Mother who murdered her 2 children and left them in suitcases sentenced to prison in New Zealand

A woman in New Zealand who was convicted of murdering his two children and leaving his bodies in suitcases for years before being discovered will spend at least 17 years in prison, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge Geoffrey Venning said Hakyung Lee at the High Court hearing in Auckland City that would begin his sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility, under New Zealand’s compulsory mental health treatment law. Lee must return to prison when he recovers sufficiently, the judge said.

“You couldn’t cope when [your husband] “She became seriously ill and perhaps could not bear to have the children around her as a constant reminder of her former happy life, which had been cruelly taken from her,” the judge said, according to BBC News.

In September, a jury found Lee guilty of the murders of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, rejecting the insanity defense. Her attorneys on Wednesday asked for a reduced sentence because of her mental illness, saying their client felt ashamed of her crimes and had been isolated and threatened in jail.

However, the judge told Lee that although he was undoubtedly experiencing severe depression when killed the children In 2018, his actions were deliberate and calculated, news outlet Stuff reported. In New Zealand, a successful insanity defense requires a murder defendant to prove that they were incapable of understanding what they were doing or that it was wrong.

The children’s remains were discovered after Lee stopped paying the rent on an Auckland. storage unit when it ran into financial difficulties in 2022. The contents of the locker were auctioned online and buyers found the bodies inside.

Lee fled to South Korea after the murders, where she changed her name, before being extradited to stand trial. She is a New Zealand citizen who was born in South Korea and was previously called Ji Eun Lee.

During the trial, Lee’s lawyers admitted that Lee had killed the children by giving them antidepressant medication, but attorney Lorraine Smith said the deaths occurred after her client “fell into madness,” local media reported. Lee had always been “fragile,” Smith said, but her mental illness worsened after her husband’s death.

“If she wanted to die, why didn’t she die alone? Why did she take the innocent children with her?” Lee’s mother wrote in a statement, BBC News reported, citing New Zealand media reports.

During the trial, a palliative care counselor said in a statement read to the court that Lee had said she “wanted it all to be over” and often mentioned ending her and her husband’s lives, Australian national broadcaster ABC reported.

Those convicted of murder in New Zealand automatically receive a life sentence, and judges set a minimum term of at least 10 years before the defendant can apply for parole. Lee must serve at least 17 years, Judge Venning ruled.

The children’s uncle, Jimmy Sei Wook Jo, was in court, where a lawyer read a statement on his behalf.

“I never imagined that such a profound tragedy would happen to our family,” the statement said, according to local media. “I feel like I couldn’t take care of my niece and nephew.”

A prosecutor read a statement from Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, who spoke of her devastation upon learning what had happened to the children.

“It felt like a bone-cutting pain, or like someone was ripping my chest out,” his statement read, according to local press reports. “I don’t know when this pain and suffering will heal, but I often think that I can carry it with me until the day I die.”

After Wednesday’s hearing, New Zealand police thanked South Korean authorities for their help with the investigation.

“Yuna and Minu would have been 16 and 13 today,” the detective said. Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the entire family today for the tragic loss of these two young children.”