Hakyung Lee will begin her sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility under New Zealand's compulsory mental health treatment law, High Court Justice Geoffrey Venning told her at a hearing in Auckland on Wednesday. Lee must return to prison when she is well enough, the judge said.
A jury in September found Lee guilty of the murders of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, rejecting a defence of insanity. Her lawyers on Wednesday argued for a reduced sentence because of her mental illness, saying their client felt shame for her crimes and had been isolated and threatened in jail.
The judge told Lee that while she was undoubtedly experiencing severe depression when she killed the children in 2018, her actions were deliberate and calculated, the news outlet Stuff reported. In New Zealand, a successful insanity defence requires a murder defendant to prove they were incapable of understanding what they were doing or that it was wrong.
The children's remains were discovered after Lee stopped paying rental fees for an Auckland storage unit when she ran into financial difficulties in 2022. The locker's contents were auctioned online and the buyers found the bodies inside.
Lee fled to South Korea after the killings, where she changed her name, before being extradited to face trial. She is a New Zealand citizen who was born in South Korea and went by the name Ji Eun Lee previously.
During the trial, Lee's lawyers conceded she had killed the children by giving them an antidepressant medication, but attorney Lorraine Smith said the deaths happened after her client "descended into madness", local news outlets reported. Lee had always been "fragile", said Smith, but her mental illness became worse after her husband's death.
Those convicted of murder in New Zealand automatically receive a life sentence, with judges setting a minimum period of at least 10 years before the defendant can apply for parole. Lee must serve at least 17 years, Justice Venning ruled.
The children's uncle Jimmy Sei Wook Jo was in court, where a lawyer read a statement on his behalf.
"I never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family," the statement said, according to local news outlets. "I feel like I failed to look after my niece and nephew."
A prosecutor read out a statement by Lee's mother Choon Ja Lee, who spoke of her devastation at learning what had happened to the children.
"It felt like a pain that cut through my bones, or as if someone was gouging out my chest," her statement said, according to local news reports. "I do not know when this pain and suffering might heal, but I often think I may carry it with me until the day I die."
After Wednesday's hearing, New Zealand's police acknowledged authorities in South Korea for their help with the investigation.
"Yuna and Minu would have been 16 and 13 today," Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va'aelua said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the wider family today for the tragic loss of these two young children."
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