The mother of two children found dead in suitcases allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury hotels, clothes and travel in the lead-up to their deaths, a New Zealand court has heard.
Warning: This story contains details which may be distressing for some readers.
Hakyung Lee is accused of murdering her children, eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo, and leaving their remains in suitcases at a storage facility in Auckland.
Ms Lee's husband Ian Jo, the children's father, passed away in 2017 after being diagnosed with cancer.
His death, Ms Lee has argued, sparked a "descent into madness" that made her not guilty by reason of insanity.
However, the Crown told a jury this week her actions — including hiring the unit, hiding the bodies, changing her name and leaving New Zealand for South Korea — showed she knew what she was doing was wrong.
This week, a jury heard more details about the family dynamic both during Ian Jo's cancer treatment and in the aftermath of his death.
'She didn't want the children to know their father was dying'
Ms Lee, then Ji Eun Lee, met her husband through church in 2006, after returning to New Zealand from Korea.
Ms Lee's mother, Choon Ja Lee, spoke to the court from another room via an interpreter, telling them contact with her daughter had diminished after Choon Ja Lee moved to Hamilton.
The court heard Choon Ja Lee said she visited her daughter multiple times in the year Mr Jo was diagnosed.
She said six-year-old Minu Jo did not understand how sick their father was, but his older sister Yuna knew "to an extent".
While Mr Jo was in hospice, Ms Lee's mother would look after the children.
After her husband died, Ms Lee told her mother she did not want her children to know what happened, and asked her to stay home and look after them on the day of the funeral.
Choon Ja Lee said she tried not to cry in front of her grandchildren, and she visited Mr Jo's grave with them and her daughter.
After Yuna and Minu were born, the couple moved to a home in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe.
The children's teacher, Mary Robertson, gave an emotional testimony, describing Ms Lee and her husband as "caring" and involved parents.
Yuna, according to Ms Robertson, had "a smile that lit up the world" and was "beautifully behaved".
Minu had a speech impediment and a cleft pallet, she added, and became withdrawn after his father became sick.
Mr Jo had travelled to South Korea for cancer treatment, returning when it was unsuccessful.
[papatoetoe map] During his treatment, Ms Lee's mother stayed with the family to care for the children.
Choon Ja Lee said Ms Lee would wake up early and leave for the hospital to be with her husband.
She would not return, according to her mother, until after the children were getting ready for bed.
During his treatment she allegedly told her mother "a couple of times" she could not live without her husband, saying if he died, she would too.
"I thought it was just a passing phrase," she said, but added it had made her "a bit nervous".
His brother, Jimmy Sae Wook Cho, told the court Ms Lee had not taken the children to see their father in hospital, and had to be convinced to let them see him in hospice care.
"She didn't want the children to know that their father was dying," he said.
A palliative care counsellor said in a statement read to the court Ms Lee had said she "wanted it all to be over" and repeatedly mentioned ending both her and her husband's life.
"[She] was worried about her daughter, who was not asking questions, and their son was scared of the changes in his father's appearance," she said.
She said she had last seen Ms Lee late in November, after Mr Jo's death, noting she seemed "composed" but had not told the children.
"They've gone to school, which is unusual," the worker wrote in her notes.
"I advised and encouraged her to talk to her children and their school as soon as possible [and she] declined my offer to phone or visit her prior to going away."
Ms Lee allegedly told Ms Robertson she wanted to take her children on holiday to the Gold Coast before breaking the news to them.
She allegedly declined an offer of help from the school, and said the children would not be returning for the rest of the school year.
Accused travels with children before their deaths
Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker described to jurors various holidays Ms Lee took with her children in the months leading up to their deaths.
Standby Counsel Lorraine Smith said Ms Lee did not want her children to go to their father's funeral or see him after he had died.
"Instead she tried to distract them with travel. On the 23rd of November 2017, the day after Ian died, she bought two suitcases and over the following six months used the money from Ian's [life] insurance policy for her mother and herself and the two children to travel to Australia and Korea," Ms Smith said.
Ms Lee's mother said after visiting Mr Jo's grave with the children and her daughter, the family booked a trip to the Gold Coast and flew there the next day.
Ms Walker told the court Ms Lee took the children to South Korea a month after their father's death and stayed in five star hotels — spending $NZ32,000 ($28,726) on the two-months trip, to attempt to distract them from their father's death.
[map]Choon Ja Lee told jurors her daughter spent a lot of money on the trip.
In April 2018, spending data showed Ms Lee had stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Taupo in New Zealand and went to the hot springs there.
In May, she took her children on a trip to the Gold Coast where they stayed at another Hilton.
Ms Walker said the last trip Ms Lee took the children on was to Queenstown in June 2018, where they spent money at a Hilton Hotel and restaurants.
Asked whether her daughter had told her she planned to spend all her money and "die with the children", Choon Ja Lee said she had.
"I think she said it without intending just because she was upset," she told the court.
"I think she only said it once and I just thought of it as something of a passing [comment]."
She said her daughter wasn't eating and had "no will to live".
"I told her, 'if you really want to follow your husband, go by yourself and I'll take the kids'," she said.
"She told me, 'you don't even speak English, how can I let you look after the kids', and then we laughed it off."
After Ms Lee and the children left for Korea, their grandmother said she never saw them again.
Court hears possible final activity before children were killed
Traces of an anti-depressant drug prescribed to Ms Lee were allegedly found in both children's bodies after their remains were discovered in August 2022.
The Crown alleged Ms Lee killed the children sometime in the middle of 2018, several months after they were last seen in person by any other family members.
Due to the passage of time it was unclear whether they had been killed via an overdose or only incapacitated by it, and killed by other means.
An analysis of data extracted from the children's PlayStation, showed the most recent user activity was from "Hero Minu and "Princess Yuna 35" on June 27, 2018, playing Minecraft.
Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said it was the "best evidence" of the children's final activities before they were killed.
On that same day, the court heard, Ms Lee allegedly purchased rubbish bags, bin liners, bubble wrap and duct tape.
Three days later she allegedly bought more rubbish bags, wheelie bin liners and a padlock.
Ms Lee then allegedly changed her name and left New Zealand for South Korea, cutting off contact with her family.
In 2022, her mother Choon Ja Lee and a church pastor were contacted by her from a South Korean hospital, where she had been for several months.
Both of them asked her about the children's whereabouts.
"I have no children," she allegedly said.
The trial is expected to last for another two weeks.
