Poon left the police station, headed for the hospital with his church friends. It appears his almost unbelievable story was not followed up. <\/p>\n
But the confession was true, prosecutors said today as they insinuated two major institutional failings leading up to the violent double killing. <\/p>\n
In early November 2023, Poon and Li would travel to the landlord\u2019s North Shore home, spraypainting her CCTV camera and sensor lights, but they were spooked by a passing car, prosecutors said today. <\/p>\n
Li appeared to abandon that \u201cmurderous plan\u201d on the spot, prosecutors said, explaining that he decided instead to redirect his revenge preparations at Kwok, with whom he had been involved in a minor traffic accident a year earlier on the Southern Motorway. <\/p>\n
The matter was elevated to the Disputes Tribunal after Kwok\u2019s insurance found Li at fault. Kwok had asked the tribunal not to release his contact information to Li, but the request was declined. Li received Kwok\u2019s address on the same day he went to his landlord\u2019s house, it is alleged. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Three days later, Kwok and Chong, also a medical professional otherwise known as Mrs Kwok, were killed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the Crown\u2019s role to investigate or to proffer as to whether that should or shouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d Bell said of the address disclosure. \u201cBut for the purposes of this trial, the timing of that disclosure is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Li pleaded not guilty today to the charge of conspiring to murder his former landlord, whom he allegedly decided to kill because she wouldn\u2019t allow his mother to share the room he was renting. <\/p>\n
When asked how he wished to plead to the two murder charges, he responded through a Cantonese interpreter: \u201cNot guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poon, 45, pleaded guilty last year and is expected to be called to the witness box at trial to give evidence against Li. <\/p>\n
Shu Poon is expected to testify against former co-defendant Lok Li, accused of killing Ellerslie couple Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
During the defence\u2019s brief opening address this morning, lawyer Rosemary Thompson described the couple\u2019s deaths as \u201ca tragedy that should never have happened\u201d. She warned jurors that some of the evidence they will hear over the course of the four-week trial will be \u201cchallenging and disturbing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Li has taken responsibility for his actions and accepts he played a role,\u201d she said of the double-homicide. \u201cHe did not, however, have the necessary intention to murder Mr Kwok and Ms Chong.\u201d <\/p>\n
Prosecutor Harrison Bell said messages between the two defendants and items found on Li\u2019s phone show a clear intention to kill. <\/p>\n
Ten days before the homicides, Li\u2019s phone was used to take a photo of the bush area where Chong\u2019s body would later be discovered. Five days before the homicide, he allegedly used his phone to photograph a handwritten list, which read: <\/p>\n
\u201cHead: Mission Bay<\/p>\n
\u201cBody: Greenhithe…<\/p>\n
\u201cLegs: Takapuna, Lake Pupuke<\/p>\n
\u201cOrgans: Birkenhead Rd.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
At Li\u2019s home police also recovered an air gun and a tomahawk, which later tested positive for Kwok\u2019s DNA. <\/p>\n
During the early morning break-in, prosecutors said Kwok was shot in the head with an air pistol four times and suffered fatal stab wounds to his chest and neck. A pathologist determined Chong died from blunt-force trauma. <\/p>\n
Kwok\u2019s body was left at the scene, where his adult son, a surgeon living in Hamilton, discovered him days later. Chong\u2019s body was stuffed into the couple\u2019s car and driven away. Her body was found in the bush in Greenhithe several days later, after police were able to track down Poon through CCTV footage of his car. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were in the Kwoks\u2019 home for over two hours,\u201d Bell said of the night of the killing. \u201cThey cleaned the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
CCTV showed Li returning to his own home around 7.32 that morning, appearing to limp and walk slowly. Upon his arrest five days later, Li said he couldn\u2019t even walk. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I kill people?\u201d he asked. \u201cI did not do it. I don\u2019t know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
While police were there, another man arrived at the address. He had been asked to give Li a ride to the airport for a flight to Hong Kong, Bell said. <\/p>\n
The trial is set to continue tomorrow before Justice Jane Anderson and the jury. <\/p>\n