Hee Kyung Choi’s father breaks down at sentence hearing of man who pleaded guilty to her murder in Sydney’s Chatswood
A heartbroken father has told a judge the man who bashed and strangled his daughter, then threw her off her Sydney unit balcony, is a “shameless beast with a human face”.
Jusuk Choi broke down repeatedly on Friday while reading out his victim impact statement, which was then translated from Korean to English, at the NSW supreme court sentence hearing of his daughter’s killer.
June Oh Seo, 38, has pleaded guilty to murdering Hee Kyung Choi, 34, at Chatswood in October 2017.
Her body lay in a laneway for 12 hours before Seo was arrested after a stand-off with police when he climbed onto a perspex balcony roof at the top of the block.
Jusuk Choi asked how someone could take his daughter’s life “so cruelly and brutally” and then tell police she killed herself by jumping off the balcony.
He said he was brought to tears looking at the joy on his daughter’s face in a photo taken with a mayor when she received Australian citizenship months before her murder.
His wife and their son were shattered at her being murdered by “a shameless beast with a human face”.
“Because of this pain, we are only hoping each day of living hell passes quickly so we can meet our daughter who we miss so much,” he said.
His daughter, who worked in the finance industry, and Seo, a painter, began an intimate relationship in March 2017 and travelled to South Korea the next month to meet each other’s parents.
“Ms Choi told her friends that the offender was possessive and controlling, including that he did not like her being with male friends or clients, wanted to know where she was, with who and when she would be home,” the agreed facts stated.
She later asked him to move out of her apartment, which he did on 13 August, but they remained in contact.
During the stand-off with police, Seo said: “Hee Kyung is dead and if I get out of here I am going to get a death penalty” and “I am going to spend the rest of my life in jail ... I want to finish myself here.”
Justice Helen Wilson was due to sentence Seo later on Friday.
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| Father of Hee Kyung Choi, Jusuk Choi (centre) and his wife (right, no name given) leave Sydney supreme court on Friday, 31 May |
A heartbroken father has told a judge the man who bashed and strangled his daughter, then threw her off her Sydney unit balcony, is a “shameless beast with a human face”.
Jusuk Choi broke down repeatedly on Friday while reading out his victim impact statement, which was then translated from Korean to English, at the NSW supreme court sentence hearing of his daughter’s killer.
June Oh Seo, 38, has pleaded guilty to murdering Hee Kyung Choi, 34, at Chatswood in October 2017.
Her body lay in a laneway for 12 hours before Seo was arrested after a stand-off with police when he climbed onto a perspex balcony roof at the top of the block.
Jusuk Choi asked how someone could take his daughter’s life “so cruelly and brutally” and then tell police she killed herself by jumping off the balcony.
He said he was brought to tears looking at the joy on his daughter’s face in a photo taken with a mayor when she received Australian citizenship months before her murder.
His wife and their son were shattered at her being murdered by “a shameless beast with a human face”.
“Because of this pain, we are only hoping each day of living hell passes quickly so we can meet our daughter who we miss so much,” he said.
His daughter, who worked in the finance industry, and Seo, a painter, began an intimate relationship in March 2017 and travelled to South Korea the next month to meet each other’s parents.
“Ms Choi told her friends that the offender was possessive and controlling, including that he did not like her being with male friends or clients, wanted to know where she was, with who and when she would be home,” the agreed facts stated.
She later asked him to move out of her apartment, which he did on 13 August, but they remained in contact.
During the stand-off with police, Seo said: “Hee Kyung is dead and if I get out of here I am going to get a death penalty” and “I am going to spend the rest of my life in jail ... I want to finish myself here.”
Justice Helen Wilson was due to sentence Seo later on Friday.