Ex-husband of slain model Abby Choi jailed for over 3 years for P47.5 million gold theft
The ex-husband of slain Hong Kong model Abby Choi has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for stealing gold and jewelry worth HK$6.3 million (P47.5 million).
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, the District Court jailed Alex Kwong earlier this week on seven charges, “including six counts of theft arising from a fraudulent scheme in which he lured investors into buying a variety of jewelry, then persuaded them to hand the items over so he could use them to speculate in the gold market.”
The SCMP also reported that Kwong was slapped with another count of “failing to surrender to custody” as he posted bail before the start of his trial back in November 2015.
According to deputy judge David Cheung Chi-wai, Kwong made it a point to plan his crimes well and searched for the best targets to scam for a year.
The SCMP in the same report stated that Kwong’s initial five-year jail sentence was reduced as his guilty plea and full restitution to the victims were considered in the decision. He, however, got additional three months for “absconding” or departing hurriedly and secretly.
The prosecution summary states Kwong’s involvement in the stealing of 35 necklaces, 33 bracelets, 11 gold bars, 102 gold grains, six pendants, and ten taels of gold from six individuals from June 2013 to January 2015. He convinced the victims to pay for them and let him keep them for a while “for higher returns.” Kwong, however, cut off contact with them later on.
The Straits Times reported that Kwong went into hiding for over seven years and was arrested in Hong Kong’s New Territories in February last year, around the time when he became a suspect in the murder of Choi.
Kwong—along with his father, elder brother, and mother—has been arrested and detained in connection with Choi’s murder that took place in 2023 amid a financial dispute.
The victim’s partial remains have been discovered in a house set up as a butchery site, complete with an electric saw and meat grinder that had been used to mince human flesh.
After conducting a DNA test, authorities were able to determine that the skull that was found in a large soup pot and the two legs hidden in a refrigerator at the flat were indeed the remains of Choi.
