Not manifestly unjust

The Herald reports:

A woman who murdered her two children, stuffed their bodies into suitcases and abandoned them in a storage unit has had seven years taken off the time she must spend behind bars.

Hakyung Lee is still subject to a life sentence, but her minimum non-parole period has been cut from 17 years to 10.

The reduction has been made after the Court of Appeal noted there was a “stark” disparity between her sentence and that given to Lauren Dickason, another mother who murdered her children.

Dickason is serving a sentence of 18 years for killing her three daughters, but is eligible to apply for parole after only six years.

The disparity between the sentences is stark, because the facts of the cases were starkly different. Both very sad cases with mothers killing their children, but Lee’s offending was far worse.

Dickason smothered her children. She was rightfully found guilty of murder. But she did not flee the scene or deny what she did.

Lee poisoned her children. She stuffed their bodies into suitcase and hid them in a storage container. She left the country on a business class flight and changed her name. When arrested and extradited she denied she did it.

This makes her offending quite different to Dickason who never covered up what she did. Dickason was given a relatively lenient sentence, but that doesn’t justify knocking seven years off Lee’s sentence.