Woman Accused of Stuffing Dead Kids in Suitcases Arrives to Face Trial in New Zealand
The 42-year-old woman charged with murdering two children and leaving them inside suitcases in a storage facility has been extradited to New Zealand to face charges.
The unidentified woman, who was born in South Korea but moved to New Zealand, was arrested in September after police in New Zealand identified her through the storage facility records. “With the extradition, we hope that the truth of the case, which has garnered worldwide attention, will be revealed through the fair and strict judicial process of New Zealand,” South Korean Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said in a statement, adding that they had provided “important evidence” for the investigation.
The dead children, thought to be between 5 and 10 years old when they died, were discovered by a family in Aukland who bought the contents of the unit in a blind auction. The bodies were believed to have been in storage for between three and four years, New Zealand police said. The woman, who had dual citizenship, returned to South Korea in 2018, according to immigration records.
Twisted Development After Bodies in Suitcases Discovery: Report
South Korean authorities were able to arrest the woman without incident in September. “The investigation team would like to acknowledge the assistance from agencies both in New Zealand and South Korea, which has meant we have been able to put an alleged offender before the court,” New Zealand chief detective inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Vaaelua said in a statement announcing that the woman had been handed over to authorities at Incheon international airport near Seoul Monday night.
Police have not said how the children were killed or if the woman who will face court Wednesday is their mother.
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