Grudge led to senseless murder - Crown closes Ellerslie case

Lok Fung Lorrence Li held a grudge. It was a grudge the Crown says spawned from a chance encounter and would lead to senseless murder.Li has been on trial in the High Court at Auckland, after he denied murdering Fuk Fu Joseph Kwok and his wife Mei Han Chong in November 2023.He has pleaded guilty to their manslaughter, which means Crown lawyers must prove intent.Li has also denied plotting to murder his former landlord, who cannot be named, with Shu Man Poon.But Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock told jurors Li was the architect and puppet-master behind the killings."On 5 November, with weapons at the ready, with handcuffs, what was in Mr Li's mind at that point in time could not be any clearer when you connect all of these things together," she said."They were there to rob and to kill Mr Kwok and whoever else was in that address. Mr Kwok, who Mr Li had met purely by chance, and Mrs Kwok, who Mr Li had not met at all."The jury was played CCTV footage from the night of the killings, hearing muffled shouting and popping that the Crown put forward was Li firing an air-pistol at Kwok.McClintock said Chong was killed shortly after, having been stomped on.She told jurors Li manipulated Shu Man Poon, who had pleaded guilty to his part in the killings and plot last year and gave evidence earlier in the trial."Mr Li was the manipulator, the architect, the puppet master of these events, the events that led to the death of Mr and Mrs Kwok, and the events that led to the agreement to kill [Li's former landlord]," she said.Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock.RNZ / Marika KhabaziMcClintock said the jury did not need to understand what drove Li, or why Poon went along with it despite his protest."Your decision in this case focuses on this question: 'Are you sure Mr Li played an intentional role in the deaths of Mr and Mrs Kwok and in the conspiracy to kill [Li's landlord]?'" McClintock said.She said Li was someone who held a grudge. His former landlord was one target of his grudge, she said.Kwok was another, after a minor traffic incident involving the two."These benign minor grudges, grudges of Mr Li's, led to a conspiracy to kill his former landlord, and they led to the death of a man who he'd had this very minor collision with on the motorway a year earlier."She pointed to Poon's evidence, how he had been $7000 in debt to Li and had gone along with the killings, but stressed the Crown was not there to defend him."Mr Poon committed murder. Mr Poon conspired to murder," McClintock said.No one excused him, she said.However, it was Li who was the driver of the killings, McClintock said."You might have thought that in some of the messages and even from his evidence, Mr Poon was also desperately looking to be valued by Mr Lee, desperately looking to be respected by Mr Lee," she said.All of these seemed to feed into what drove Poon, McClintock said."But the grudge here with [Li's former landlord] and with Mr Kwok was Mr Li's grudge."Jurors would be right to stress-test Poon's evidence, she said."But it's when you do that, that the Crown says this all fits together."McClintock said the core of Poon's version of events had been was supported by CCTV, messages between him and Li, forensic evidence and pathology.She took jurors through the legal framework of how they could find Li guilty of murder.She laid out hypothetical crimes committed by herself, and involving the other Crown lawyers and court staff present to illustrate how a fair finding of guilt could be reached."What the Crown says here is if two people break into a house in the middle of the night, armed, to commit a crime against the people in that house, the risk of a violent struggle and a death is clearly a probable consequence of the plan," she said.She pointed to the planning between Li and Poon, and how they had used stolen license plates to conceal the identity of their car."What this shows you is these aren't spur of the moments acts that these men are doing," McClintock said."This is carefully thought out stuff, it's intricately planned, it is far beyond a simple plan to rob."McClintock also drew jurors attention to a list, which she said detailed where the pair had planned to dump the body parts of Li's landlord."It doesn't matter who wrote that list, it was photographed on Mr Li's phone," she said."What possible explanation is there for that list, particularly given what ended up happening to the Kwok's other than what Mr Poon says: this is where they were planning to put [Li's landlord]'s body parts."McClintock said forming a plan alone was all that was needed to find someone guilty of a conspiracy to murder."You don't have to carry it out, you don't even have to take material steps to carry it out, that's important when you're considering the conspiracy charge in this case," she said.Exactly who did what on the night of the Kwok Killings was not the determining factor in the case, McClintock said."These two men acted together and two people are dead as a result of this," she said."There was no innocent bystander."Jurors had multiple pathways they could follow to find Li guilty or innocent, McClintock said, but all led to the same answer."You need not agree which pathway it is, but all 12 of you must agree it's one of them."McClintock said the Crown had proven its case."This is exactly what it looks like, it was murder by Mr Poon and it's murder by Mr Li.""Everything I've gone through supports that this was planned, senseless murder."The defence will give their closing arguments on Friday.