Suspect found in suitcase appears in New Zealand court

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A woman extradited from South Korea this week after the bodies of two children were found in an abandoned suitcase made her first New Zealand court appearance on Wednesday.

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A 42-year-old woman has been charged with two counts of murder. She was not required to file her petition during a brief procedural hearing in the Manukau District Court.

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A judge imposed a temporary order to keep many details of the case confidential, including the names of the woman and the victim. allowed to report.

If convicted, women face life imprisonment, but are eligible for parole after at least 10 years.

In court, the woman wore a tan jacket over a black T-shirt. According to the Herald, after the woman asked if she could speak to the judge through her interpreter, she said it would be better if the woman’s lawyer didn’t intervene, and the judge agreed.

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The woman left the courtroom in less than five minutes and will remain in jail until her next court appearance on December 14.

The incident horrified many in New Zealand after the body of a child was discovered in August when an Auckland family purchased abandoned items, including two suitcases, from an online auction storage unit. I got

The children, aged between five and 10, had died several years earlier, and the suitcases had been stored in Auckland for at least three to four years, according to New Zealand Police.

South Korean police said the woman was born in South Korea and then emigrated to New Zealand, where she obtained citizenship. According to her immigration records, she returned to South Korea in 2018.

South Korean police arrested a woman for the first time in a southern port city in September. The Seoul High Court approved her extradition after she agreed in writing to be repatriated to New Zealand.

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The woman was handed over to three New Zealand police officers at Incheon International Airport near Seoul on Monday night. South Korea’s Justice Ministry also said it provided unspecified “material evidence” to New Zealand in the case.

“We hope that the extradition will bring to light the truth behind the case, which has attracted worldwide attention, through New Zealand’s fair and rigorous judicial process,” the ministry said in a statement.

South Korean police said they suspected the woman could be the mother of the two victims because her former address was registered in New Zealand in the warehouse where the suitcases were kept.

New Zealand authorities said the family who ultimately purchased the suitcases and other abandoned storage items had nothing to do with the incident.