The New Zealand police suspect that 45-year-old Hakyung Lee killed the two children in 2018. At that time she lived in New Zealand, the children were 6 and 8 years old.
The defense stated that Lee’s mental health deteriorated after the death of her husband. According to them, that deterioration led she tried to commit suicide and to poison her children with antidepressants. Due to a wrong dosage, she survived the attempt, but her children died.
Six young children live only for weeks in storage space without light and toilet, parents to court
The Public Prosecution Service painted a different picture: according to them, the murders were a “selfish act” to escape from the burden of single parenting. They pointed out that Lee did act well considered: she hid the bodies, took a different identity and traveled back to South Korea.
Seoul handed out the woman to New Zealand in 2022, where she risks a lifelong prison sentence for the double murder. According to AFP, hanging a maximum prison sentence of life imprisonment above her head. The case has received a lot of attention in New Zealand media.