The bodies of two young children discovered in suitcases in New Zealand – allegedly after having been killed by their mother – contained traces of an anti-depressant drug, a court has heard.
Hakyung Lee, 44, is being tried in an Auckland court over allegations that she murdered her children – eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo – and hid their bodies in a storage facility.
The remains of the children were discovered inside suitcases by a family who had purchased the contents of the storage unit at auction in 2022.
Traces of the anti-depressant Nortriptyline were later found in the chest cavity and liver of both Yuna and Minu, prosecutor Natalie Walker told the court on Tuesday.
The drug should not be given to children, and in cases of overdose can cause seizures, drowsiness or death.
Ms Lee was prescribed Nortriptyline as a trial in 2017 after telling a doctor she was having trouble sleeping and felt dizzy following her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
She has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder, but accepts she caused the deaths of her children, the court heard.
She also accepts that after their deaths she wrapped them in three plastic bags, put them in suitcases that she sealed with duct tape, and took them to a storage centre where she left them for four years, the prosecution told jurors.
Prosecutors also allege Ms Lee changed her name and, a month after killing her children and hiding their bodies, flew to Seoul on a business class seat.
She was was arrested in Ulsan, South Korea in September 2022 after Interpol issued a global red notice for her, and extradited to New Zealand in November of that year.
The court on Tuesday also heard the grisly details of how the children’s bodies were discovered.
On 10 August 2022, two members of the public won an auction and paid $401 New Zealand dollars (£175; $238) for Ms Lee’s abandoned storage locker, which was filled with household items including bikes, clothing and two suitcases.
When loading these suitcases onto his trailer the next day, the buyer noticed an unusual smell – which he likened to “the smell of a dead rat” – and, after arriving home, cut into the locked and plastic-wrapped suitcases with a knife.
Inside were several black, tightly tied plastic bags stuffed inside one another. Inside those were the bodies of two children – one in each suitcase – who were later identified as Yuna and Minu.
An autopsy determined that there was no sign of trauma to the children’s bodies, like broken bones, though it was clear they had been killed by someone else.
A pathologist found they had died by homicide by unspecified means, including the use of Nortriptyline, the prosecution said.
The court heard that Ms Lee picked up her prescription for the drug from a pharmacy in August 2017 – five months after her husband, Ian Jo, was diagnosed with cancer.
In the lead-up to Mr Jo’s death in November 2017, Ms Lee on several occasions suggested that she and the children would also die if he did, according to the prosecution. Ms Lee’s mother allegedly recalled her crying on the phone saying she would die if Mr Jo died.
On another occasion, Ms Lee allegedly texted her husband saying “if you die I will die along with our two kids”.
And while on holiday in Australia after Mr Jo’s death, Ms Lee allegedly told a friend that she wished the plane had crashed so she and her children could have died together. Ms Lee said she would have been less sad if her children had died rather than her husband, the prosecution told the court.
Defence lawyer Lorraine Smith told the court that Ms Lee’s “descent into madness”, which resulted in her killing her two children, began when Mr Jo died. Before that, the defence said, they were a “happy little family”.
After Mr Jo was admitted to ICU and then palliative care, Ms Lee began to “unravel” and came to believe it was best if they all died together, Ms Smith said.
The defence claims Ms Lee gave also took antidepressants when she gave them to her children, but got the dose wrong – and when she woke up, her children were dead.
“She has killed her children but she is not guilty of murder by reason of insanity,” Ms Smith said.
As the trial opened on Monday, Justice Geoffrey Venning told the jury that it was likely the case would determine “whether, at the time the children were killed, Ms Lee was insane”.
Ms Lee is a New Zealand national who was born in South Korea.
Her trial is expected to last up to four weeks.
