Mother in court on murder charges

The name of the South Korean woman charged after the remains of two children were found in suitcases will remain suppressed. The woman, 42, appeared before Judge Gus Andre´e Wiltens in the Manukau District Court yesterday, facing two charges of murder. The judge suppressed her name and any identifying details. However, it can be revealed that she was the mother of the children. Strict suppression orders also prevent media from revealing the children’s identities. The woman was remanded without plea in custody, and will next appear in the High Court at Auckland on December 14. She was extradited this week from South Korea, where she had been held since September. The children’s bodies were discovered in August after a family bought abandoned goods from an Auckland storage unit in an online auction. The children were between 5 and 10 years old and had been dead for years, police said.