Mother Who Hid Children’s Bodies In Suitcases Found Guilty Of Murder

Mother Hakyung Lee, 42, found guilty of killing her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases; Australia's health minister rebukes the Trump government's worrying claims about paracetamol and autism; Westpac cuts 200 jobs; A man arrested for breaching Travis Kelce's private residence to serve Taylor Swift deposition papers.

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CREDITS 

Host/Producer: Cassandra Green

Audio Production: Taylah Strano

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to a Mumma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on Hi. I'm Cassandra Green from Mamma MIA's
twice daily news podcast, The Quickie with Your Headlines for Wednesday,
September twenty nine. Mother Hak Young Lee, aged forty three,

(00:32):
has been found guilty of killing her two children, eight
year old Yunajoe and six year old Minu Joe. It
was found Lee gave her children an overdose of prescription
medicine in mid twenty eighteen, mixed in with juice. She
then bundled their bodies into suitcases and left them in
a New Zealand storage unit for four years. They were
found in August twenty twenty two. After hiding them, she

(00:54):
fled the country to South Korea. Lee admitted to killing
her children, claiming she gave them a dose of the
antidepressant drug nor triptoline. However, she pleaded not guilty due
to insanity. Her legal team said she'd been mentally unwell
after her husband died from cancer in twenty seventeen, and
that in her mind she believed killing the children was
the morally right thing to do. He had been the

(01:16):
sole provider, with Lee a state at home wife looking
after the young children. Her legal team said she feared
she would take her own life and the children would
find her body. After just two weeks on trial, the
jury deliberated for around three hours before deeming her guilty
on two counts of murder. Natalie Walker, the Crown prosecutor,
said the thought of parenting alone may have been too

(01:37):
much for Lee. She said the steps Lee took after
the children died were consistent with wanting a new life.
The Crown suggested it was not an altruistic killing, but
rather a selfish act to free herself. West Pack has
announced it will cut two hundred teller and personal banking
roles in a reshuffle. They will add the same amount
of positions in home lending and small business banking. It's

(01:58):
been an inn stable couple of weeks for those working
in finance. Australia's major banks have announced thousands of job
cuts in recent months, with Commonwealth Bank, nab A and
Z Bendigo Bank and the Bank of Queensland all shedding staff.
Westpac said it will try to keep as many employees
on as possible through training and redeployment. In the past
twelve months, thirty three employees moved from branches to train

(02:20):
as home finance managers. A spokesperson noted that Westpac employees
more than thirty thousand staff across the country. Westpac's general
manager for retail banking said the move was part of
a digital first strategy. Australia's Health Minister has weighed in
on the controversial paracetamol warnings issued in the United States.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior and the US President

(02:42):
baselessly linked autism to the use of paracetamol by pregnant women,
along with childhood vaccines. Health Minister Mark Butler said he
was really worried to the comments would leave more than
two hundred thousand Australian pregnant women unsure or afraid of
what to do when they become sick, particularly with fever.
He also didn't want mothers to feel guilty for having
taken the treatment that was advised to them in past pregnancies.

(03:05):
The Therapeutic Goods Administration joined other medicines regulators, leading Clara
initians and scientists in declaring Robust's scientific evidence showing no
causal link between the use of paracetamol in pregnancy and
autism or ADHD. It said paracetamol remains the recommended treatment
for pain and fever in pregnant women as directed, and
that there are no current safety investigations about paracetamol and

(03:27):
autism or neurodevelopmental disorders. More broadly, mister Butler said President
Trump's other remarks about combination jobs like measles, mums and
rubella were the most worrying. He said he does not
want further uncertainty about the importance of Australia's childhood immunization program.
Clinical psychologists and parenting expert Tanya Foster criticized the U
S Government's announcement, saying parents of children with autism already

(03:51):
struggle enough with self criticism and blame. A man was
arrested on September fifteen for allegedly attempting to serve Taylor
Swift deposition papers on behalf of Justin Baldoni's legal team.
The man, Justin Lee Fisher, an ex cop turned private eye,
was arrested outside Travis Kelsey's gated Leewoard Care, ANSAs estate
in the early hours of the morning He's since been

(04:13):
charged with jumping the fence onto a private residence in
a private neighborhood. Swift and Kelsey are believed to have
been in residence at the time. Swift became embroiled in
Lively and Baldoni's legal fight after her song featured in
their film It Ends with Us, and her name was
listed in a countersuit discussing a particular meeting she was
allegedly at. Baldoni's team said she agreed to a deposition,

(04:34):
but her team responded that she did not agree, but
would make the time after October twenty if forced. On
September thirteen, Judge Lehman declined a request from Baldoni's attorneys
for an extension of the discovery cutoff date, possibly ending
their quest to depose Swift. The cutoff date is September thirty,
but Swift was not available until October twenty. The move
appears to block Swift from being deposed in the court case.

(04:58):
That's your evening News Headlines. On Thursday's episode of The Quikie,
we discuss why everyone is so obsessed with what the
US has to say. Listen to The Quickie wherever you
get your podcasts.