Wellington, New Zealand
AP
–
A New Zealand ju umpire on Tuesday found a woman who murdered two children and left their bodies in suitcases for years before being discovered.
The ruling meant that a ju judge in the Auckland High Court refused the crazy defense his lawyer had made for Hakhyun Lee, who fled to South Korea after the murder before being handed over to face trial. The swift verdict arrived hours after the judges were sent to deliberation on Tuesday morning.
Lee was charged with murdering 6-year-old Min Woo Jo and 8-year-old Yuna Jo in June 2018. The body of a child was found in luggage in an abandoned storage unit in Auckland in August 2022.
A New Zealander, Lee traveled to Korea immediately after her children were believed to have been killed and changed her name in 2018. She was born in Korea and previously went under the name Juwn Li.
Lee (45 years old) was handed over from Korea in November 2022. She denied the charges and claimed that the lawyer was crazy at the time of the murder. The children were killed seven months after Lee’s husband died of cancer.
The body of a child was found after Lee stopped paying rent for his Auckland storage unit when he was in financial trouble in 2022. The contents of the locker were auctioned online, and the buyer found the body inside.
Judge Geoffrey Venning ordered Lee to remain in custody until he is sentenced to prison on November 26th. The murder is sentenced to life in New Zealand, and judges must set a sentence of at least 10 years ago before the offender applies for parole.
Venning said that when the trial began on September 8th, it was painful for Lee and gave him permission to view the case from another room in the courthouse. She returned to the dock for the verdict on Tuesday, standing with her head bowed and her hair covered, New Zealand news agency reported.
