The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has accused her former in-laws of living off her family’s wealth without contributing anything to her grandchildren, reports SCMP.
Cheung Yin-fa testified in the High Court on Monday about the relationship between her daughter, ex-son-in-law Alex Kwong Kong-chi, and his family in the years leading up to the influencer’s slaying in February 2023.
Kwong, 31, his father Kwong Kau, 68, and elder brother Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, are standing trial after pleading not guilty to a joint count of murder.
Abby's mother of late Hong Kong socialite has testified that her daughter’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, moved into their family home at age 18 after getting Choi pregnant while both were still high school students.
The testimony came during the ninth day of the High Court trial concerning the February 2023 murder and dismemberment of the 28-year-old socialite. Kwong, his father Kwong Kau, and his brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, face charges of murder and preventing the lawful burial of a body.
When Choi discovered she was pregnant, she was terrified of being in school while expecting.
Cheung reassured the young couple, promising to support and raise the child herself because they were in love. Choi continued her education during the pregnancy, but the young family soon welcomed a second child.
According to Cheung, the Kwong family never contributed financially to the children's upbringing, failing to buy even a single can of powdered milk. Kwong remained consistently unemployed.
In contrast, Choi pursued finance at the University of Hong Kong and became a successful investor, backed by tens of millions of dollars from her wealthy stepfather. She earned her own income through online videos, stock trading, and luxury auctions.
The couple’s relationship collapsed in 2015 due to constant disputes over Kwong’s refusal to work or care for the children.
Despite the split, Choi and her mother maintained an incredibly generous relationship with the Kwong family for the sake of the children.
Cheung admitted she frequently funded joint family vacations and even urged Choi to give Kwong a credit card for his living expenses in mainland China because he was good at sweet-talking her.
In 2015, Choi began a relationship with Chris Tam Fong-chun, a wealthy childhood classmate. Although her divorce from Kwong was not finalised, Choi and Tam held a wedding banquet in 2016.
Choi continued to fully support her children from her first marriage, renting accommodation for them before purchasing a luxury property in Kadoorie Hill in 2019.
The trial continues before Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith. Alex Kwong, Kwong Kau, and Anthony Kwong are accused of murdering Choi in a Tai Po village house in February 2023.
While Alex and Anthony Kwong have pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful burial, they deny the murder charge. Kwong Kau has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The 28-year-old influencer’s death came to light in February 2023, when parts of her dismembered body were discovered in a flat inside a three-storey village house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen, according to SCMP.
Choi’s former husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, his father Kwong Kau, 68, and elder brother Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, will stand trial on a joint count of murder. The trio have also been charged with preventing the lawful burial of Choi’s body.
The case had undergone a lengthy legal process since the defendants first appeared in Kowloon City Court on February 27, 2023, with multiple adjournments over the years before it was transferred to the Court of First Instance for trial.
The Department of Justice has engaged Charlotte Draycott SC to lead the prosecution in the trial, which has been set down for 45 days and could run until December.
Known as the first European woman to become a senior counsel in Hong Kong, Draycott specialises in commercial crimes and cases involving children. She appeared for a co-defendant in the trial of Henry Chau Hoi-leung, a convicted murderer who killed his parents and dismembered their bodies in 2013.
Alex Kwong, Kwong Kau and Anthony Kwong are represented, respectively, by veteran barristers Andrew Raffell, Oliver Davies and Trevor Beel.
The trial will be presided over by Deputy Judge Brian Keith, who served in the Court of Appeal between 1999 and 2001.
Since his retirement from the High Court in England in 2014, the 82-year-old Keith has overseen a number of high-profile criminal cases in the city’s Court of First Instance on an ad hoc basis.
They included the manslaughter trial arising from the 2012 Lamma ferry disaster and, more recently, the retrial of a former university professor who used a gas-filled yoga ball to kill his wife and daughter in 2015.
The judiciary will arrange a live broadcast of the trial to accommodate the large number of attendees expected. -- Agencies
