Abby Choi’s remains found in flat reeking of disinfectant, murder trial hears

Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung’s dismembered remains were found inside a rural village flat that reeked of disinfectant when police arrived at the scene three days after the model’s alleged murder, a court has heard.

A police detective involved in the investigation said on Tuesday that officers cordoned off the 600 square foot rental flat in Tai Po’s Lung Mei village on the evening of February 24, 2023, after he found human remains and an array of items believed to have been used in the illegal disposal of the victim’s body.

Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, his father, Kwong Kau, 68, and elder brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, are standing trial at the High Court, charged with murdering Choi on February 21 that year.

The elder Kwong, a retired police sergeant, is also contesting a charge of preventing the lawful burial of the 28-year-old’s body. His two sons pleaded guilty to the offence before the trial began last month.

Detective Constable Chan Wai-hung said he and other officers broke into the flat after investigators learned that a white Toyota Alphard used to carry Choi on February 21 had been seen parked outside the premises.

Chan, who appeared distressed at times during his oral testimony, said he noticed an “overwhelming” artificial smell similar to toilet cleaner upon entering the flat.

He also noted that the flat’s windows were completely covered with black tape, preventing people outside from seeing in.

Chan said he did not initially notice anything suspicious but then found several saws and face shields, items rarely seen in a household setting.

The constable then broke into a locked bedroom covered with blue plastic sheets and discovered beneath a tent, a plastic box containing a wooden chopping board and what appeared to be human flesh and internal organs, the trial heard.

He said he also found two soup pots on a cooker in the kitchen, but he did not examine their contents as he believed they were likely to contain dismembered body parts.

Chan said he combed the premises before finding Choi’s legs in two rubbish bags in a refrigerator in the living room.

The two soup pots and the two legs were subsequently sent to a public mortuary for further examination, the court heard.

Prosecutors allege that the murder arose from a family feud over the proposed sale of a HK$72 million flat at the upmarket Kadooria residential estate in Ho Man Tin.

Kwong Kau, the property’s registered owner, allegedly resented Choi for trying to sell the flat and enlisted his two sons to help kill his former daughter-in-law and dispose of her body.

The court previously heard that the elder Kwong signed a power of attorney on November 7, 2022, to allow Choi to negotiate the flat’s sale after her mother threatened to take him to court.

Choi initially put the flat on sale at HK$75 million, but lowered the price to HK$67 million a month later, the court was told.

Testifying on Tuesday, property agents Clayton Lau Siu-long and Benny Tong Wing-hang said Choi was eager to sell the flat when she contacted them in November 2022 and February 2023, respectively.

Both agents confirmed that no prospective buyers had made inquiries about the flat before Choi’s killing.

Tong said Choi told him she had absolute authority over the flat’s sale, assuring him that “the one surnamed Kwong” would sign the required documents once she had secured a deal.

But Tong also said the Kadooria development recorded no second-hand home sales during that period as property prices plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors alleged that Alex Kwong used a one-pound ball-peen hammer to hit Choi on the head during a car journey she believed was to fetch her eight-year-old daughter from school on February 21, 2023. The hammer was recovered from the village flat three days later.

Chow Wai-shing, then a salesman at a hardware shop in Kowloon City, confirmed that the hammer seized at the scene was the one he sold to Anthony Kwong on February 15.

During cross-examination, Alex Kwong’s lawyer Andrew Raffell suggested that the seized hammer could not have been used to swing at a person inside a vehicle, but Deputy Judge Brian Keith said that was a matter for the jury to decide.