Abby Choi did not have enough cash in year before death, murder trial told

Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung did not have enough cash to cover her expenses in the year before her death, her former driver has told her murder trial.

Choi’s former chauffeur, Chin Kei-shun, said on Tuesday that the influencer appeared to have run into cash-flow difficulties after she and her partner incurred a HK$5 million (US$637,090) debt during a leisure trip to Macau in August 2021.

Chin said Choi would usually carry a substantial amount of cash in her handbag when she went out, but appeared to have insufficient cash from February to the middle of 2022.

She would ask him to pay for her expenses first and repay him later, Chin added.

The former chauffeur also said Choi appeared to have sought HK$600,000 from her ex-brother-in-law, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, because of her financial difficulties.

Kwong, 35, is standing trial in the High Court on a joint count of murder alongside his father, Kwong Kau, 68, and his younger brother, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, Choi’s ex-husband.

The elder Kwong, a retired police sergeant, is also contesting a charge of preventing the burial of Choi’s body, an offence to which his two sons pleaded guilty before the trial began last month.

The court heard that Anthony Kwong served as the 28-year-old model’s stand-in chauffeur after Chin resigned in November 2022. He remained in the role until Choi’s killing came to light on February 24, 2023.

Chin said Kwong had asked him to take unpaid leave because his family would be away on a two-month trip. He said he resigned after his request to be placed on half pay was rejected.

Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, previously alleged that Kwong’s mother, Jenny Li Sui-heung, used various excuses to remove Chin from the job so that her elder son, who was unemployed at the time, could succeed him.

Li allegedly tried to persuade Choi to dismiss Chin by accusing the driver of theft and having financial problems. She also allegedly told Chin that he could take a few months off while her family travelled.

Chin admitted on Tuesday that he had two drug-related convictions in the past, but said no one had ever questioned his integrity during his employment.

Asked whether he had committed theft or had a gambling habit, the witness said: “I also want to know what I allegedly stole.”

Prosecutors contend that Anthony Kwong played a part in Choi’s murder, noting that he accompanied his father when the latter sourced items used to dispose of the socialite’s body after her killing.

Kwong Kau earlier admitted that he visited a kitchenware supplier in Yau Ma Tei on February 8, 2023, where he bought a commercial meat mincer, a 14-by-14-inch soup pot, a wooden chopping board and a frying sieve for HK$8,700.

A saleswoman at the shop, whose name was withheld from open court at her request, said the elder Kwong also asked about the price of an industrial-grade bone grinder after buying the mincer.

She added that when she said a bone grinder would cost about HK$35,000, a younger man – whom prosecutors said was Anthony Kwong – told Kwong Kau the device was too expensive, and the pair left the shop.

The trial continues before Deputy Judge Brian Keith and a nine-member jury.