A woman who murdered her 2 children and left them in suitcases is jailed for at least 17 years
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A woman in New Zealand He was found guilty of murdering his two children And Leaving their bodies in suitcases He faces at least 17 years in prison before being discovered, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Geoffrey Venning told Hakyung Lee at a High Court hearing in Auckland that he would begin his sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility under New Zealand’s compulsory mental health treatment law. The judge said Lee should return to prison when he is sufficiently recovered.
A jury in September found Lee guilty of killing 6-year-old Minu Jo and 8-year-old Yuna Jo and rejected his insanity defense. His lawyers argued on Wednesday for a reduced sentence due to mental illness, saying their client was ashamed of his crimes and had been isolated and threatened in jail.
But the judge told Lee that he was undoubtedly suffering from severe depression when he killed the children in 2018, but his actions were deliberate and calculated, news outlet Stuff reported. A successful insanity defense in New Zealand requires a murder defendant to prove that he was either unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong or that he was wrong.
The child’s remains were discovered after Lee stopped paying rent for a storage unit in Auckland in 2022 when he ran into financial difficulties. The contents of the closet were auctioned online and buyers discovered the bodies inside.
After the murders, Lee fled to South Korea, where he changed his name. extradited for trial. She is a New Zealand citizen who was born in South Korea and formerly went by the name Ji Eun Lee.
During the hearingLee’s lawyers acknowledged that Lee killed the children by administering antidepressant medication, but attorney Lorraine Smith said the deaths occurred after her client “began to go crazy,” local news outlets reported. Lee was always “fragile,” Smith said, but her mental illness worsened after her husband’s death.
In New Zealand, those convicted of murder are automatically sentenced to life imprisonment; judges set a period of at least 10 years for the defendant to apply for parole. Judge Venning ruled that Lee must serve at least 17 years in prison.
While the children’s uncle, Jimmy Sei Wook Jo, was in court, a lawyer read a statement on his behalf.
“I never thought such a profound tragedy would happen to our family,” the statement said, according to local news sources. “I feel like I can’t take care of my niece and nephew.”
The prosecutor read a statement from Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, who spoke of her devastation when she learned what had happened to the children.
“I felt a bone-cutting pain or as if someone was carving out my chest,” the woman said, according to local news. “I don’t know when this pain and suffering will heal, but most of the time I think I can carry it with me until I die.”
After Wednesday’s hearing, New Zealand police thanked authorities in South Korea for their assistance in the investigation.
“Yuna and Minu would be 16 and 13 years old today,” said Det. Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the wider family today over the tragic loss of these two young children.”
