AUCKLAND: A mother who murdered her two children and stuffed them into suitcases stashed inside a storage locker was on Wednesday (Nov 26) sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand.
Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty earlier this year of killing her children in a grisly crime dubbed the country’s “suitcase murders”.
High Court judge Geoffrey Venning sentenced Lee to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, saying she had killed children who were “particularly vulnerable”.
Flanked by security guards and a translator, 45-year-old Lee showed little reaction as the sentence was handed down.
Lee killed her son, Minu Jo and daughter, Yuna Jo, aged six and eight, with an overdose of prescription medication in 2018.
The bodies were not found until 2022, when an unsuspecting family pried open the contents of an abandoned storage locker they bought in an auction.
Lee, who had long since changed her name and fled the country for South Korea, was extradited to face trial in New Zealand.
The sentencing hearing on Wednesday heard how the murders had left deep emotional scars on Lee’s family.
Source: CNA
