Claims nothing seemed amiss with the Dickason family in the days before a mother killed her three children in Timaru

Lauren Dickason admits killing her daughters, but has pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity and infanticide.

The clinical director of orthopedics at the South Canterbury District Health Board has told the court he had hosted a barbeque to welcome the South African family to New Zealand.

Days later, he was the first person Graham Dickason called after he discovered the bodies of his daughters and his wife having attempted to take her own life.

He says the father was distraught, saying he believed his wife had killed the children.