A New Zealand woman is convicted of murdering her 2 children and leaving their bodies in suitcases
Wellington, New Zealand (AP) – On Tuesday, a jury found a guilty woman in New Zealand Kill two children And leaving your bodies in suitcases Years before discovered.
The decision meant that the jury in the Supreme Court in Auckland rejected a defense of madness by lawyers for Hakyung Lee, who fled to South Korea after the murders. Returned to confront. The quick decision arrived hours after the jury members were sent to negotiate on Tuesday morning.
In June 2018, Lee was accused of killing 8 -year -old Minu Jo and Yuna Jo. Children’s ruins were found in a luggage in a abandoned storage unit in Auckland in August 2022.
Lee, a new Zealand citizen, traveled to South Korea and changed his name shortly after it was believed to have been killed in 2018. He was born in South Korea and had previously left with Ji Eun Lee.
The 45 -year -old woman was returned from South Korea in November 2022. He rejected the charges, and his lawyers argued that he was crazy during the murders.
Lee’s lawyers admitted that he had killed his children by giving anti-depressant drugs, but they said that deaths were “after madness”. Lee was always “fragile ,, Smith said, but after her husband’s death, mental illness worsened.
Prosecutors said Lee probably suffered from depression, but was not severe enough to support a madness defense. In New Zealand, such a claim requires a murder defendant to prove what they have done or what they are wrong.
Prosecutor Natalie Walker told the court that Lee’s actions were a “cold calculation .. Walker said Lee killed her children from selfishness and plans to start a new life without them.
Lee, in 2022, when he faced financial challenges, after stopping paying rent for an Auckland storage unit, children’s remains were discovered. The content of the cabinet was auctioned online and the buyers found the bodies inside.
After Tuesday’s decision, Justice Geoffrey Venning ordered Lee to remain in custody until he was sentenced on November 26th. The murder was sentenced to a mandatory lifetime imprisonment in New Zealand, and judges had to sentence at least 10 years of imprisonment for a criminal to apply for a conditional evacuation.
Venning said he would be sad for Lee when the hearing started on September 8, and that he would allow the proceedings to follow the proceedings from another room in the courthouse. According to New Zealand news organizations, he turned to the dock for the decision and leaned over and his hair covered his face.
