Ellerslie homicide police stand-up.
Video / NZHerald
Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and his wife were killed days after their details were released to Lok Fung Lorrence Li.
Li, 27, pleaded not guilty to murdering Kwok and Mei Han Chong, and denied a conspiracy to murder his former landlord.
Prosecutor Harrison Bell cited CCTV, messages and phone data, alleging Li and co-defendant Shu Man Poon planned and executed the murders.
After a minor fender bender led to a Disputes Tribunal case, North Shore Hospital orthopaedic nurse Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok, 66, asked that his personal details not be released to the other driver.
That request was declined, and the Ministry of Justice emailed Lok Fung Lorrence Li the information on November 1, 2023.
Four days later, Kwok and his wife were killed in their Ellerslie home, jurors were told today as Li’s trial for their murders began in the High Court at Auckland.
Li, 27, has pleaded not guilty to counts of murdering Kwok and his wife, Mei Han Chong, 67, referred to as “Mrs Kwok” during the Crown’s opening address this afternoon.
Lok Fung Lorrence Li, 27, is on trial in the High Court at Auckland, accused of the double murder in November 2023 of Ellerslie residents Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok, 66, and his wife Mei Han Chong, 67. Photo / Michael Craig
He also denied taking part in a months-long conspiracy to murder his former landlord, who is expected to give evidence later in the six-week trial.
“I wasn’t even able to walk – how can I kill people?” Li allegedly said when police arrived at his home days after the killings, as he allegedly prepared to leave the country via a flight to Hong Kong. “I did not do it!”
But prosecutor Harrison Bell said CCTV footage, messages between the two suspects and phone location data tell a different story.
“They were in that home [where the couple lived] for over two hours,” Bell said. “They cleaned the scene.”
During that time, he said, Kwok was shot in the head with an air pistol about four times and suffered a series of fatal stab wounds. Chong, he said, died from blunt-force trauma before her body was stuffed in the couple’s car and driven away.
Shu Man Poon, accused of killing Ellerslie couple Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong, appears in the High Court at Auckland prior to the trial of co-defendant Lok Li. Photo / Michael Craig
Co-defendant Shu Man Poon, 44, is not on trial beside Li for reasons that cannot currently be reported. But jurors would still see him in person and get to know him in the coming weeks, prosecutors predicted.
“This week, he provided the police with a statement and he will appear as a witness in this trial,” Bell said, explaining that he expected Poon to discuss the alleged murder plan “and, critically, what he says Mr Li’s role was”.
Today marks the first time authorities have publicly discussed the alleged motivation for the killings.
The defendants are alleged to have first directed their anger at Li’s former landlord, discussing plans to murder her over a five-month period after Li moved out of the North Shore home in June 2023. A dispute had arisen after Li asked if his mother could also stay there and the homeowner declined the request, jurors were told.
Police inspect a house in Ellerslie, Auckland, where Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok was found stabbed to death in November 2023. His wife, Mei Han Chong (inset), was found dead in Greenhithe several days later. Photo / Corey Fleming
Messages between the two defendants, in which they allegedly prepared for the crime, involve mentions of acquiring duct tape, a gun, night-vision goggles and handcuffs.
In the early hours of November 2 that year, authorities say, Li and Poon arrived stealthily at the home of Li’s former landlord and spray-painted the lens of her CCTV unit as part of a plan to murder her. But they were spooked by a passing car.
Just hours earlier, Li had received Kwok’s address from the Ministry of Justice.
“Their murderous plan shifted from [the landlord] to Mr Kwok and then Mrs Kwok,” Bell said, explaining that the couple were killed early on November 5 after Li and Poon broke into their home instead.
Detective Scott Beard and medical examiner Dr Kilak Kesha attend the scene in Greenhithe, Auckland, where Mei Han Chong's body was found in November 2023. Photo / Jason Dorday
The couple’s son, a surgeon from Hamilton, drove to Auckland after his parents failed to arrive for one of their frequent visits.
“He noticed his father lying on the floor, the smell of death,” Bell said.
Chong’s body was found dumped in the bush in Greenhithe several days later.
The landlord’s CCTV cameras weren’t working at the time they were spray-painted along with sensor lights, but CCTV footage from neighbours would show the defendants lingering outside the property, prosecutors said. The two were also allegedly caught on CCTV outside Kwok and Chong’s home on the night they were killed.
“They enter and exit that driveway multiple times,” Bell said, adding that the pair finally walked down the driveway at 1.37am - shortly after which neighbours would recall a series of loud bangs, shouting and screaming.
Justice David Johnstone is overseeing the double murder trial of Lok Li in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig
In the days after the bodies were found, prosecutors said Li and Poon shared media articles about the homicide investigation and Li mentioned a plan to leave the country. Photos later found on his phone included a placemat from inside the Ellerslie home and a photo of the bush area where Chong was found, jurors were told.
During a search of Li’s home, police found an air pistol with DNA matching Kwok’s, it is alleged.
It was not known which defendant inflicted the fatal wounds to Kwok and Chong, but ultimately it did not matter, Bell told jurors as his opening address came to a close. As long as jurors found the men aided or encouraged each other to kill the couple, they could both be found guilty of murder, he explained.
Li’s lawyers, Lorraine Smith and Christopher Wilkinson-Smith, will have an opportunity to give a brief opening statement at midday tomorrow, followed by the first witnesses, when the trial resumes before Justice David Johnstone and the jury.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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