Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi called ‘birthing machine’ by ex-father-in-law, court hears

Slain socialite Abby Choi’s former father-in-law tried to assault her during an argument and called her a “birthing machine” before allegedly conspiring with his two sons to murder her three years ago, Hong Kong media reported.Taking the stand for the first time at the Hong Kong High Court trial over Choi’s grisly murder that stunned the financial hub, her partner, Chris Tam Fong-chun, recounted on Oct 13 a heated argument between the influencer and her former in-laws.He described the incident as a “watershed moment” that marked a breakdown in Choi’s relationship with her in-laws in mid-2022.Tam said that in June or July 2022, Choi and her former mother-in-law, Jenny Li Sui-heung, got into an argument after Li told her son, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, to keep his distance from his eldest daughter, who was running a fever.Choi has two children from her marriage to Kwong, and another two with Tam.Her former father-in-law Kwong Kau, who intervened in the argument, reportedly lunged at Choi and hurled insults at her after accusing the influencer of assaulting his wife, reported Hong Kong daily, the South China Morning Post.“Kwong Kau said: ‘Who do you think you are? You’re just a birthing machine,’” Tam told the court.Kwong Kau made a second attempt to attack Choi, according to Tam, but he stepped in to stop the elder man from striking her.Following the incident, Choi barred Kwong Kau from visiting her residence and said she needed to sever ties with the Kwong family, whom she described as “horrible and ungrateful”.Kwong Kau, 68, Alex Kwong, 31, and his elder brother Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, are standing trial on a joint count of murder.They are also charged with preventing the lawful burial of Choi’s body.They face life in prison if convicted.Alex Kwong was sentenced to a 3½-year prison term in June 2024 for theft and jumping bail.Taking the stand for the second time on Oct 14, Tam told the court that Choi became unreachable by phone at around 2pm on Feb 21, 2023.He assumed her phone had run out of battery or was turned off, but grew suspicious when location data placed the device in Tai Po and showed that it had repeatedly been switched on and off, free newspaper The Standard reported.Tam said he found Choi’s former in-laws were unconcerned over her disappearance.He said Li attempted to dissuade Choi’s family from reporting her disappearance to the police, suggesting they wait for her “kidnappers” to make their demands.He also said Li had attempted to portray the influencer’s disappearance as a kidnapping, urging him to hold off on contacting the police until the alleged perpetrators had reached out.“Li Sui-heung said to me: ‘Maybe they just want money. They still haven’t called you. If you report to the police now, how can they extort money from you?’” Tam testified.Tam and Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, eventually filed a missing person report at a police station later that night.Choi, who was 28 at the time of her death, was the scion of a wealthy family reportedly involved in the construction industry. She had a personal net worth of over HK$100 million (S$16.3 million), according to Hong Kong media.As a model, she had taken part in Paris Fashion Week and appeared in fashion publications like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle.In 2023, her head and several body parts were found in a large soup pot in a rented village house in Tai Po, a suburb in Hong Kong, days after she was reported missing. Her legs were discovered inside a freezer in the house.Previous reports quoted the Hong Kong police as saying that a property dispute may have been a motive for the murder.