Woman's 'stop' plea was Satan's word, jury told

By TONY STICKLEY

Joanna Lee pleaded for her painful exorcism to come to an end.

But those conducting the ritual interpreted her pleas as the words of the Devil, a jury at the High Court in Auckland heard yesterday.

The court also heard that five days after Ms Lee died, one of Pastor Luke Lee's followers tried to revive the decomposing body by lying on top of it and blowing into the mouth.

Before the court is 38-year-old Korean pastor Yong Bum Lee (also known as Luke Lee) who is accused of the manslaughter of Ms Lee during an aggressive exorcism on December 9 last year at his Mt Roskill home.



Sun Kyoungh Park, also known as Lydia Park, one of the main participants in the exorcism, told Justice Barry Paterson that Ms Lee had willingly submitted to it.



In answer to a question from the judge, Ms Park said that Ms Lee said that the physical force used during the ritual was painful.

The judge then asked whether Ms Lee had at any time indicated that she wanted the exorcism to stop.

Ms Park replied that Ms Lee had said some "strange things" and the way she spoke to the pastor was not respectful.

"She said 'stop, stop' bluntly - so we thought that was Satan's word."

Earlier Ms Park described the exorcism and what happened in the house over the days that Ms Lee's corpse was rotting and turning black.

About 10 demons had been inside the 37-year-old Ms Lee, Ms Park said, but towards the end of the exorcism that went on for several hours, only two Satans were left.

They appeared to be very strong.

Ms Park said that Lee sat on the woman's stomach, bouncing and holding Ms Lee's neck very hard for some minutes.

As Ms Lee struggled, Lee ordered her arms and legs to be restrained.

Afterwards, Ms Lee's face was expressionless, though blood was coming from her mouth.

Mr Park said that they naturally thought Ms Lee, like other people who had been "delivered", was resting or sleeping.

It was what Lee had told them.

She said that four or five days after the deliverance, as they prayed for her to come back to life, Lee quoted from the Bible and told them to blow into the woman's mouth.

Photographs and video film were taken of events after the woman died.

Ms Park was shown a photo of her on top of the dead woman, blowing into her mouth. She said that they sang and danced, blew in her mouth and Lee shouted at the dead woman to "get up".

Walter Hemara told of wanting to scream during an excruciating exorcism Lee performed on him.

"I had to hold myself back otherwise I would have taken a swing at him," he said.

Businessman Edwin Muir, a neighbour of Lee's who visited the church, was the person who alerted the police.

He said he realised there was something strange going on when he was invited to Lee's house but was asked to change his tee shirt and trousers because there was an emblem which Lee said was a Muslim curse.

Mr Muir said he was shown a video where Ms Lee appeared black and had clearly passed on.

He said that Lee asked him to be their media representative.

"[Lee said] she was going to come back to life and it was going to be a world wide affair."



Former Sergeant Robert McPhee said that when he went to Lee's house, Lee said that someone had been sick but was better and was still alive.

When the officer entered the room where Ms Lee was, he saw she was badly decomposed.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Hooper told the jury that Lee told him that Ms Lee was going to come back to life - her skin was regenerating and her finger was seen to move on the video.

But the officer said that Ms Lee's skin was peeling off, exposing a pink layer beneath, and it was clear from the video that someone was moving her finger.

Pathologist Dr Simon Staples confirmed that Ms Lee was dead but he was unable to determine the cause due to decomposition.

Lee has told the court Ms Lee will come back to life next month.