Hakyung Lee, 43, was convicted in the High Court on Tuesday for the murders of her two children, eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo
A woman accused of killing her two young children and concealing their bodies in suitcases stored in a rented storage unit for four years has been found guilty of murder.
Hakyung Lee, 43, was convicted in the High Court in on Tuesday for the murders of her two children, eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo.
The court heard that in June 2018, Lee administered a fatal dose of prescription medication to her children before placing their bodies in suitcases and leaving them in a storage facility in Auckland.
She then left New Zealand, flying to South Korea, where she changed her name and cut ties with friends and family.
The remains were not discovered until August 2022, after Lee stopped paying the storage fees due to financial hardship. The contents of the storage unit were auctioned off, and the new owners made the grim discovery upon opening the luggage at home.
READ MORE: Medical student, 19, raped and murdered as Apple Health app exposes killer’s liesREAD MORE: Dad ‘who murdered Brit wife over weight loss’ kept marriage secret, claim family
A forensic pathologist testified that due to the four-year delay in the discovery of the remains, the exact cause of death was difficult to determine.
Both children were found clothed and wrapped in multiple layers of plastic bags. It remains unclear whether the overdose was the direct cause of death or if the medication had been used to sedate them before they were killed by other means.
After fleeing Auckland to South Korea, Lee was eventually located by her mother in a hospital, where she had been admitted for mental health treatment in 2022.
When questioned about her children, she told her mother and a pastor, “I have no children.” She was arrested later that year and extradited back to New Zealand to face trial.
Lee’s defence team argued she was not criminally responsible due to mental illness, claiming she suffered a breakdown following the 2017 death of her husband, Ian Jo, from cancer.
Her lawyers stated that she feared taking her own life and leaving her children behind to discover her body, believing that killing them was the “morally right” thing to do.
However, Crown Prosecutor Natalie Walker countered this argument, stating that Lee’s actions showed clear planning and rational decision-making. The prosecution contended that the murders were not acts of delusion, but rather a cold and calculated decision to escape the burden of single parenting.
“The Crown suggests that when she gave her two young children nortriptyline, it was a selfish act to free herself from the burden of parenting alone,” Walker told the court. “It was not the altruistic act of a mother who had lost her mind… It was the opposite.”
Walker added that Lee’s behaviour – changing her name, moving her belongings, fleeing the country, and cutting off contact – demonstrated a desire to start a new life without her children. “However unthinkable her actions were, you may think there was a cold calculation in them… showing ruthless rationality,” she said.
After a two-week trial and approximately three hours of jury deliberation, Lee was found guilty on both counts of murder. Justice Geoffrey Venning remanded her in custody and ordered a mental health assessment ahead of sentencing, scheduled for November 26.
In New Zealand, murder carries a mandatory life sentence, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Earlier in the trial, Justice Venning acknowledged the emotionally distressing nature of the proceedings for Lee and allowed her to follow the trial via videolink from a separate courtroom, accompanied by an interpreter.