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New Zealand Mother Gets Life in Prison for Murdering Her Children
Hakyung Lee received life imprisonment with a minimum 17-year non-parole period after a jury rejected her insanity defense in the 2018 murders of her two children.
- The Auckland High Court handed down the sentence on Nov 26, 2025, sentencing Hakyung Lee to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
- Investigators say Hakyung Lee wrapped the bodies of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, in plastic, stuffed them into suitcases, and hid them in a storage locker at a suburban Auckland facility, later sold at auction.
- A jury in September convicted Lee, rejecting a not‑guilty‑by‑reason‑of‑insanity defence, while Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said, `The Crown suggests that when she gave her two young children nortriptyline, it was a selfish act to free herself from the burden of parenting alone.`
- Justice Venning ordered Lee be treated as a special patient under the Criminal Procedure Mentally Impaired Persons Act and New Zealand Police credited South Korean agencies for their cooperation on Wednesday.
- Family statements read at the hearing said the sentencing highlighted deep emotional scars, with Jimmy Sei Wook Jo and Choon Ja Lee speaking as Yuna Jo and Minu Jo would have been 16 and 13 today.
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The mother killed her two children and put them in suitcases. Several years later, the remains were found - at an auction. Now the verdict has been handed down in the high-profile court case that has shocked an entire country.
·Stockholm, Sweden
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Their own mother first poisoned them with antidepressants, and she admitted to the act in court.
Hakyung Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of her two children, whom she decided to take from her husband's life after her death.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources142
Leaning Left33Leaning Right26Center31Last UpdatedBias Distribution37% Left
Bias Distribution
- 37% of the sources lean Left
37% Left
L 37%
C 34%
R 29%
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