The mother from New Zealand was declared a guilty of murder of his two children and hiding their bodies in the suitcases, in a high-profit case shocked the country, writes the BBC.
Hakyung Lee (44) was convicted of murder in a High Court in Auckland, after the trial lasted approximately two weeks. During the proceedings, it has pleaded not to blame.
Her lawyers claimed that at the time of the murders was insane, what happened a few months after her husband passed away from her cancer. However, the prosecution persisted that her actions were calculated, transmitted BBC.
The remains of her children were discovered in 2022. years, when one family at auction in Auckland bought the contents of an abandoned warehouse.
The bodies were believed to have been stored there for several years. Lee was arrested in Ulsan in South Korea in September 2022. and later that year extradited to New Zealand.
During the trial, the court heard that there were no signs of trauma on the bodies of children, although it was clear that someone was killed by someone. The pathologist found that they died violent death, unspecified funds involved the use of antidepressant Nortripylin, led the prosecution.
In court, Lee could have raised the recipe for the specified drug in Pharmacy in August 2017. years, five months after her husband, Ian Jou, was diagnosed with cancer.
The defense claimed that Lee’s mental health had worsened after the death of his husband and she believed that it was best for everyone to die together. According to the defense, he made him try to kill himself and the children with antidepressants, but she made a mistake in the dose – when she woke up, her children were dead.
Her lawyer said that, although she killed her children, “she was not guilty of murder for insanity.”
On the other hand, the Prosecution pointed out that Lee showed rational thinking by hiding children’s remains, changing the name and return to South Korea. The murders were “selfish act to release the load of independent parenting,” the plaintiffs said.
The jury brought a verdict after about three hours of council. Lee held her head on Tuesday bowed and didn’t show the reaction while the verdict was read.
Hakyung Lee’s sentence is scheduled for November. She threatens her maximum sentence of life prison, the AFP reported.
(Type / Source: Index.hr/Foto: Screenshot: YouTube)
