court.
She was quiet and calm as the charges were read to her and as Justice Mander outlined the basic facts of the case to prospective jurors.
"The case is about the deaths of three little children... unavoidably there must be evidence traversing what happened to the children," he said.
"That evidence, while necessary, is likely to be challenging."
Once the jury has been empanelled Crown Prosecutor Andrew McRae will deliver his opening address.
Tomorrow the first witness will be called - Graham Dickason.
He will give evidence via audio-visual link from South Africa.
Members of the Dickason and Graham Dickason’s families have travelled from South Africa to attend the trial and are being supported in court by police.
The couple had emigrated to New Zealand from Pretoria and had only been in Timaru for two weeks - following a stint in MIQ - when the children died.
The Crown will argue Dickason, 41, murdered the children.
However, a defence of insanity or infanticide has been mounted - and it will be argued that Dickason was so mentally disturbed at the time the children died that she cannot be held criminally responsible.
After hearing from experts and witnesses from both sides, the jury will be tasked with making the final decision.
Currently, the details of the way the children died are suppressed.
It is expected that once the jury is presented with the summary of facts that suppression will lift and some of the information can be published.
