A mother in New Zealand was found guilty of killing her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases, in a controversial cause that shocked the country.
Hekyung Lee, 44, was convicted of murder the Auckland High Court on Tuesday, after a process that lasted about two weeks. She had not guilty.
Lee’s lawyers argued that she was crazy at the time of the murder, who happened months after her husband died of cancer. But public prosecutors argued that her actions were calculated.
The remains of her children were discovered in 2022 by a family that had bought the contents of an abandoned storage unit at an auction in Auckland.
The bodies were supposed to have been stored there for a few years.
Lee was arrested in September 2022 in Ulsan, Zuid -Korea and later delivered to New -Zeeland.
During the trial, the court heard that the bodies of the children had no signs of trauma, although it was clear that they had been killed by someone.
A pathologist discovered that they had died through murder due to non -specific drugs, including the use of Nortriptyline, an antidepressant, the persecution said.
The court heard that Lee took her recipe for the drug from a pharmacy in August 2017 – five months after her husband, Ian Jo, was diagnosed with cancer.
The defense claimed that Lee’s mental health deteriorated after the death of her husband And started to believe it was best if they all died together.
This led her to try to kill herself and her children with the antidepressant, but she I was wrong – when she woke up, her children were dead. Although she killed her children, she was “not guilty of murder due to insanity,” said her lawyer.
But the persecution argued that Lee had demonstrated rational thinking by hiding the children’s remains, changing her name and going back to South Korea, the persecution said.
The murders were a “selfish act to free themselves from the burden of parenthood,” said persecution.
On Tuesday Lee had her head down and did not respond when the jury gave the verdictwhich came after about three hours of deliberation.
Lee will be convicted in November. She is confronted with a maximum life imprisonment, AFP reported.
#Zealands #Buitenmoord #Mama #guilty #killing #children