27th October 2026 – (Hong Kong) The High Court murder trial of socialite Abby Choi heard she was actively trying to sell a Kadoorie Hill flat for tens of millions of dollars in the weeks before her death, while a hardware shop assistant told jurors her former brother-in-law Anthony Kwong Kong-kit bought a ball-peen hammer and packing tape days earlier.
Choi’s former brother-in-law Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, a driver; former father-in-law Kwong Kau, who is retired; and former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi, who is unemployed, are charged with murdering her in Hong Kong on 21st February 2023 and with preventing the lawful burial of her body between that day and the 23rd. All three deny murder. Anthony and Alex have admitted the burial count; Kwong Kau denies it.
Two estate agents, Tong Wing-sing of Midland Realty and Lau Siu-long of Hong Kong Property, said Choi approached them about selling the Kadoorie Hill unit and both agreed she was keen to get a deal done. Tong, who joined Midland in 2017, said Choi’s mother – known as “Flower Sister” – sought an agent in February 2023. He visited the flat while Choi and her mother were there; Choi wanted HK$67 million. Lau, who joined Hong Kong Property in 2022, said Choi, with whom he had already swapped contacts, told him on WeChat in November that year she hoped to sell for HK$75 million. He began paperwork and asked about the registered buyer being named Kwong Kau; Choi said a power of attorney had been signed. The next month she cut the asking price to HK$67 million and raised the commission from one per cent to 1.5 per cent. Under cross-examination by Oliver Davies, counsel for Kwong Kau, Lau confirmed Choi never sent him the power of attorney.
Neighbour Leung Yin-kei, whose Lung Mei Village home has outdoor CCTV, said he fitted the cameras around 2018 to 2019 for security – one facing a pitch, one an open yard – and that a ground-floor sign stated recording ran around the clock. The Crown also played admitted facts that Anthony bought a small hammer and packing tape on the 15th of the same month, then called hardware clerk Chau Wai-shing. CCTV showed Anthony masked, in a light windbreaker and shorts. Chau said he first asked for packing tape and took two rolls, then gestured as if describing a round-headed hammer; Chau handed him a ball-peen hammer, saying it should have been what he wanted. Anthony also picked up a plastic floor mat of the kind used at kitchen or toilet doors – not for a car – but did not buy it. Asked what customers usually do with a one-pound hammer, Chau said he did not know a buyer’s purpose, only that such tools are generally for driving nails.
Police officer Chan Wai-hung said West Kowloon Regional Crime Unit took over Choi’s missing-person case on 23rd February 2023. Anthony was arrested at about 2.00am the next day at West Kowloon Regional Headquarters, taken first to Kowloon City Police Station, then to his Sheung Man Yuen flat in Kwai Chung. Officers seized a black T-shirt and dark shorts from a wardrobe that they believed matched what he wore after contacting Choi on the 21st, after reviewing CCTV from the Kadoorie Hill unit and a restaurant inside New Century Plaza; Chan said Anthony himself pointed out the clothes. His jacket and trainers worn at arrest were also taken, on the basis that contact with Choi might have left traces. Between a sale she was pushing and a hammer he bought mid-month, the jury’s day was about what Choi wanted done with the flat – and what Anthony took home from the hardware shop.
