Ex-husband & family plotted gruesome murder of Abby Choi over S$11.7 million flat sale, prosecutors say

Warning: This article contains descriptions of mutilation. Discretion is advised.

A financial dispute was the main reason behind the gruesome murder and dismemberment of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi, prosecutors told the Hong Kong High Court on Sep. 30.

They argued that Choi's former father-in-law enlisted his two sons, including her ex-husband, to help him kill her after he became "extremely resentful and angry" over her insistence on selling a HK$72 million (S$11.7 million) flat where he had been living, The South China Morning Post reported.

That was the first day of the court trial over the 28-year-old socialite's murder, which shocked the city when it happened in 2023.

Days after Choi was reported missing in February 2023, the police found some body parts believed to be hers in the refrigerator of a house her ex-husband's family was renting.

Police later found her head in pots filled with soup and minced meat.

Her ex-husband Alex Kwong, his brother Anthony Kwong, and his father Kwong Kau, were arrested and jointly charged with murder and with preventing the lawful burial of a body.

Difference in wealth

At court, prosecutor Charlotte Draycott pointed out that Choi and her ex-husband came from very different financial backgrounds.

Choi, born to a wealthy family in Hainan, China, married Alex Kwong when she was only 18 as she had become pregnant, according to Hong Kong's The Standard.

Throughout their marriage, Alex Kwong never held a stable job, and his family was not very well-off. His father was a retired police sergeant, while his brother Anthony Kwong was Choi's personal driver.

The couple thus depended on Choi’s family to support their expenses, Draycott told the court.

She also said Alex Kwong was involved in multiple online gold-trading scams, and was eventually arrested after fleeing with HK$6.2 million (S$1.01 million) he got from scamming people.

The flat in dispute

After Choi separated from him in 2015 and married someone else, she continued to provide "generous allowance" to the Kwong family, Draycott went on, as quoted by CNN.

This included buying an apartment so that the two children she had with Alex Kwong could live nearby.

According to The Standard, she registered the flat under Kwong Kau's name as a nominee owner to save on stamp duty.

In 2022, tensions grew when she tried to sell the flat and move her in-laws to another area where her children could go to school, Draycott said.

She asked her former father-in-law to vacate the flat and sign a power of attorney so that she could negotiate a sale with property agents, but he repeatedly refused.

On one occasion, he lost his temper and attempted to assault her over this dispute.

According to private audio messages to her mother, heard in court, Choi called Kwong Kau a "crook" and his wife a "ghost", SCMP reported.

In one message, Choi said, "A huge amount of money was spent on that flat, and it was spent for them. To be honest, for the sake of my children, for the sake of my two children and my good heart, that’s why she can lead such a good life, right?"

Murder plot

Draycott argued that Kwong Kau plotted to murder Choi.

"If she died, the flat would be in his name and he could move back there," the prosecutor said, as quoted by CNN.

"He made a plan with his two sons Alex, her ex-husband, and Anthony, and we say three of them decided they would do it together. Each of them played a part by bringing her death and burying her body."

According to SCMP, Choi's ex-husband and his brother pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of her body, while their father pleaded not guilty to it.

However, all three of them denied murdering her.

Choi was a mother of four, two with Alex Kwong, and another two with her second husband.