A mother who killed her two children and hid them in suitcases receives life imprisonment with 17-year minimum parole in New Zealand.
AUCKLAND: A mother who murdered her two children and concealed their bodies in suitcases stored in a locker received a life imprisonment sentence on Wednesday.
Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty earlier this year in the case known as the country’s “suitcase murders”.
High Court judge Geoffrey Venning sentenced Lee to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Justice Venning noted she had killed children who were “particularly vulnerable”.
The 45-year-old Lee showed little reaction as the sentence was handed down while flanked by security guards and a translator.
Lee killed her son Minu Jo and daughter Yuna Jo, aged six and eight, with an overdose of prescription medication in 2018.
Their bodies remained undiscovered until 2022 when an unsuspecting family opened an abandoned storage locker they purchased at auction.
Lee had changed her name and fled to South Korea before being extradited to face trial in New Zealand.
The sentencing hearing revealed how the murders had left deep emotional scars on Lee’s family.
Lee’s mother Choon Ja Lee asked in a statement read to the court, “If she wanted to die why didn’t she die alone?”
“Why did she take the innocent children with her?”
Lee’s brother-in-law said the children’s other grandmother had cancer and remained unaware of the murders.
Sei Wook Cho described his “daily existence is a time bomb of fear” that the grandmother would discover the truth.
“It was my late brother’s will that I protect them,” his statement read.
“This is an ongoing sentence from which I can never be paroled.”
The trial focused not on whether Lee committed the murders, which she confessed to, but whether she understood her actions were morally wrong.
Her lawyers argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming her husband’s 2017 death triggered a depressive spiral.
A forensic psychiatrist testified about Lee’s depression, suicidal thoughts, guilt, and belief that killing her children was right.
The prosecution countered that she knew her actions were wrong, citing her efforts to hide the bodies and flee the country. – AFP
