The murder trial of Hong Kong socialite and influencer Abby Choi Tin-fung’s former husband and two of his relatives began Monday in the High Court, more than three years after parts of her dismembered body were found in a village house in Tai Po.

The defendants are Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31; his father, Kwong Kau, 68, a former police officer; and his elder brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, who had worked as Choi’s driver. They face a joint count of murder and a charge of preventing the lawful burial of a body. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Hong Kong if they are convicted.

Monday’s hearing dealt with preliminary matters. Jury selection is expected later in the week, followed by the prosecution’s opening statement. Senior Counsel Charlotte Draycott is leading the prosecution. The jury trial is expected to last about 45 days and could run into December. All three defendants appeared in court wearing masks and were described as calm; Kwong Kau wore a white T-shirt, while his sons wore suits. Crowds waited outside, and a live overflow feed was arranged.

Choi, 28, vanished on Feb. 21, 2023. She was last seen getting into a vehicle driven by Anthony Kwong. Three days later, police found remains in a rented ground-floor unit of a three-storey village house in Lung Mei Tsuen, Tai Po. Authorities said some body parts were in a refrigerator and others were recovered from cooking pots; officers later searched a landfill for further evidence. The case stunned Hong Kong, where violent crime is uncommon.

Choi posted a glamorous life of fashion shoots and shows on Instagram. Days before she disappeared, she had attended a Dior show at Paris Fashion Week. She had two children with Alex Kwong. After their divorce she remarried and had two more children with her second husband. Police at the time pointed to financial disputes involving large sums and a multimillion-dollar property registered in her former father-in-law’s name as a possible motive; those allegations have not yet been tested at trial.

Alex Kwong was separately sentenced in June 2024 to 3½ years in prison after pleading guilty to theft and jumping bail in an earlier case. Other people arrested in 2023 in connection with the investigation have faced different charges, including perverting the course of justice; the current High Court trial centers on the three men accused of murder.

The prosecution has not yet opened its full case. A verdict is not expected until the lengthy jury trial concludes.

Sources

• New York Post / Associated Press, Sept. 21, 2026
• South China Morning Post
• CNN
• The Straits Times
• The Independent
• Dimsum Daily
• Earlier AP, CNA, and contemporaneous 2023 reporting on the discovery and arrests