New Zealand woman Hakyung Lee has been sentenced to 17 years in prison after she was convicted of murdering her two children and leaving their bodies in suitcases for several years.
Justice Geoffrey Venning told Lee during a High Court hearing in Auckland on Wednesday, November 25 that she would begin her sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility under New Zealand’s compulsory mental health treatment law, according to ABC News. Once she is deemed healthy enough, Lee will return to prison.
A jury previously found Lee guilty of the murders of her children Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, in September and rejected a defense of insanity. During the sentencing hearing on November 25, her lawyers argued that she should have a reduced sentence due to her mental health issues. The attorneys added that their client felt shame for her crimes, as well as shared that she has been isolated and threatened while in jail.
Following the lawyers’ arguments, the judge acknowledged Lee was experiencing severe depression when she killed the children in 2018. However, Venning said her decision to kill her kids was deliberate and calculated. According to ABC News, a successful insanity defense in New Zealand requires a murder defendant to prove they were incapable of understanding what they were doing at the time the crime was committed.
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The children’s remains were discovered in suitcases in an Auckland storage unit, which Lee stopped paying for when she experienced financial troubles in 2022. The locker’s contents were auctioned online, and the buyers ultimately found the bodies inside.
Following the killings, Lee traveled to South Korea and changed her name. However, she was eventually tracked down and was arrested.
Lee’s lawyers explained during the trial that Lee killed the children by giving them an antidepressant medication. However, attorney Lorraine Smith said Lee killed her kids after she “descended into madness.” Her attorneys also noted that Lee had always been “fragile,” though her mental health declined after her husband’s death.
Anyone convicted of murder in New Zealand automatically receives a life sentence, while judges must set a minimum period of at least 10 years before the defendant can apply for parole. During the hearing, Venning ruled that Lee must serve at least 17 years.
Lee’s children’s uncle, Jimmy Sei Wook Jo, attended the sentencing hearing and a lawyer read a statement on his behalf.
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“I never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family,” the statement said. “I feel like I failed to look after my niece and nephew.”
Meanwhile, a prosecutor also read a statement on behalf of Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, in which she recalled her devastation when she learned what happened to her grandkids.
“It felt like a pain that cut through my bones, or as if someone was gouging out my chest,” her statement read. “I do not know when this pain and suffering might heal, but I often think I may carry it with me until the day I die.”
