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A justice sentenced a Sydney taekwondo teacher connected Tuesday to beingness successful situation without anticipation of merchandise for murdering a 7-year-old pupil and the boy's parents.
Kwang Kyung Yoo, 51, sat with his caput bowed arsenic Justice Ian Harrison said helium would ne'er beryllium eligible for parole.
The erstwhile instructor, who was called Master Lion by his students, did not look astatine the victims' household arsenic they cried successful court, 9News Australia reported. He held a Bible stuffed with notes during the sentencing, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Harrison said Yoo has been motivated by the jealousy helium felt for the family's fiscal success.
"I'm satisfied that the level of culpability successful the committee of these offenses is truthful utmost that the assemblage involvement successful retribution, punishment, assemblage extortion and deterrence tin lone beryllium met done the imposition of a beingness sentence," Harrison told the New South Wales Supreme Court.
Harrison said Yoo had nary crushed to execution the lad oregon his parents successful February past year.
"These killings were horrific and convulsive acts, senselessly cruel and cynical, perpetrated without a hint of quality compassion oregon information for the dignity of the Cho family," Harrison said, according to news.au.
Victim's household and friends permission the New South Wales Supreme Court successful Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025.
Dan Himbrechts / AP
State instrumentality prevents kid victims of transgression from being identified, truthful the boy's parents besides can't beryllium named.
Yoo and his victims were each calved successful South Korea.
Yoo had pleaded blameworthy to the 3 murders astatine an earlier tribunal appearance. He had nary anterior transgression record.
Yoo had strangled the lad and his 41-year-old ma successful his Lion's Taekwondo and Martial Arts Academy successful occidental Sydney. He owed tens of thousands of dollars astatine the clip and was down successful rent connected the academy.
He took the mother's Apple ticker and drove her luxury BMW car to the household location wherever helium stabbed the boy's 39-year-old begetter to death.
Yoo was injured successful the conflict successful the location and drove himself to infirmary wherever helium told aesculapian unit helium had been attacked successful a supermarket car park. Police arrested him astatine the hospital.
After his arrest, Yoo could not explicate however helium intended to get the family's wealth and aboriginal elaborate his remorse.
While the crimes were planned - with Yoo surveilling the family's location beforehand - helium made nary effort to conceal his crimes from the CCTV cameras successful his academy oregon effort to conceal the bodies.
The justice heard Yoo had lied astir qualifying for the 2000 Olympics, owning a Lamborghini and surviving successful Sydney's affluent suburbs, 9News Australia reported. He would nonstop emails to himself, pretending to beryllium important people, successful bid to impressment his wife, the outlet reported.
Harrison noted that Yoo had told a scientist his lies became bigger and bigger arsenic his woman and students asked much questions.
"I wanted to springiness her hope," helium told his psychiatrist, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "However, implicit clip it became bigger and bigger and didn't stop. She was truthful happy."
The justice noted Yoo had been burdened since puerility with unrealistic expectations from his parents and South Korean civilization astir the level of occurrence helium needed to achieve.
Yoo was handed a container of tissues arsenic the justice described his heavy remorse for the wounded and symptom that helium had caused.
In a missive to the judge, Yoo said helium was "held captive by sin" and that helium wanted to springiness himself to Jesus Christ.
"I privation I could crook backmost clip truthful this didn't happen," Yoo wrote. "I commune each time for the radical I person hurt."
Yoo's lawyers had argued that helium should beryllium fixed a minimum nonparole play alternatively than a beingness condemnation without anticipation of release. The maximum punishment for idiosyncratic convicted of execution successful New South Wales is beingness imprisonment, with a modular nonparole play of 20 years for the execution of an big and 25 years for the execution of a child.
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