Slain Hong Kong model Abby Choi back in media spotlight after ex-husband, former in-laws slapped with extra charge
- Alex Kwong, father Kwong Kau and brother Anthony Kwong to go on trial next year at the earliest charged with murder of socialite Abby Choi
- Charge details for Choi’s former mother-in-law, Jenny Li, also amended to accuse 64-year-old of obstructing police investigation into Alex Kwong’s role in 2015 theft case
There have been a total of nine court hearings in relation to the case since the incident came to light in late February, which led to charges against Choi’s former husband, his parents, older brother and two others.
Now as some of their cases are gearing up to be transferred to a higher courts for trial, the Post looks back on the details that have emerged so far.
1. Who was Abby Choi?
Choi was a model, socialite and influencer who was reported missing on 21 February 2023. Three days later her remains were discovered at a village house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen village.
On February 26, Choi’s former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi, now 29, his father Kwong Kau, 66, and older brother Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 32, were charged with murder.
Yacht rental agent Lam Shun, 42, and jobless Irene Pun Hau-yin, 30, each face a count of assisting an offender after they reportedly helped to arrange Alex Kwong’s attempt to flee Hong Kong.
The latter two were released on a HK$50,000 (US$6,390) bail earlier this year. Their cases are expected to be heard in February 2024.
Hong Kong model Abby Choi’s ex-husband, 2 former in-laws hit with extra charge
2. What’s happened at the courts?
Kwong Kau and his two sons were last week hit with an additional charge of preventing the lawful burial of a body.
They will be tried before a High Court judge and a jury on one charge of preventing the lawful burial of a body and another for murder. The trio will appear before the Eastern Court in late January for their case’s transfer.
Counsel representing the Kwong family had complained repeatedly of what they said were excessive delays in the police investigation, claiming it had weakened their ability to mount a proper defence.
In Kowloon City Court on May 8, prosecutors said police required extra time to inspect more than 30 items seized from the same flat where Choi’s remains were found, including electric saws, knives, hammers and kitchenware.
02:02
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On July 31, defence lawyer Eric So Chi-kit, representing the Kwong family, complained over the prosecution’s lack of progress in compiling the forensic and death reports for the case.
So demanded the prosecution disclose the related evidence and efforts drawn on to complete the forensic report, saying that, although he did not oppose an adjournment to the trial, the defence had the right to know the progress on the file.
The court recorded the lawyer’s request, before it adjourned the case to October 11.
So again complained at the October hearing that the lack of progress in the case was “very undesirable” and that his team were unable to do anything while their clients waited in jail.
But prosecutors dismissed the contention and revealed the investigation would be completed once a DNA examination of the evidence was finished.
Lawyers for family accused over Abby Choi murder blame police for trial delays
In the case of the socialite’s former mother-in-law Jenny Li Sui-heung, 64, she was originally charged with perverting the course of justice by destroying evidence against her in relation to Choi’s murder.
The charge details were last week amended to accuse Li of obstructing a police investigation into Alex Kwong’s role in a 2015 theft case.
Li faces up to seven years in prison if she is found guilty. Her trial will take place in the lower District Court.
She is expected to return to Kowloon City Court later this month.
Li recently had her fifth attempt at bail – which included one at the High Court – rejected. Her husband and two sons have never applied for bail.
Ex-husband of slain socialite Abby Choi to plead guilty to theft charges
3. What is Alex Kwong’s theft case?
Alex Kwong was escorted to the District Court on February 28 this year, after he jumped bail in a case involving seven counts of theft involving 39 necklaces, 32 bracelets, 13 gold bars, 102 gold grains, six pendants and 10 taels of gold spanning separate incidents between May 2013 and January 2015.
The District Court issued a warrant for the defendant’s arrest after police lost contact with him in August 2015, three months before his 15-day trial was slated to begin. He was arrested on February 25, 2023, at Tung Chung Development Pier while waiting for a speedboat to flee Hong Kong to Macau after Choi’s death.
Alex Kwong’s counsel on November 14 told the District Court that his client would plead guilty to six charges of theft alleged to have taken place between June 2013 and January 2015.
He is also expected to admit an additional charge of failure to surrender himself to the court in October 2015, in breach of his bail conditions.
Prosecutors withdrew a seventh theft charge, but did not disclose why.
The amended indictment said Kwong had stolen a total of 35 necklaces, 31 bracelets, 13 gold bars, 102 gold grains, six pendants and 10 taels of gold from six people.
The court will hear Kwong’s plea on June 19 next year.
Abby Choi murder: Hong Kong police conduct tests at village house
4. What have police uncovered during the Choi case?
Choi’s dismembered remains were found in a three-storey house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen village in late February.
The Kowloon City Court on May 8 also heard that bloodstains found inside Anthony Kwong’s car, as well as the human skull and legs discovered at the village house, belonged to Choi.
A jacket found in the house is alleged to have had Li’s DNA on it and is believed to have belonged to her.
Proposal aims to make well-off Hong Kong tenants vacate public flats quickly
5. What about further developments?
The Housing Authority in April banned public housing tenants who already owned property from buying subsidised flats after it came to light that Choi’s former father-in-law was listed as the owner of one such apartment worth more than HK$2 million (US$254,780) at Sheung Man Court in Kwai Chung, just months after a luxury property was bought under his name in October 2019.
Kwong Kau, a former police officer, is also the sole owner of a 1,820 sq ft flat located in the exclusive Kadoorie Hill neighbourhood in Ho Man Tin.
The flat was bought for about HK$73 million, including a HK$3 million stamp duty fee.
Cheung Yin-fa – Choi’s mother – in March asked for a court injunction to forbid Kwong Kau from selling the luxury flat her daughter had allegedly bought in his name.
Additional reporting by Jess Ma
