A woman in New Zealand has been convicted of murder after she killed her two young children and left their bodies in suitcases.
The jury at the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand, found Hakyung Lee guilty on Tuesday, September 23, according to CBS News.
Additionally, the jury rejected a defense of insanity that Lee’s legal team argued for after a deliberation that lasted just hours. During the trial, prosecutors said Lee, 45, likely suffered from depression. However, they believed it was not severe enough to support an insanity defense.
Lee was charged with killing Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, in June 2018, per CBS News. Minu and Yuna’s remains were found inside luggage in an abandoned storage unit in Auckland four years after their deaths in August 2022.
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Lee, who is a New Zealand citizen, fled to South Korea and changed her name shortly after she was believed to have killed her children in 2018. She was familiar with South Korea after being born there, and she previously went by the name Ji Eun Lee.
She was arrested in South Korea in September 2022 and extradited the following month, according to CBS News. Lee denied the charges, while her lawyers argued that she was insane at the time her children were killed.
Her lawyers admitted she killed the children by giving them the anti-depressant medication nortriptyline. The legal team went on to claim that she killed her kids after she “descended into madness.”
The lawyers added that Lee has always been “fragile,” while lawyer Lorraine Smith said her client’s mental illness became worse after her husband’s death.
A palliative care counselor spoke on the matter during the trial, sharing that Lee had said she “wanted it all to be over.” Australian national broadcaster ABC also reported that the counselor said Lee would often mention ending both her and her husband’s lives.
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Smith told the jurors that Lee thought it would be best if the whole family died, though she accidentally took the wrong dose and only her kids died from the nortriptyline overdose.
Justice Geoffrey Venning has ordered that Lee remain in custody until her sentencing hearing on November 26, per CBS News. Those found guilty of murder in New Zealand are given a mandatory life sentence. Additionally, it is up to the judge to set a prison term of at least 10 years before an offender is eligible to apply for parole.
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