Bucklands Beach residents were jolted awake as a fire gutted an East Auckland home.
An Auckland man accused of murdering an 11-year-old boy and the child’s father appeared in the High Court at Auckland for the first time today.
The 38-year-old asked for name suppression until next week so his family can get their affairs in order.
Justice Mathew Downs grantedthe request after no opposition from the Crown.
The man was charged with two counts of murder on October 24, three weeks after the bodies of Jung Sup Lee, 36, and his son, Ha-il Lee, were found in a house fire on Murvale Drive in Bucklands Beach.
Police allege the East Auckland fire was deliberately lit with an accelerant.
CCTV footage and information provided by the public aided in the arrest, Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua previously told the media.
An Auckland man with name suppression is accused of killing Jung Sup Lee, 36, and his son Ha-il Lee, 11, in a Bucklands Beach house fire. Photo / Jason Dorday
The defendant, who bowed his head and wept during parts of today’s brief hearing, entered not guilty pleas through lawyer David Hoskin.
The judge ordered a three-week trial, scheduled to begin in February 2027.
Ha-il Lee, a student at Bucklands Beach Intermediate, has been described by his principal as a “delightful” pupil and a credit to his family.
Emergency services at the scene of a fatal house fire on Murvale Drive, Bucklands Beach, in October. Photo / Corey Fleming
The child’s older brother and mother escaped unscathed, authorities said. A boarder at the house was also uninjured.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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