On Friday, NSW Supreme Court Justice Helen Wilson sentenced Seo to a maximum of 22 years and six months behind bars, with a non-parole period of 16 years and 10 months, labelling the crime “brutal” and Ms Choi’s injuries “catastrophic”.
Hee Kyung Choi was murdered in October 2017.
Justice Wilson said Seo showed a “violent disregard and disrespect for” for Ms Choi’s rights, and she must have experienced pain and great fear when she was attacked in her own home.
“This was a brutal crime, committed as a consequence of the offender’s enraged inability to accept Ms Choi had a life of her own and a right to make her own choices,” Justice Wilson said.
“She must have been terrified of him on this early morning, and terrified of what was going to happen to her.”
Justice Wilson said it was clear there was a violent struggle, during which Ms Choi’s fingernail came into contact with Seo, “almost certainly as she tried to defend herself”.
Police speak to June Oh Seo on the awning of the Chatswood building where he murdered his ex-girlfriend.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Seo had previously been verbally abusive, physically violent and controlling towards his ex-wife, and was serving a good behaviour bond for assaulting her while she was pregnant and breaching an apprehended violence order at the time of Ms Choi’s murder.
Three months before she died, Ms Choi said in messages to a friend that Seo didn’t like her meeting with male clients or having male friends, and she wanted to keep her distance from him because she was “afraid that something might happen to my life if I continue this relationship”.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Ms Choi’s father Jusuk Choi said his family’s pain is “beyond description”, and asked how Seo could take away someone’s life “so cruelly and brutally, a life that is given only once”.
“We are going through each painful day feeling guilty that we couldn’t protect our child,” Mr Choi said. He said the killer’s false statement to police that his daughter took her own life was “totally devoid of good conscience” and “astonishing”.
Jusuk Choi leaves court after giving a victim impact statement.Credit:AAP
“How could he behave as if it was all Hee Kyung’s fault although he killed her so brutally, unless he is a shameless beast with a human face?”
Seo, who is from Korea, will be deported when he is released from prison.
He will be eligible for parole in August 2034.
Georgina Mitchell is a court reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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