The ex-husband and former in-laws of a Hong Kong model appeared in court on Monday charged with her murder after police found body parts in a fridge.
Socialite Abby Choi’s ex, Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau, and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with her murder, while his mother Jenny Li faces one count of perverting the course of justice.
Ms Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared a glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.
Alex Kwong was arrested on Saturday while trying to leave the city by speedboat, police said. His parents and brother were held a day earlier. The four were denied bail and will remain in custody ahead of a next hearing in May.
Ms Choi was reported missing last week before the discovery of her legs on Friday in a fridge at a house rented by Kwong Kau in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban part of Hong Kong about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China. Authorities yesterday discovered a young woman’s skull, believed to be Ms Choi’s, in a cooking pot that was taken from the house.
Officials believe that a hole in the back of the skull could be from an attack on her. Her torso and hands have still not been found, according to reports. A meat slicer and an electric saw were also found at the scene.
Ms Choi, who recently appeared on the digital cover of L’Officiel Monaco fashion magazine, had financial disputes involving tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, police said, adding that “some people” were unhappy with how she handled her financial assets.
Ms Choi’s current father-in-law is one of the founders of a famous Hong Kong chain of rice noodle shops.
Her body parts were found in the property about 17 miles from where she was last seen in Kowloon City on Tuesday. A friend of Ms Choi said she had two sons, aged 10 and three, and two daughters aged eight and six.
Kwong, 28, fathered the elder two, and her current husband, Chris Tam, was the father of the younger children, they said. Another friend, Pao Jo-yee, paid tribute online saying: “She was a very kind person and always wanted to help people. I feel anyone who had a chance to be her family or her friend are blessed.”
The gruesome killing has shocked Hong Kong which is widely considered safe with a very low level of violent crime.
