The former husband of Hong Kong influencer Abby Choi bought a mincing machine and allegedly cooked parts of her body with carrots to help conceal the smell after her murder, a court has heard.
Police found remains belonging to the 28-year-old inside a suburban Hong Kong property in February 2023, in a case that shocked the financial centre.
Her legs were discovered inside a refrigerator, while her skull and several ribs were found in a soup pot.
Choi, who had more than 140,000 Instagram followers, had posted images from Paris Fashion Week only days before her death.
Her former husband, Alex Kwong, 31, along with his father, Kwong Kau, 68, and brother, Anthony Kwong, 35, deny murder charges. Their trial began on Wednesday, and all three could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Prosecutor Charlotte Draycott told the court that, shortly before Choi was reported missing, the defendants purchased equipment allegedly used to dismember and dispose of her body, including a mincing machine.
A neighbour’s statement, read to the court, recalled hearing the sound of an electric chainsaw being used on 21 February 2023.
The neighbour also reported that a powerful foul odour later spread from the ground-floor flat, according to Hong Kong newspaper The Standard.
Prosecutors said the chainsaw noise and the stench were connected to the defendants’ alleged efforts to conceal and dispose of Choi’s remains.
Police found parts of 28-year-old Abby Choi’s dismembered body at a suburban Hong Kong property in February 2023
Abby Choi had more than 140,000 Instagram followers and shared photographs from Paris Fashion Week days before her death
The prosecution said the remains were boiled not for consumption but in an attempt to make them impossible to identify.
Carrots and radishes were allegedly added to the pot to disguise the smell produced by decomposition and cooking, the court heard.
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Jurors were shown CCTV footage that prosecutors said captured Choi entering one of two vans linked to the Kwong family on the afternoon of 21 February 2023. Her final online activity was recorded at 2.44pm.
Additional footage showed Alex Kwong parking one of the vans elsewhere at about 3.20pm, close to the property where police recovered Choi’s remains three days later.
The three men were seen wearing face coverings and appeared calm. Draycott told the court they were “not upset” because “it’s what they expected”, alleging that the men had devised a “cogitated plan” to kill Choi.
Alex Kwong, who had two children with Choi, was arrested on 25 February while allegedly preparing to leave Hong Kong. His father and brother had been detained the previous day.
Prosecutors also presented the jury with a hammer, citing forensic evidence that injuries to Choi’s skull were caused by a blunt object and corresponded with the weapon’s shape.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors said Choi and her former husband’s family had been involved in a financial dispute over a luxury property that she had purchased for HK$60 million (£578,000).
Police excavated a landfill while searching for the remaining parts of Abby Choi’s body
They said they believed Ms Choi had decided to register the property under the name of her former father-in-law years ago to avoid paying higher taxes.
Ms Draycott told the court that Ms Choi’s relationship with the Kwong family began to deteriorate in 2022 after she tried to sell the luxury flat.
Prosecutors said Kwong Kau, a retired police sergeant, had become ‘extremely resentful and angry’ over the attempt to sell the flat.
They said he decided to kill Ms Choi because he wanted to keep the flat and that he and his sons decided to work together.
‘We say three of them decided they would do it together,’ said Ms Draycott, adding that each of them ‘played a part’ in Ms Choi’s death and burying her body in a suburban house.
The trial is expected to last at least until December.