Mother of Abby Choi recounts conflicting excuses and heated confrontations on night of disappearance

The mother of late Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung (蔡天鳳) told the High Court that her daughter's former in-laws displayed complete indifference and offered contradictory excuses on the day she vanished, reacting with furious hostility once they learned police had been notified.

Testifying on the tenth day of the trial, Cheung Yin-fa detailed the frantic hours following Choi’s disappearance on February 21, 2023. 

Choi’s former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi, former brother-in-law Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, and former father-in-law Kwong Kau face charges of murder and preventing the lawful burial of her body inside a Tai Po village residence.

Final conversation and abrupt disappearance

Cheung recalled her last communication with Choi occurring early that afternoon. After earlier viewing a Kadoorie Hill property together with friends, the mother and daughter remained in contact until approximately 2pm, when Choi mentioned she had to collect her younger daughter from school. That routine update marked their final exchange.

Alarm bells rang later that evening when Choi’s partner, Chris Tam Fong-chun, called Cheung to ask if Choi was with her, explaining she could not be reached by phone.

Multiple subsequent attempts by Cheung to contact her daughter were met with complete silence.

Contradictory explanations from chauffeur

Recognizing that Anthony Kwong, employed as Choi’s personal chauffeur, was responsible for driving her to the school, Cheung called him repeatedly for explanations.

Anthony initially claimed ignorance, asserting that Choi had engaged in an angry phone dispute in Hainanese before abruptly exiting the vehicle and walking away.

When asked why Choi would abandon collecting her daughter, Anthony claimed she had been diverted by an unexpected urgent matter.

In a follow-up call, Cheung demanded to know exactly where Choi had stepped out. Anthony offered contradictory answers, claiming first that she disembarked in Tai Po and then stating she got out halfway through the journey. 

He dismissed Cheung’s worries, alleging that Choi had gone drinking with friends and would return the next day once sober. 

Cheung rejected this claim as completely unfounded, testifying that her daughter was a dedicated mother who did not consume alcohol. 

When asked about the child, Anthony claimed his own mother had completed the pickup. He then grew hostile and impatient, telling Cheung that Choi was an adult who could look after herself, before demanding she stop calling so he could sleep.

Hostile confrontations and abduction suspicions

With Choi missing for over seven hours and the chauffeur offering incoherent explanations, Cheung and Tam reported her disappearance to police. 

From the police station, Cheung phoned Alex Kwong to inform him of the missing person report. Alex reacted with intense fury, profanely cursing at Cheung for involving authorities without his knowledge. 

Cheung fired back that alerting the police was entirely her prerogative as a mother whose child had disappeared.

Cheung noted that no member of the Kwong family expressed genuine concern, pointing out that Alex’s mother also demonstrated complete indifference during a brief phone call. 

Alex’s alarming hostility toward police involvement heightened Cheung's suspicions that he and his father had taken Choi. 

She noted that Choi had no enemies apart from a bitter dispute with Kwong Kau over the planned sale of a luxury Kadoorie Hill apartment, during which the elder Kwong had issued violent threats. 

Despite Alex repeatedly urging her to wait quietly rather than call police, Cheung directly asked him whether he and his father had abducted Choi, to which he offered no explanation.

Murder charges and trial proceedings

Anthony Kwong, Kwong Kau, and Alex Kwong are jointly charged with murder and preventing the lawful burial of Abby Choi at a village house in Lung Mei, Tai Po, in February 2023. 

All three defendants deny murder. Anthony and Alex Kwong have admitted to preventing lawful burial, while Kwong Kau denies both charges. The trial before Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith continues.

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