Splatter-proof room, pots of human soup: The grisly homicide of Hong Kong mannequin Abby Choi

By India Today World Desk: Four individuals charged in reference to the killing of 28-year-old Hong Kong mannequin Abby Choi appeared in courtroom on Monday morning, after police discovered components of her physique at a village home.

Hong Kong police stated on Sunday that they had charged three males, aged 28-65, with homicide, and a 63-year-old lady with one rely of obstructing the case.

Those charged with Choi’s killing included her ex-husband, Alex Kwong, Kwong’s brother Anthony and their father Kwong Kau, police stated. All had been denied bail, the courtroom dominated and adjourned the listening to of the case to May 8.

The grisly particulars of the case have despatched shockwaves throughout a metropolis, usually considered one of many most secure on the earth, turning into extensively mentioned on social media in mainland China and Taiwan in addition to within the information media throughout the planet.

Choi’s accomplice, Tam Chuk Kwan, also referred to as Chris Tam, described her as a “kind-hearted and good person who always wanted to help others”.

“She supported me and loved me very much,” stated Mr Tam by means of a household pal.

“She also brought up four cute and obedient kids. It has been a blessing to be Abby’s family or friend,” he was quoted by the Independent as saying.

In photographs and movies posted to her Instagram account this February, Abby Choi poses on a balcony in opposition to the Paris skyline, dines with previous buddies at an expensive Art Deco restaurant, and is chauffeured to a vogue occasion the place crowds of photographers wait exterior the venue.

“From Hong Kong to the cover of L’Officiel Monaco, my journey as a style icon continues. Grateful for this recognition and the continued support along the way,” Choi wrote on 14 February, exhibiting herself on the quilt of a French vogue journal.

Image posted by Abby Choi on her Instagram

Choi’s pal Bernard Cheng instructed the Associated Press, “I haven’t imagined that a person who’s so good, so full of love, so innocent, a person who doesn’t do anything bad, will be killed like this. My heart is still heavy. I can’t sleep well.”

ABBY CHOI AND HER RELATIONSHIP WITH FORMER HUSBAND

Choi and Alex Kwong had been married in 2012, when she was solely 18 years previous and he was roughly the identical age. They had two sons collectively, the elder of whom is now 10.

The couple divorced a while earlier than 2016, and Choi went on to start out a relationship with Tam Chuk Kwan, whose father had based a widely known informal restaurant chain.

Even after divorce, Choi maintained shut ties to the Kwongs. Police say that she purchased a four-bedroom, 1,820-square-foot luxurious house for the household and the 2 kids in Hong Kong’s unique Kandoorie Hill neighbourhood, in addition to serving to her former brother-in-law purchase one other residence.

According to Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, she at one level ran a pancake stall with Anthony Kwong, who additionally served as her private driver.

Media studies said the mannequin would typically go on vacation journeys with Kwong and his household.

A DISPUTE OVER PROPERTY

According to the investigating officers, the connection between Choi and Kwong started to bitter final 12 months, when Choi made plans to promote the Kandoorie Hill house. Though paid for by Choi, it had been registered within the title of Alex Kwong’s father, Kwong Kau, allegedly with the intention to keep away from practically $8m Hong Kong {dollars} (US$1m) in stamp responsibility.

Mortgage data reported by the Hong Kong information web site HK01 present that Kau purchased the flat in July 2019 for practically HK$73m, and had paid off your complete mortgage by October that 12 months.

Even although Choi promised to seek out the Kwongs a brand new residence, her plan was met with fierce resistance from Kau, a regulation enforcement supply instructed the Morning Post.

According to a different native newspaper, Oriental Daily News, the feud led Choi to seek the advice of a lawyer, who instructed her that so long as she may show that she paid for the property, she may nonetheless obtain cash from its sale.

It’s not clear whether or not or not the house was ever offered.

Regardless, police allege that this was the spark for Kwong Kau to start masterminding a plot in opposition to his former daughter-in-law.

ABBY CHOI’s FORMER HUSBAND, FAMILY PLOTTED HER MURDER

According to investigators in Hong Kong, the mannequin’s former husband and two members of his household had been plotting to homicide her when she returned to Hong Kong. Officials declare the trio had rented an house within the village of Lung Mei Tsuen and turned it right into a splatter-proof physique disposal workshop the place components of Choi’s corpse had been later discovered hid in pots of soup.

Officials additional stated the instruments used to dismember human our bodies had been discovered within the flat, together with meat grinders, chainsaws, lengthy raincoats, gloves, and masks.

The suspects lined the partitions of the flat with a sail and placed on face shields and raincoats in order that they might not get bloodstained by dismembering the physique.

Alex Kwong’s mom, 63-year-old Jenny Li Sui-heun, was additionally charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly destroying proof.

WHAT POLICE FOUND AT THE FLAT

When the police had been knowledgeable of the homicide, they visited the villaged and located a macabre butcher’s store outfitted with a meat grinder, an electrical noticed, two varieties of chopper, a hammer, face shields, and black raincoats. They additionally discovered a purse which belonged to Choi.

Cordons strains seen exterior a village home the place a part of Abby Choi’s physique was present in Hong Kong (Photo: Reuters)

In the fridge, there have been two dismembered human legs, in addition to two pots filled with soup, containing carrots, inexperienced radishes, and minced meat that investigators suspected to be human stays.

When the soup was totally analysed later at a police facility, a cranium and several other ribs had been additionally present in it. The again of the cranium had a big gap in it, and investigators now consider that this was the blow that killed Choi whereas she contained in the seven-seater automobile.

Kau, Anthony, and Choi’s former mother-in-law Jenny Li had been swiftly arrested, however Alex Kwong was nowhere to be discovered, and a manhunt ensued.

HOW POLICE ARRESTED CHOI’s FORMER IN-LAWS

Kwong Kau is a former Hong Kong police sergeant who retired from the pressure in 2005, having acquired a medal for lengthy service in 2001.

The Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily alleges that he was pressured to resign after being accused of sexually assaulting a girl.

On Saturday 25 February, officers discovered that Choi’s former father-in-law Kwong was allegedly planning to flee the town by speedboat. He was intercepted on the Tung Chung Development Pier on Hong Kong’s western island of Lantau, close to the worldwide airport.

Police excavate a landfill throughout a seek for the lacking components Abby Choi’s physique in Hong Kong (Photo: Reuters)

According to the Morning Post, Mr Kwong was arrested with HK$500,000 in money and several other luxurious watches value a complete of roughly HK$4m.

Police have since arrested a 41-year-old yacht rental worker named Lam on suspicion of aiding Kwong’s flight, for an alleged payment of HK$100,000

That similar afternoon, about 100 law enforcement officials descended on a clifftop graveyard east of the town centre generally known as Junk Bay Cemetery, which Kau and Anthony are suspected to have visited on 22 February.

Published On:

Mar 4, 2023