Hong Kong model Abby Choi was allegedly murdered by her former husband and his relatives over a property dispute. Image courtesy: xxabbyc/Instagram
Hong Kong model Abby Choi was allegedly murdered by her former husband and his relatives over a property dispute. Image courtesy: xxabbyc/Instagram
Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world. Now a murder most gruesome has rocked the financial hub. Abby Cho Tin-fung, a 28-year-old model and socialite, was reported missing last Wednesday. Two days later, parts of her dismembered body were found in a house in the city’s Tai Po district. Now her former husband and in-laws have been arrested.
What do we know about the murder?
Choi was reported missing after she did not pick up her daughter last week. She has two children with her former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 28, who has now been arrested for her murder.
The model was reportedly attacked in a seven-seater vehicle which was found to have blood splatters inside, the police said on Sunday.
The investigation led them to a village house in the Tai Po district, where they found parts of her body in a refrigerator, and a cemetery in Tseung Kwan O, a neighbourhood in Hong Kong. Body parts were also recovered from one of the two large soup pots that the police found in the three-storey house.
One of the pots was covered with thick fat, some radishes and carrots. The meat is believed to be human flesh, according to a report by South China Morning Post (SCMP). Human bones and a skull were found in another pot. According to investigators, DNA tests and dental records would be used to determine if they belonged to Choi.
A meat grinder, an electric saw and two soup pots containing human tissue, along with two types of meat cleavers, a hammer, other tools and face shields, were also found in the flat, SCMP reports.
Superintendent Alan Chung of Hong Kong’s Kowloon West regional crime unit told the media that a hole measuring (2.6 inches) by 2.2 inches was found at the back of the skull. Forensic experts believed it was the result of a fatal blow that killed her.
The victim’s torso and hands are yet to be found.
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Why was Choi murdered and who has been arrested?
While the motive is to be confirmed, local media reports say that Choi could have been murdered over a luxury property dispute.
Her former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi has been arrested on Saturday at a ferry pier on one of the city’s outlying islands, police said, according to CNN. He was planning to flee the city when he was ambushed. Police have recovered HK$500,000 in cash and luxury watches worth about HK$4 million from him.
Kwong’s parents and brother have also been held. Kwong, his father and his brother were charged with murder on Sunday. The police have also arrested a 47-year-old woman called Ng in connection to the case. She is suspected to be the lover of Kwong’s father and has been accused of renting him the ground floor of the house, where the skull and other body parts were discovered. It is not known yet if she knew of the murder, SCMP reports.
The police suspect Ng helped Kwong evade the police and rent another luxury flat in West Kowloon to hide Kwong and Choi’s younger son.
Media reports suggest that even after the divorce Choi supported Kwong’s family. Her former in-laws lived in a luxury apartment that she owned and she helped her brother-in-law purchase a house. Her brother-in-law worked as her chauffeur and allegedly fetched her when she went missing.
Choi’s decision to sell a HK$70 million property which she brought in her former father-in-law’s name enraged him and he reportedly plotted the murder.
What do we know about Choi?
Choi was a well-known model and influencer with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. She had two children with Kwong before the couple divorced. She also has two other children with her partner Tam Chuk Kwan, with whom she had a matrimonial ceremony in 2016 that was never officially registered, according to a report in Strait Times.
Choi was the eldest of three daughters, who grew up in Hong Kong. Her family was wealthy and had a construction business with dealings in China. The model too had a personal net worth of more than HK$100 million.
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Last month, Choi was on the cover of the lifestyle magazine L’Officiel Monaco, which described her as a “style icon and media personality who took the world by storm with her impeccable sense of style and her unbridled passion for fashion”.
Dubbing her a “true trendsetter”, the magazine said she had a “keen eye for style and her ability to mix and match pieces in unexpected ways”. They that she “carved a name out for herself as one of the most sought-after influencers in the industry”, according to a report in Channel News Asia (CNA).
“I am a person who keeps absorbing inspiration and always tries new styles… Sometimes I also try to dress up more extravagant, by mixing and combining different looks,” she told L’Officiel.
The model appeared in other fashion publications like Vogue and Elle and took part in this year’s Paris Fashion Week.
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Other than fashion, she loved animals and was the co-founder of Paomes Charitable Organisation, an animal rescue organisation in Hong Kong, reports The Evening Standard.
Like Choi, her family had a love for all things luxury. Choi’s mother posted videos of her daughter on Douyin, China’s TikTok, with luxury goods like Hermes Birkin bags, fur coats, and more. Not much is known of Choi’s father.
In social media posts, the mother described Choi as a “kind-hearted baby”.
With inputs from agencies
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