HONG KONG: The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has described her daughter’s former father-in-law as a “cunning old fox” who clung to her family’s fortune, rejecting his lawyer’s suggestion that he bought a Rolls-Royce with money earned from business after his retirement.
Cheung Yin-fa told the High Court on Thursday that her daughter had given Kwong Kau a monthly allowance of HK$20,000 (US$2,548) and paid more than HK$200,000 towards his medical expenses when he was seriously ill.
She appeared emotional when defence counsel suggested that Kwong, a former police sergeant, could afford luxury items because he had made money from business since retiring from the force.
“This is definitely impossible... He couldn’t even afford his meals; how could he spend HK$6 million to HK$7 million for a Rolls-Royce?” Cheung said on the fourth day of her testimony.
“He had no money when he was about to die. Had my daughter not used her credit card to give him HK$200,000, he’d have been [expletive] dead in half an hour.”
Kwong, 68, allegedly enlisted his two sons to help kill the 28-year-old model and dispose of her body in February 2023 after she tried to sell a HK$72 million flat at the Kadooria residential complex in Ho Man Tin.
Cheung said the flat was registered in Kwong’s name to avoid paying HK$9 million in double stamp duty, and that her daughter never intended to give the property to the family.
He is standing trial on a joint charge of murder alongside his sons, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, and Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31.
The elder Kwong has also pleaded not guilty to preventing the lawful burial of Choi’s body, an offence to which his two sons pleaded guilty before the trial.
In their opening statement, prosecutors suggested that money was the motive for the crime and highlighted the substantial wealth gap between the two families.
During cross-examination, Kwong Kau’s defence counsel, Oliver Davies, argued that the Choi family was not as wealthy as Cheung had claimed in earlier testimony.
The trial continues before Deputy Judge Brian Keith and a nine-member jury. - South China Morning Post
