Woman accused of killing her 2 children, filling their bodies in suitcases goes to trial

Wellington, New Zealand – A trial opened Monday in New Zealand for a woman accused of killing her two children and leaving her bodies in the suitcases for years before being discovered.

Hakyung Lee is accused of killing Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, in June 2018. He was extradited from South Korea to face the charges, which he denies.

The remains of the children were found inside the luggage in an abandoned storage unit in Auckland in August 2022. Lee, who is a citizen of New Zealand, had traveled to South Korea and changed his name in 2018, shortly after it is believed that the children were killed.

She was born in South Korea and was called Ji Eun Lee before.

On Monday a jury was elected for Lee’s trial in the Superior Court of Auckland, which is expected to take four weeks. Prosecutors must describe their case on Tuesday and said they would call 40 witnesses.

New Zealand media reported that Lee represented herself, although two lawyers were waiting to help her if necessary. She did not speak during the audience on Monday and shook her head, instead of responding through an interpreter, when asked how she declared the charges.

The non -guilty statements were admitted by Judge Geoffrey Venning, who presides.

The cause of death of children is still unknown. Judicial documents said they could have been killed by sleeping medications prescribed to Lee and detected in their bodies by forensic researchers, but no other cause of death has been ruled out, according to Radio New Zealand.

Lee’s husband died in 2017 after a period of health deterioration, according to RNZ. The Reuters news agency says that the reports that cite judicial presentations say that it died of cancer.

Judge Venning told the jury on Monday that they would probably be asked to consider the issue of Lee’s sanity at the time of the alleged murders, news things reported.

Venning said the trial would be distressing for Lee and has granted permission to see the procedures of another room in court, they said things.

The children The remains were discovered After Lee stopped paying the rental rates for the Auckland storage unit when he ran into financial difficulties in 2022, RNZ reported. The box content was auctioned online and buyers found the bodies inside.

Lee, who is 40 years old, was Arrested in September 2022 in South Korea and extradited two months later. He had granted written consent to be extradited after a formal application of New Zealand to return it to the face, South Korean officials said at that time.

The Ministry of Justice of South Korea said that it had provided New Zealand “important evidence” not specified in the case.

• New Zealand