Abby Choi's mother continues testimony at High Court hearing

The defence cross-examines Abby Choi's mother during the High Court hearing on Choi's murder case.

Choi's mother says her daughter had sought to repossess her Kadoorie Hill property owing to a dispute between with her ex-husband's family.

The three defendants -- Abby Choi's ex-husband Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and brother Anthony Kwong all face charges of murder and preventing the lawful burial of a body.

This as Choi's mother Cheung Yin-fa was cross-examined by the defence lawyer at the High Court today.

Cheung says Kwong Kau had consistently refused to sell the Kadoorie Hill property since June 2022 and rejected moving to Tuen Mun.

She adds Kwong's attitude was hostile, and told Choi on multiple occasions that he would "beat or kill" her.

Cheung says she checked out a property in Tuen Mun that cost around 20 million dollars together with her daughter.

When asked by the defence if Choi could afford other properties without selling the one in Kadoorie Hill, Cheung said yes, adding her daughter wanted to repossess the Kadoorie Hill residence owing to a dispute with the Kwong family.

She stresses Choi thought negatively of the Kwongs and wanted to take back what's hers.

Cheung had noted yesterday the Kadoorie Hill property was not registered under her name since she and her husband already had their names tied to another residence in Whampoa.

However, the police contacted Cheung yesterday notifying her the Whampoa property was only registered under her husband's name and not her own.

The defence further asks about details pertaining to the day of Choi's death, saying Cheung's earlier testimony indicated Anthony Kwong said Choi was drinking and seeing her friends on that day.

But the defence stresses Kwong mentioned Choi was speaking in Hainanese on the phone at the time, with the relevant statements about Choi being drunk missing from the witness statement.

Cheung says she was upset at the time and did not want to speak too much.

The defence says Cheung provided the police with a total of eight witness statements but never mentioned the incident.

When asked if the reason she didn't mention the matter while providing her previous statements was because Anthony Kwong never said Choi was drunk, Cheung disagreed.