Woman accused of murdering her children, leaving bodies in suitcases faces NZ trial

1 week ago 3

September 8, 2025 — 3.58pm

Wellington: A Korean-born New Zealand woman is facing trial in Auckland charged with murdering her two children, whose bodies were discovered in suitcases left in an abandoned storage locker.

Hakyung Lee, 44, pleaded not guilty in the High Court on Monday to killing her children, Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, in June or July 2018, shortly before she moved to South Korea.

Hakyung Lee stands in the dock at the High Court in Auckland on Monday.

Their bodies were found in 2022 by a South Auckland family, who purchased the contents of an abandoned storage locker at an online auction and came upon the remains after opening the luggage that came with the purchase, then called police. The family is not connected to the deaths.

Lee was born in South Korea and went by the name Ji Eun Lee before changing it in 2018, about the same time she returned to South Korea. She was extradited to New Zealand in November 2022 over the deaths.

Lee kept her head down and remained silent while in the dock on Monday. When the court registrar asked her if she pleaded guilty or not guilty, she shook her head. Justice Geoffrey Venning recorded not guilty pleas.

The children’s father died of cancer in 2017, local media reports said, citing court filings.

The children’s cause of death remains unknown. Court documents said they might have been killed by sleeping medication prescribed to Lee and detected in their bodies by forensic investigators, but another cause of death hasn’t been ruled out, according to Radio New Zealand.

It is alleged Lee killed her two children sometime between June 23 and July 27, 2018. She stopped paying rental fees for her Auckland storage unit when she ran into financial difficulties in 2022, RNZ reported.

Justice Venning told the jury on Monday that they would likely be asked to consider the matter of Lee’s sanity at the time of the alleged killings.

Venning also said the trial would be distressing to Lee and has granted her permission to watch proceedings from another room in the courthouse.

Lee will be representing herself in court for the trial, assisted by two lawyers.

Reuters, AP, stuff.co.nz