Hakyung Lee gets life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for murdering her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases at a storage facility.A New Zealand woman who murdered her two children and hid their bodies in suitcases at a storage facility has been sentenced to life in prison.The sentencing of Hakyung Lee on Wednesday came after she was convicted in September for the grisly murders of the two children, aged eight and six, in 2018. The case was dubbed the New Zealand “suitcase murders”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listLee, who was born in South Korea, admitted to killing the children, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The murders took place a year after the children’s father had died of cancer.Judge Geoffrey Venning rejected calls by Lee’s lawyers for a lesser penalty, sentencing the 45-year-old to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.He said she had killed children who were “particularly vulnerable”.But he approved compulsory treatment at a secure psychiatric facility, with the condition that Lee would return to prison once deemed mentally fit, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper.“You knew your actions were morally wrong … perhaps you could not bear to have your children around you as a constant reminder of your previous happy life,” Venning said.Lee showed little emotion as she sat in court, bowing her head with eyes fixed to the floor as the judge handed down the sentence.Life imprisonment is the harshest punishment available in New Zealand, which abolished the death penalty …
