Hong Kong: The ex-husband and former in-laws of a dead Hong Kong model were on Monday (27 February) detained on charges of her murder after police found body parts in a refrigerator and a pot. The case has angered many in the Chinese region where any violent crime is rare. Ex-husband Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with the murder of model Abby Choi a day earlier. Alex Kwong’s mother, Jenny Lee, faces one charge of perverting the course of justice. None of the four got bail.
Choi, a 28-year-old model with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, went missing on February 21, according to a report later filed with Hong Kong police. Her last post was dated February 19, showing a photoshoot she did with the fashion magazine L’Officiel Monaco.
On Friday, police found her decomposed body in a refrigerator at a house rented by Kwong Kau in a suburban part of Hong Kong, about a 30-minute drive from mainland China. Authorities later discovered the skull of a young woman belonging to Choi in a cooking utensil seized from the home. Authorities say there was a hole in the skull.
The defendants have not yet entered their closing arguments, and it does not appear that their attorneys have commented on the case to the media. The matter was adjourned till May.
Police had previously said that Choi had financial disputes with her ex-husband and his family worth tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars (millions of dollars). She was unhappy with how Choi handled her finances. The gruesome killing has driven many people especially across the border into Hong Kong and mainland China, as the self-governing southern Chinese city has very low levels of violent crime.
Choi’s friend, Bernard Cheng, said that he initially thought he had been abducted. He said, “I didn’t imagine a person who is so nice, so full of love, so innocent, a person who doesn’t do anything bad, would be killed like this.” “My heart is still heavy. I can’t sleep well.”
Cheng said Choi has four children, ranging in age from 3 to 10. Alex Kwong, 28, was the father of two older children, who are now being looked after by Choi’s mother. Choi was remarried to Chris Tam, and was the father of young children, who are living with his family. Cheng said that Choi had a good relationship with her family, including her in-laws, and that she traveled with the families of her current and former husbands.
While violent crime is rare in Hong Kong, the case recalls a handful of other shocking murders. In 2013, a man killed his parents and their heads were later found in a refrigerator. In another infamous 1999 case, a woman was abducted and tortured by three members of an organized crime group before her death.