A psychiatric expert has told a jury Lauren Dickason was "out of touch with reality" when she killed her three daughters.

Dickason is on trial at the High Court in Christchurch accused of murdering her three young children in Timaru.

Doctor Susan Hatters-Friedman who focuses on why parents kill, has given evidence in support of Dickason's defence of insanity and infanticide.

The Herald's Anna Leask told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the court heard Dickason killed her children 'out of love.'

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