Four in court over grisly murder

Four people charged in connection with the killing of 28-year-old model Abby Choi appeared in court, after police found parts of her body in a village house on the outskirts of the financial city.

Hong Kong police said on Sunday they had charged three men, aged 28-65, with murder, and a 63-year old woman with one count 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 said. Alex’s mother, Jenny Li, faces one count of perverting the course of justice. All four were denied bail, the court ruled.

The court adjourned a hearing on the case to May 8.

Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared a glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Her last post was Feb 19, featuring a photoshoot she had done with L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion publication.

Choi went missing Feb 21, according to a report filed later with the Hong Kong Police.

On Friday, police found her dismembered body in a refrigerator in a house rented by Kau in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban part of Hong Kong about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China.

On Sunday, authorities discovered a young woman’s skull believed to be Choi’s in a cooking pot that was seized from the house.

Officials believe that a hole on the right rear of the skull is where the fatal attack struck her.

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 unhappy with how Choi handled her financial assets.

Choi’s friend Bernard Cheng said she had four children: two sons ages 10 and three, and two daughters ages eight and six.

Alex, 28, fathered the elder two, and her current husband, Chris Tam, was the father of the younger children.

Tam said he was very thankful to have had Choi in his life and praised her for being supportive, friend Pao Jo-yee relayed in a Facebook post.

“When Abby was alive, she was a very kind person and always wanted to help people,” he was quoted as saying in the post.

“I feel anyone who had a chance to be her family or her friend are blessed.”

Pao, who is married to Cheng, said that she has known Choi for over seven years.

“She was the type of person that wouldn’t have enemies,” she said. — AP