I pause to observe that the autopsy report suggests in fact two severe wounds to the neck.
"In Ja was moaning. I saw blood coming from her neck. I then walked towards him and he lunged towards me two times with the knife. I could not get near him. I walked backwards and away from him. With Min Kyoung still holding onto Soo Duck's right arm, Soo Duck stabbed In Ja four times in the stomach and upper chest area. Soo Duck then took hold of both Min Kyoung and In Ja with his left hand. He had hold of both their shirt collars with his hand. Soo Duck was still holding the knife in his right hand. They were both sitting on the floor. Min Kyoung was struggling and screaming. I was panicking and pacing around the room. I was screaming. I was scared and did not know what to do. Soo Duck spoke to Min Kyoung in a calm voice. He said to her, "You too are a bad kid". As he said these words he cut Min Kyoung's throat in a slow, slicing motion. Whilst he cut her on the neck he had hold of her shirt collar with his left hand. I saw blood coming from Min Kyoung's neck. In Ja was sitting on the floor next to Min Kyoung. After cutting Min Kyoung he mumbled something to himself. He then stabbed In Ja in the chest area with the knife in his right hand. I saw him stab Min Kyoung also in the chest area."
12 Sung Hee Jun's account suggests that the prisoner moved from the mother to the daughter inflicting injuries in turn during the attack.
13 She noted that the prisoner spoke to her calmly when he said, "Don't use the phone". When she attempted to move towards the front door the prisoner blocked her path pointing the knife in her direction.
14 The prisoner forced Sung Hee Jun into the laundry closing the door behind her. She was able to escape and was later found hiding by a neighbour.
15 Fiona Kaye Marsden and Jackie Annetta Savage were both residents of the units at 130 Reservoir Road, Blacktown and both heard screaming from unit 110 that morning. From the sliding door in her lounge room Ms Marsden saw a lady in a white shirt with black hair screaming and moving away from a man who was holding a knife. She saw the man bending down, crouching over something, moving his hands in a stabbing motion. She immediately ran to the telephone and dialled 000. After doing so she decided to go and help the people in unit 110. As she approached the front door she saw a man leaving on a racing bike. This was the prisoner. She observed that he seemed really calm. He appeared to have come out of the garage of unit 110. It was not clear to her that this was the same man as the one she had seen apparently stabbing someone inside the unit. Nonetheless, she walked up the front path and knocked on the front screen door. Her courage in this regard was of a high order. She heard the baby screaming inside the unit and saw two people lying on the floor surrounded by blood. She did not know what to do. She saw the garage door was open and she considered that there may be someone still inside. She met up with her neighbour, Jackie Savage. The two of them went back to the front door of the unit and tried to open it. The door was locked. Fiona Marsden went back to her flat to make a further call for assistance from the authorities and to obtain a knife so that the two of them could cut through the screen door. Whilst she was absent, Jackie Savage succeeded in breaking in to the unit and reassuring the occupants that the police were on their way. Ms Savage checked the rooms in the downstairs portion of the unit to find out if anyone was still there. She comforted the distressed baby and collected towels from the bathroom and attempted to staunch the bleeding of the two women on the floor while she and Ms Marsden awaited the arrival of the police and the ambulance service. The bravery and concern for their neighbours shown by both women was notable and is deserving of recognition.
16 The prisoner left the scene on his bicycle. He rode to a Telecom transmission station where he entered a deserted building. He made an attempt at suicide by cutting his wrists with a broken bottle. When this did not prove successful he was to tell police that God did not want him to die. Rather he should give himself up to the authorities and tell the Korean community what sort of person In Ja Yoo was. He went to St Mary's Police Station and surrendered himself. He was fully co-operative with police in the subsequent investigation. He participated in an electronically recorded interview in which he made admissions and he participated in a video recorded walk-through at the scene.
17 In the course of the interview the prisoner described his thought process as he went to the St Mary's Police Station:
"Then on the way I was walking. I thought the, I should let the whole situation to the Korean society know about the matter. I wanted to let the whole, our community that the, I wanted to give them warning that the, these women who got married for the, the residency matters, permanent residency matters and those who, those women who acting, behaving like that, I wanted to give them warning, they, having them see the, have them, having them see the whole picture, what the, what happened today, that what I wanted to know, and I, I wanted to do to the, to the whole community people."
18 It is clear that at the time and subsequently the prisoner entertained a view that the deceased, In Ja Yoo, had brought matters upon herself by her obstinate refusal to do as he wished in the matter of the immigration application. His reasons for killing Min Kyoung Kang are a little less clear. In his interview he said that Min Kyoung was holding onto him and that was the reason that he stabbed her.
19 The prisoner maintained in his interview with police that his initial intention had not been to kill the two women. I do not accept that. The account given by the eyewitness together with the post mortem photographs speak eloquently of the prisoner's intention. Mr Dhanji did not seek to contend otherwise. I approach this matter upon the basis that the prisoner's intention in respect of both his victims was to kill them.
20 I do not consider that the evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the prisoner planned to kill In Ja Yoo, or any other person, prior to his arrival at the unit that morning. I approach this matter upon the basis that the prisoner had made threats to the deceased, In Ja Yoo, in connection with the progress of his immigration application. On the morning of the killing I consider that he arrived at the premises with no fixed intention to carry out any such threat but that when In Ja Yoo refused to comply with his demands he killed her, as he had told her he would, with deliberation. The last moments for both mother and daughter were terrifying. The prisoner left the two bleeding on the floor of the unit and calling out for help. He was asked why he had not offered them any assistance and he explained, "They bled too much and I was too scared".
21 Objectively these two killings display a high level of criminality. There is little in the way of mitigation.
22 Mr Dhanji invited me to find that in his interview with the police the prisoner had expressed some regret for his conduct. This, it seems to me, is to take isolated passages from the interview entirely out of context. In answer to one question, toward the end of the interview, the prisoner said, "I'm very sorry about those two people who died". It is to be noted that he went on to state:
"What I wish is those vicious women who squeeze this money out from men who hasn't got permanent residency and then they report those people to Immigration Department and kicking out of this country. I wish those people wouldn't do that sort of things any more."