December 4, 2025
Local
Local
WELLINGTON, Nov 26 — A South Korean-born New Zealand woman has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her two young children, whose remains were found in suitcases inside an abandoned storage unit more than three years after their deaths, according to New Zealand media.
Hakyung Lee was convicted in September after admitting to the 2018 murders of her children, aged eight and six, carried out a year after their father died of cancer.
During the trial, Lee pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and represented herself, with support from two lawyers. Her defence argued last Wednesday that a life sentence would be disproportionate given her mental health challenges, but prosecutors maintained there was no indication she was suicidal at the time of the killings, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Judge Geoffrey Venning upheld the life sentence, though he ordered that Lee receive compulsory treatment at a secure psychiatric facility. She will be returned to prison once deemed mentally fit.
“You knew your actions were morally wrong … perhaps you could not bear having your children around as a reminder of your formerly happy life,” Venning said.
Lee must serve a minimum of 17 years before being eligible for parole. Life imprisonment is the most severe penalty in New Zealand, which abolished the death penalty in 1989.
Evidence presented in court revealed that Lee gave her children a fatal dose of prescription medication in 2018, then wrapped their bodies in plastic and placed them into suitcases.
Their remains were discovered in 2022 by a family sorting through a storage locker purchased via online auction, prompting a murder investigation. Lee, who had relocated to South Korea in 2018, was extradited back to New Zealand to stand trial in November 2022. — Reuters
