Emily Ansell: Newstalk ZB reporter on Auckland mum Hakyung Lee being found guilty of killing her children

A guilty verdict for the Auckland woman charged with murdering her children and leaving their bodies in suitcases. 

Hakyung Lee killed her eight and six-year-old in 2018, after giving them anti-depressants in what she said was a failed suicide attempt. 

But claims she was insane following her husband's death failed to convince the jury.

Newstalk ZB's Emily Ansell says the verdict's in line with evidence from forensic psychiatrist Dr Erik Monasterio.

"Who found that there was no proof of any psychotic elements required for that defence, so therefore, he told the jury that he believed she didn't qualify - and that is an opinion they clearly took on board."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Auckland mam whose kids were found dead in suitcases. Well,
she's been found guilty of murder. Hook Young Lee has
admitted she killed her kids in late June twenty eighteen,
but her defense argued she was not guilty by reason
of insanity. Jury took less than four hours to reach
its verdict. Newstalks heb reporter Emily Ansel was in court,
good evening. Hello, what was the reaction?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, the reaction in court was pretty swift, about as
swift as this trial has gone. Lee was standing, but she,
as she has done throughout the trials, she kept her
head about and her hands crossed, and she was quickly
escorted out. Following those verdicts okay.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
And the insanity claim from the defense, what was that
based on? So?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
To start, she never disputed the fact that she caused
her children's deaths, but Lee claimed she was driven to
insanity following her husband's death from cancer in November twenty seventeen,
so about seven months before it's believed the children were killed.
Her defense claimed she was suffering from delusions, being tormented
by voices, and wanted to die. Didn't want her children

(01:01):
to find her or for them to live without their parents,
So they said she spontaneously decided to kill her children
during her own attempted suicide.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
She is, so the jury's verdict definitely means they didn't
believe she was insane at the time that this happened.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, so it was up to the defense to argue
the case for insanity, but as Justice Venning put it,
finding her guilty would essentially make that the insanity arguments irrelevant.
So the jury's verdict is in line with the crown's
forensic psychiatrist witness doctor Eric Monasterio, who found that while
Lee was likely suffering from a depressive disorder and possibly

(01:38):
a prolonged grief disorder, there was no proof of any
psychotic elements required for that defense. So therefore he told
the jury he believed she didn't qualify, and that is
an opinion they clearly took on board and just to
continue that, the Crown argued Lee didn't want to be
a sole parent and murdered her children before fleeing to
Korea to start a new life under a new name.

(02:00):
They also argued she'd lied about how they died, and
she initially told her mum she never had children, then
telling then she told police when she was being extradited
from Koreas she had left them in a New Zealand institution.
So despite the judge warning today that lies alone don't
infer guilt, it was, you know, clearly this alongside with

(02:20):
the Crown's other evidence that was convincing to the jury.
As you say, it only took them just over three
hours under four hours for them to reach their verdict
this afternoon. What happens next, So what we know is
that Lee is due to be sentenced in late November.
At the moment it's penciled down for the twenty sixth,
so we'll wait till them to see.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Thank you for filling us in on that News Talk,
saidb reporter Emily Ansel was in court for that helped
Young Lee verdict.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
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