Hakyung Lee, a 45-year-old mother, has been found guilty of murdering her two children and concealing their remains in suitcases discovered in an Auckland storage unit in 2022.
Police believe the killings occurred in July 2018, seven months after Lee’s husband died of cancer.
Representing herself with interpreter support and assisted by standby Counsel, Lee’s defence argued she was insane at the time, citing her steep mental decline after her husband’s death.
The Crown maintained she knew her actions were wrong, pointing to her efforts to hide the children’s bodies, change her identity, and flee to South Korea.
Prosecutor Natalie Walker described the murders as a selfish act to free herself from parenting, rejecting claims it was a delusional or altruistic act.
43 Lee gave her two children — eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo — an overdose of prescription medicine in mid-2018. She then changed her name and flew to South Korea.
In 2022, after rental fees went unpaid at a Safe Store facility in Papatoetoe, the unit’s contents were auctioned off to an unsuspecting family. Among the items were two suitcases they brought home, only to call police once they discovered what was inside. Last week, the court was told the cases held the clothed bodies of Yuna and Minu, each carefully sealed within several layers of plastic bags.
A sentencing date is yet to be allocated.
This woman must be returned to her country of birth to serve her sentance.