Trial begins for ex-husband and in-laws of Hong Kong influencer Abby Choi
Prosecutors allege a premeditated murder plot involving financial disputes over a luxury property
Quick Look
- The trial of three men accused of murdering Hong Kong influencer Abby Choi has begun.
- Prosecutors allege the ex-husband and his family planned the killing over a property dispute, citing evidence of purchased equipment and CCTV footage of the victim's final movements.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Abby Choi was a 28-year-old model and influencer whose dismembered body was found in February 2023. The suspects are her ex-husband and his family members.
The ex-husband and in-laws of a Hong Kong influencer and model crafted an elaborate plan that ended with her murder in 2023, prosecutors told the court Friday in the high-profile case.
Warning: this article includes graphic detail
Police discovered parts of 28-year-old Abby Choi's dismembered body at a suburban Hong Kong property in February 2023, in a case that stunned the financial hub.
Ms Choi's ex-husband Alex Kwong, 31, his father Kwong Kau, 68, and brother Anthony Kwong, 35, have pleaded not guilty to murder charges and have been on trial since Wednesday. They face life in prison if convicted.
Prosecution lawyer Charlotte Draycott said that days before Ms Choi was reported missing, the defendants bought equipment later used to cut up and dispose of her body including a mincing machine.
The court was played CCTV footage that prosecutors said showed Ms Choi, 28, getting into one of two vans used by the Kwongs in the afternoon on February 21, 2023.
Her last online activity was at 2:44pm.
Other footage showed the suspects parking the vans at a different location at around 3:20 pm the same day near the same property where police recovered her remains on February 24.
The three men were seen wearing face masks and were "not upset".
"It's what they expected," Ms Draycott told the court, saying that they had prepared a "cogitated plan" to kill Ms Choi.
On February 25, Alex Kwong -- who had two children with Ms Choi -- was arrested while planning to flee Hong Kong, a day after his father and brother were detained.
Prosecutors also displayed a hammer to the jury and cited a forensic report saying that the injuries on Ms Choi's skull, caused by a blunt instrument, matched the shape of the hammer.
Prosecutors told the jury earlier this week that Ms Choi and her ex-husband's family had financial disputes over a luxury property which she had paid HK$60 million ($10.98 million AUD).
The trial is expected to last at least until December.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Trial to conclude by December
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- What is the final verdict of the court?
- Will further evidence be presented regarding the property dispute?