‘Waiting for death’: Taekwondo instructor guilty of triple-murder refuses to look at his victim’s loved ones as they speak of crushing grief
The family of a husband and wife killed by a former taekwondo instructor and a 7-year-old boy say they will spend the rest of their lives “waiting for death.”
The killer refused to meet the gaze of his victims’ loved ones as the court was told of their overwhelming pain.
Kwang Kyung Yoo, 51, admitted murdering 41-year-old Min Cho and a seven-year-old child at Yoo’s North Parramatta taekwondo studio, as well as Ms Cho’s husband, 39-year-old Steven Cho, at his home in Baulkham Hills in February last year.
His motivation for the gruesome murders was not detailed in an agreed statement of facts submitted to the court.
Yoo, who has previously admitted horrific crimes, appeared before the NSW Supreme Court bench for a sentencing hearing on Thursday morning. Just a few feet away, some of Mr. and Mrs. Cho’s loved ones filled the courtroom.
Ms. Cho’s family spoke of their overwhelming pain in a heartbreaking victim impact statement read to the court by a family friend, first in Korea and then in English by a member of a murder victims support group.
They said, “We feel like we are dead” since the day the murders were committed, and the little happiness and laughter have disappeared from their lives.
“All that remains is unbearable pain and endless despair,” the statement said.
“We can never go back to the happy times we once shared.
“(We) will spend the rest of our lives waiting for death in tears and pain.”
The woman frequently glanced at Yoo, who had her head bowed as she read the statements.
Relatives of the victims wiped away tears as they looked at the ground.
“Your Honor, our family is already shattered,” the statement said.
“What is left of our lives has no meaning for us. We collectively ask you to make a fair and decisive decision that will at least to some extent remedy the injustice suffered by our children.
“Our hearts break when we think of the horror and pain our children experienced in their final moments.
“Their screams were still echoing in our ears as their lives were unjustly taken away from them. How will we, as parents, endure such unbearable pain?”
‘I’m angry at heaven’: Brother’s heartbreaking words
In his statement, Ms. Cho’s brother spoke directly to his younger sister, saying that he never told her how much he loved her.
“My mother’s dressing table is full of tissues that brought her to tears every day when she thought of you,” she said in a statement read on her behalf.
“I still can’t believe it, what should I do? How will I live?”
He said he felt “torn apart” and no longer had the motivation to face each day.
“Whenever I was in trouble, I knew I could reach out to you, my only little sister. Now I’m left alone: what do I do?” he said.
“I get choked up just thinking about it.”
He questioned why he and his family had been punished so harshly, saying “I resent Heaven, I resent it so much”.
“Why should I live, why are we being punished so severely?” he said.
“You have always been my precious, adorable little sister… but I have never shown you how much I care.
“Your Honor, our family lives in great pain every day, barely able to stand. I implore you to bring justice for wrongful deaths.”
‘The car has arrived’
Court documents revealed Yoo, who ran the Lion’s Taekwondo and Martial Arts Academy in North Parramatta, was obsessed with wealth.
He lied about competing in the Olympics and his academic record, according to the documents.
He also lied about his wife being given a BMW as a work car from the primary school where she worked part-time, when in reality he had taken Ms. Cho’s car after killing her.
After the other parents and students left the taekwondo studio, Yoo strangled Ms. Cho in a storage room and dragged her body into the office.
He then strangled the seven-year-old boy in the warehouse.
Later that evening, Yoo called his wife to tell her that “the car had arrived” and took Ms. Cho’s keys.
He drove to Ms Cho’s Baulkham Hills home and broke in, stabbing Mr Cho to death when he returned home.
He also inflicted blows on Mr. Cho’s head, neck and chest; Mr. Cho stabbed Yoo in self-defense before he was killed.
After the murders, Yoo returned home and called his wife, saying, “I was stabbed with a knife.”
He took himself to Westmead Hospital and was treated for a collapsed lung and stab wounds.
He claimed to police that he had been stabbed by three men in the car park of a North Parramatta Woolworths; but after officers watched the CCTV footage they quickly realized this was a lie.
More to come
