Suitcase murder case: Not guilty plea entered for mother accused of killing children

A 2024 trial date has been set for a mother who was extradited from South Korea after the bodies of her two children were discovered in suitcases following an online storage unit sale.

The 42-year-old, who continues to have name suppression, was excused from appearing in the High Court at Auckland today as Justice Sally Fitzgerald discussed the case with her lawyer and prosecutors.

Defence lawyer Christopher Wilkinson-Smith entered two not-guilty pleas on her behalf.

Her first court appearance occurred two weeks ago in Manukau District Court, just one day after she arrived in New Zealand via police escort.

The brief district court hearing, attended by media outlets from New Zealand and abroad, ended with the woman’s interpreter telling Judge Gus Andrée Wiltens that the defendant wished to address the court. The judge denied the request and she was returned to custody to await today’s hearing.

A woman appeared at Manukau District Court in November 2022, accused of murdering her two children. Photo / Dean Purcell

During today’s court appearance, Justice Fitzgerald set a four-week trial date for April 29, 2024, and ordered her remanded into custody to await her case review hearing, currently set for March.

The bodies of the two children, whose names are also suppressed, were discovered in August after an Auckland family purchased the suitcases as part of an auction for an abandoned storage unit.

Police have said the children, who would have been between the ages of 5 and 10 at the time of death, had been deceased for years.

The suspect was born in Korea but obtained New Zealand citizenship after moving here. Immigration records suggest she returned to Korea in 2018.

South Korean authorities arrested the woman in September and her extradition to New Zealand was approved by the court there last month.

Both prosecutors and the defence have sought sweeping suppression orders for the case, which were approved on an interim basis during her previous court appearance.

A hearing to argue name suppression has been scheduled for February.