Abby Choi: Ex-husband and in-laws of dismembered Hong Kong model charged with murder
The ex-husband and in-laws of a Hong Kong model and influencer appeared in court today charged with her gruesome murder.
Abby Choi was murdered and dismembered, and her legs were found in a refrigerator while her skull and several of her ribs were discovered in a pot.
Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong, her father Kwong Kau and her brother Anthony Kwong were charged with murdering the model. Alex Kwong’s mother, Jenny Li, faces a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Footage from Sunday night showed one of the male suspects being led into court by police with a black bag over his head. All four were taken into custody without bail.
Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared her glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Dressed in a floor-length tulle gown, she had just attended a Dior show at Paris Fashion Week.
Abby Choi was murdered and dismembered, and her legs were found in a refrigerator while her skull and several of her ribs were discovered in a pot.
Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong, her father Kwong Kau and her brother Anthony Kwong were charged with murdering the model. Alex Kwong’s mother, Jenny Li, faces a charge of perverting the course of justice. Pictured: One of the suspects is seen being led by police officers to court on Sunday night.
Her last post was over a week ago, featuring a photo shoot she had done with L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion publication.
Choi had financial disputes involving tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, police said earlier, adding that “some people” were not happy with the way Choi handled her financial assets.
His friend, Bernard Cheng, said he has four children: two boys, ages 10 and 3, and two daughters, ages 8 and 6. The two oldest were with Kwong, 28, and the youngest children were with her current husband, Chris Tam.
Tam said he was very grateful to have Choi in his life and praised her for her support, his friend Pao Jo-yee said in a Facebook post.
“When Abby was alive, she was a very kind person and always wanted to help people,” the post is quoted as saying. “I feel like anyone who can be her family and friends with her is blessed.”
Pao, who is married to Cheng, told The Associated Press that she has known Choi for more than seven years and that Choi treats the people around her well.
“She’s that kind of person who wouldn’t have any enemies,” he said.
Cheng said that Choi had very good relations with her family members and would travel with her current and former husbands’ families together.
Choi’s current father-in-law is one of the founders of one of the city’s famous noodle chains, local newspaper The Standard reported.
Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared her glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Dressed in a floor-length tulle gown, she had just attended a Dior show at Paris Fashion Week (pictured). She was murdered and dismembered, and her legs were found in a refrigerator while her skull and several of her ribs were discovered in a pot.
Choi had been missing for several days when police found her dismembered body, including her legs, in a refrigerator at her home in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban Hong Kong area about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China.
On Sunday, authorities discovered the skull of a young woman believed to be Choi’s in one of the pots that were seized. Authorities believe a hole in the right back of her skull is where the fatal attack struck her.
After an extensive search, Ms. Choi’s former partner, 31, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday, according to the South China Morning Mail.
They found him at the Tung Chung Pier on Lantau Island, preparing to board a speedboat. His ex-husband had HK$500,000 (£50,000) in cash and several luxury watches worth HK$4 million (£400,000) in total with him when he was arrested, the sources say.
On Saturday, Superintendent Alan Chung said the flat was fixed up by “cold-blooded killers.”
“The police also discovered that the apartment was meticulously fixed up by cold-blooded killers,” he said. “Tools used to dismember human bodies were found on the floor, including meat grinders, chainsaws, long raincoats, gloves and masks.”
His case is one of the most shocking and violent murders seen in Hong Kong since 2013, when a man killed his parents and their heads were later found in refrigerators.
Cops found Abby Choi’s legs in a household refrigerator the Friday after she went missing. Her ex-husband along with three of her relatives have been charged
Choi had been missing for several days when police found her dismembered body, including her legs, in a refrigerator at her home in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban Hong Kong area about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China.
In another famous case from 1999, a woman was kidnapped and tortured by three members of an organized crime group before her death.
Her skull was later found stuffed into a Hello Kitty doll.
Choi’s gruesome murder has affected many in Hong Kong as the southern Chinese city is considered safe with a very low level of violent crime.
Across the border, in mainland China, the online discussion of his case went viral on social media. The hearing in the murder case was adjourned until May.