Christina Ji-Un Han

Nicholas Han, four, and his little sister Christina, two, died on August 8, 1999 in Manukau. Nicholas and Christina were too excited to sleep. It was Saturday night and their father, Robert Han, had flown back to Auckland that day to surprise them after five months working overseas. He brought yo-yos as gifts for the children and let them stay up until 10pm, past their usual bedtime. The following night, Sunday, August 8, 1999, he smashed in his children's heads with a hammer and slit their throats with a knife. He killed his wife Angela, 30, in the same brutal manner, then attempted his own suicide but survived. He pleaded not guilty to the murders by reason of insanity, arguing he had depression over a $100,000 gambling debt he racked up in New Zealand and was working in South Korea to pay off. At his trial, a jury took 90 minutes to find him guilty on all three murder charges. He was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment but spent only nine years in jail. His parents begged the Deportation Review Tribunal to let him stay in New Zealand. But on November 10, 2009, the day after his release, he was deported to South Korea, the country of his birth. His parents still live in Auckland, in a unit at a retirement village. There are no photos of their son or grandchildren on the walls, no mementoes or cards; nothing to hint at the close bond they once shared as a family. Robert's mother Oh Suk Han said it was hard to look back at what happened 17 years ago. At the time of the murders, Oh Suk and her husband Sangbon lived with Robert, Angela and the two children at their home in Ransom Smyth Drive, Manukau. They had all moved over from South Korea between 1993 and 1994 and were a close-knit family, Sangbon said at his son's trial in September 2000. Nicholas was a playful and smart boy who went to Korean school on Saturdays. Christina was very close with her grandparents. She would cuddle up with them in bed and often sleep between them. On the night she was killed, she had been asleep in their room before Robert came in to wake her. He took her away, saying she needed milk. When Sangbon got up the next morning, he noticed the house was unusually quiet. He knocked on Robert and Angela's bedroom door and, when no-one answered, he entered to find what he initially thought were four dead bodies. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/81521072/faces-...

Two-year-old Christina Han's life ended when her father plunged a knife into her neck so forcefully that it came out the other side. Christina's mother, Angela, and 4-year-old brother Nicholas also died from stab wounds to the neck. All three were bashed in the head with a hammer before being stabbed, and it is likely Nicholas and Angela was unconscious when the fatal stabbings occurred. Robert Han 36, was sentenced to 3 terms of life imprisonment. He had huge gambling debts and was suffering from depression at the time of the murders. Source: 4theKids