A jury has found a South African mother guilty of murdering her three young daughters in a case that shocked New Zealand.

Lauren Dickason, 42, had earlier admitted killing her two-year-old twin daughters Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Liane, at their home in Timaru on South Island nearly two years ago.

But she had pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing she was mentally disturbed at the time of the killings and did not know that what she was doing was wrong.

Prosecutors, however, pointed to Dickason’s troubling phone messages and online history in the weeks before the killings, including comments about wanting to kill her children and Google searches for “most effective overdose in kids”.

Dickason and her husband Graham Dickason, both qualified medical professionals, had moved from South Africa to New Zealand just days before the murders, seeking a more stable lifestyle away from the turmoil in their home country.

Jurors at Christchurch High Court heard Lauren Dickason at first tried to kill her children using zip ties and then suffocated them with pillows.

She then placed them in their beds under the covers and tried to kill herself.

Graham Dickason, an orthopaedic surgeon, returned from a work dinner to find his children dead.

He later told police that he knew his wife was struggling with her mental health and with motherhood but had no idea she was capable of killing.

The guilty verdict came after a four-week trial.

Jurors rejected Dickason’s legal defences under New Zealand’s insanity and infanticide laws.

The verdict was not unanimous, with jurors voting 11-1 in favour of conviction, a split allowed under New Zealand laws.

Dickason faces a sentence of life imprisonment.

Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported that Dickason was motionless in the dock as the verdict was read out at Christchurch High Court, and then cried quietly as she left.

Jurors could also be heard crying, RNZ reported.

Dickason’s parents issued a statement saying the deaths were the result of their daughter’s debilitating mental illness.

“We would like to encourage families and individuals around the world to be aware of the symptoms of postpartum depression as early as possible, both for yourselves as well as close family and friends around you,” parents Malcolm and Wendy Fawkes said in the statement, RNZ reported.

Detective Inspector Scott Anderson said police wanted to express their deepest sympathies to family members who would never get to see Liane, Maya, and Karla grow up and live out their lives.

“Words cannot begin to express the tragic circumstances of this investigation,” Detective Inspector Anderson said in a statement.

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-PA