Prosecutors played CCTV in the murder trial showing the defendants visiting a village house in Tai Po and making a series of purchases in the weeks before Abby Choi’s alleged killing. The footage was presented in court on 30 October.
The hearing was the trial’s 27th day. The former father-in-law changed his plea to guilty on a separate charge of preventing the lawful burial of Choi’s body. HK01 reported that the jury found him guilty on that charge after the judge directed it to do so. The former husband and his older brother had admitted the burial charge before trial. All three defendants continue to deny murder.
The murder charge alleges that the three killed Choi on 21 February 2023 at a village house in Lung Mei Tsuen, Tai Po. The separate burial charge covers 21 to 23 February. Footage showed the former father-in-law near the village house on 2 February. On 5 February, he entered the house with a property agent and its owner, who had earlier testified that she signed a rental agreement with him that day.
On 7 February, the former husband’s older brother bought two transparent storage boxes and a grey-green bucket at IKEA in MegaBox. The following day, he and the former father-in-law shopped in Shanghai Street. Agreed facts listed a meat grinder, a 14-inch soup pot, a 15-inch round chopping board and an 11-inch frying basket bought by the father-in-law for HK$8,700.
CCTV audio from a rope shop captured the older brother asking whether a rope was a scout rope. The shopkeeper asked whether he was in the scouts; the older brother replied that it was for children. On 10 February, footage showed the former father-in-law buying a saw and blades, then rubber boots. Police later testified that a blue saw box found at the village house contained the saw’s manual and warranty papers, but not the saw.
On 13 February, CCTV showed the older brother buying a screwdriver and cling film, with the former husband beside him. Footage the next day showed the two talking, walking and crouching together in a car park.