Abby Choi's murder trial with driver, cookware worker & estate agent

The hearing on Abby Choi's murder case continues at the High Court.

Those who testified today included Choi's former driver and a kitchenware shop worker who sold a soup pot and chopping board to Kwong Kau.

The three defendants, including Alex Kwong -- Abby Choi's ex-husband -- his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong, are each charged with murder and preventing the lawful burial of a body.

Day 19 of the trial, Choi's former private chauffeur Chin Kei-shun first took the stand. Chin, also known as Ah Sun, said after Anthony Kwong returned to Hong Kong in 2021, Kwong was mainly responsible for managing the drivers. The dashcam on the white seven-seater he drove was not operational until shortly before he resigned when Anthony Kwong reconnected it. However, only Anthony Kwong could access the footage.

He also recalled that in February 2022, while driving Abby Choi back to her house in Kowloon Tong, two to three men were seen lingering outside her home, and Abby Choi had to hide in the vehicle for a while. Chin said to his understanding, those men were linked to gambling debts allegedly owed in Macao by her and her husband Chris Tam.

He testified that Abby Choi called Anthony Kwong inside the car, demanding 600,000 dollars.

A few days later, he drove Anthony Kwong to collect an envelope containing a cheque for the same amount, Abby Choi took that envelope to meet Kwong Kau the next day. Chin also noted that Abby Choi often carried large amounts of cash in her handbag. But in 2022, Choi began experiencing cash flow problems and even asked the driver to advance payments for her purchases.

Choi's mother, Cheung Yin-fa, had earlier testified that Choi's former mother-in-law Jenny Li accused Chin of theft, prompting the family to hire Anthony Kwong as the driver instead. Chin denied the allegation in court, saying that no one had ever made such an accusation against him. He said at the time, Anthony Kwong had told him that the family would go on a two-month trip and asked him to take unpaid leave, which led him to resign voluntarily.

Among the evidence seized at the flat in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po where Abby Choi's remains were found was a soup pot.

The court replayed a surveillance footage showing a man visiting a kitchenware shop in Yau Ma Tei on February 8, 2023.

The shop's worker testified that a white-haired elderly man, believed to be in his 60s, visited the shop at noon that day to buy a grinder that's for crushing meat and bones. The salesperson recommended an Italian-made model which might be "more expensive" but is more powerful. The elderly man then bought a 14 by 14-inch soup pot, a 15-inch-long cutting board and a colander spending about 8,700 dollars in total. On the meat grinder, the salesperson said the elderly man was later accompanied by another young man and both found the device too expensive.

Also testifying was a real estate agent who handled the transaction of their Kadoorie Hill flat. He said the actual transaction price was about 60.6 million dollars. When Kwong Kau paid the deposit, he gave them a 3.74 million dollar cheque issued by Abby Choi, saying that his daughter-in-law wanted to buy the flat for her children. The agent says according to the law, they only need to list the name of the contributor on the due diligence statement, and he did not investigate the details further. The agent will continue testifying on Wednesday.