The murder of 28-year-old influencer and model Abby Choi, whose dismembered body was found in February 2023, was a “premeditated” crime. The accusation emerged during the ongoing trial before the High Court of Hong Kong: in the courtroom, as reported by CNN, gruesome elements were shown, as well as the details of the plan that would have led to the young woman’s death.
The murder of Abby Choi
According to the reconstruction of the prosecutor’s office, the family of Abby Choi’s ex-husband would have prepared the murder of the model by purchasing in the previous days some of the tools used to kill her and dispose of her body: a meat grinder, a hammer and a chainsaw. The 28-year-old’s remains were found by police in 2023 in a specially rented house in a village in the Tai Po area.
The premeditated crime
The woman’s ex-husband, 31-year-old Alex Kwong, her 68-year-old father Kwong Kau and her 35-year-old brother Anthony Kwong have pleaded not guilty to the murder charge but face a life sentence. During the trial, prosecutors strongly argued that the defendants had planned the murder down to the smallest detail, purchasing in advance all the materials needed to dispose of the body.
According to prosecutor Charlotte Draycott, the victim was lured into the car under the pretext of picking up her daughter from school. Subsequently, she was allegedly hit in the head inside the vehicle. A forensic examination confirmed that the injuries found on the victim’s skull, caused by a blunt object, correspond exactly to the shape of a hammer recovered by investigators.
The tools to dismember the body
In the days before the disappearance was reported, the defendants had purchased the equipment subsequently used to dismember the body, including the meat grinder and an electric saw. A neighbor of the Tai Po house reported clearly hearing the sound of a chainsaw on the afternoon of the crime, and a blade containing traces of human flesh was later found on the property.
Security cameras show the influencer getting into one of the two vans used by the Kwongs on the afternoon of February 21, 2023. The model, who had over 140 thousand followers on Instagram, was last active online at 2.44pm that day. Other footage shows Alex Kwong parking one of the vehicles in a different location around 3.20pm, a short distance from the horror house. “The three men – underlined the prosecutor in the courtroom – did not appear upset in the videos”.
The economic motive
Alex Kwong, who had two children with Abby Choi, was arrested on February 25, 2023 while trying to flee Hong Kong aboard a speedboat, the day after his father and brother were arrested. According to investigators, the origin of the brutal murder was violent financial disputes between the model and her ex-spouse’s family. The object of the dispute was a luxury apartment for which Abby Choi had paid 60 million Hong Kong dollars (equivalent to approximately 6.77 million euros) out of her own pocket. The trial, which began in recent days, is expected to last several weeks.