Crown prosecutors claim a road rage incident led to the murder of an Auckland couple two years ago.
Lok Fung Lorrence Li is charged, alongside Shu Man Poon, in the murder of Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and his wife Mei Han Chong at their home in November 2023.
The pair are also charged with conspiring to murder Li’s landlady in a separate incident, after she refused to let his mother stay at the property.
Proceedings were due to start on Monday, but were delayed, with Li’s trial commencing today.
Li pleaded not guilty to the charges, appearing in the High Court in Auckland today before a jury selected that morning and Justice David Johnstone.
In his opening remarks, Crown prosecutor Harrison Bell said Li and Kwok were in a road rage accident months before the murders.
“Mr Li had been involved in a minor traffic accident with Mr Kwok some 11 months prior,” Bell said. “There was minimal damage to either vehicle.
“Mr Kwok’s insurer had informed Mr Li that Mr Li was at fault, proceedings were lodged with the disputes tribunal and, as a result of that, the defendant Mr Li, together with Mr Poon, went to Mr Kwok’s address, intending to kill him.”
Bell said the pair had originally conspired to kill Li’s former landlady, Jing Chen, when she declined to let his mother stay at the property, after which Li moved out.
Li and Poon then allegedly plotted to kill Chen, driving to her property, and using spray paint to block out security cameras and sensor lights. They were scared off by a car driving down the road, Bell said.
The Crown claimed messages between Poon and Li, located on Li’s phone, discussed their plan to kill Li’s former landlady, including tools they’d need, like night-vision goggles, handcuffs and waste bags. They also discussed Poon giving Li a gun.
The pair shifted their focus to Kwok, after his address was shared in an email from the Ministry of Justice, relating to the traffic accident and disputes tribunal.
Kwok had asked his address be kept confidential, but the tribunal declined this.
Bell said Li and Poon drove to Ellerslie, where they shot Kwok with an air-pistol, and stabbed him four times in the chest and once in the neck. Bell claimed they also assaulted Chong, killing her with blunt force trauma to the head.
Poon and Li then allegedly put Chong’s body in the back of the family’s vehicle, leaving Kwok on the floor of his house. They dumped her body in a bushy area of Greenhithe.
Bell said Kwok’s body was discovered by their son, who had gone to check on his parents.
“He arrived and noticed their car wasn’t in the driveway,” Bell said. “He entered the house, noticing the second lock wasn’t used and the gate was ajar.
“He entered, noticed his father laying on the floor — the smell of death, as he describes it — he searched for his mother, but couldn’t find her and called for help.”
Bell claimed CCTV footage was captured of Li and Poon arriving at the Kwoks’ home on Celtic Crt early in the morning. They parked on the road opposite the driveway in a vehicle with stolen licence plates and made their way inside.
“Forensic evidence in this trial will show that Mr Kwok was assaulted and killed with the use of an air pistol and a bladed object, the Crown’s position being Mr Poon and Mr Li had those items on them, when they entered the address that morning.”
Bell conceded the Crown could not say which of the two delivered the killing blow to the victims.
“In this case, the Crown relies on a provision in the Crimes Act, known as Party Liability,” he said.
Poon was arrested in Hamilton, leading police to where he and Li allegedly dumped Chong’s body. Police then arrested Li, who denied knowing about the murders.
“I wasn’t even able to walk, how can I kill people?” Li allegedly told police. “I did not do it, I don’t know what happened.”
Officers also spoke to a man at the scene of the arrest, who claimed he was meant to pick up Li and take him to Auckland International Airport.
The trial continues tomorrow, with opening remarks from Li’s defence.
rnz.co.nz
