HONG KONG (SCMP): Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung could have been struck on the head seven times with a hammer when she was allegedly murdered three years ago, a court has heard.
Forensic pathologist Dr Kwok Ka-ki said on Thursday that Choi was fatally struck on the head with a blunt object, leaving a large hole on the right side of her head and causing extensive bleeding in her brain and skull.
Testifying in the High Court as the murder trial entered its sixth week, Kwok said the influencer, 28, could have died from severe brain damage or suffocation by blood blocking her airway.
The prosecution witness also noted that part of Choi’s dismembered remains appeared to have been boiled in two cooking pots seized from a rural village flat three days after her disappearance on February 21, 2023.
Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, his father, Kwong Kau, 68, and his elder brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, are contesting a joint charge of murder.
The brothers admitted to preventing the lawful burial of Choi’s body before the trial began in late September. Kwong Kau, a retired police sergeant, changed his plea to guilty on the charge midway through the trial.
Prosecutors allege that Alex Kwong struck his ex-wife on the head with a hammer during a car journey she thought was to collect her eight-year-old daughter from school on February 21.
Parts of Choi’s dismembered remains, including her head and legs, were discovered in a 600 square foot rental flat in Tai Po’s Lung Mei village three days later.
Kwok said she found the deceased’s head and multiple pieces of suspected human body parts immersed in liquid inside a metal pot when she first examined the evidence at Fu Shan Public Mortuary on February 26, 2023.
She said the muscles and soft tissues on the severed head appeared friable and could easily be detached from the skull at the time of the examination.
Kwok’s autopsy report identified seven external injuries inflicted on Choi’s head before her death, including a 15cm laceration accompanied by a 5.5cm-by-5cm depressed fracture.
The pathologist told the court that blood could enter Choi’s airway through the fractures and suffocate her within minutes.
Even if that were not the case, Choi would still have died within half an hour due to the severe brain damage she had sustained, the court heard.
Asked whether the model’s head injuries could have been inflicted by a one-pound ball-peen hammer seized from the flat, Kwok said the injuries were consistent with those caused by the alleged murder weapon.
The pathologist said she also found several bone fragments she believed were from Choi’s ribs and right shoulder inside the pot.
She added that other pieces of suspected human tissue inside the pot were too small to be identified.
The trial continues before Deputy Judge Brian Keith and a nine-member jury. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
