Subj : Second man accused of killing Auckland couple can now be named
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Wed Apr 10 2024 11:35 am

A second man charged in the "violent" and "brutal" killing of an Auckland
couple in their 60s can now be named.


He is Lok Fung Lorrence Li, 26. His co-defendant - Shu Man Poon, 42 - was
named last month.


The pair were arrested over the alleged double-murder last year, after a body
found in Ellerslie triggered an investigation.


Li was previously declined name suppression but an interim order continued so
he had a chance to appeal the decision. However, at Auckland High Court this
morning, Li's lawyer confirmed to Justice Geoffrey Venning that no appeal
would come.


The end of Li's bid means suppression lapsed and his identity can be revealed
today.


The pair also pleaded not guilty this morning to charges related to an
alleged plot to kill somebody else at an earlier date.


The case so far

The case began when Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok, 66, was found dead at home in
Ellerslie by a family member on November 6 last year. He had been stabbed
several times. Police flooded the scene and discovered his wife Mei Han Chong
was missing - before she was also found dead, kilometres away in Greenhithe
later that week, having suffered blunt force injuries to her head.


Their family car was found at an address in a third suburb, Glenfield. Its
number plates had been changed.


Poon was arrested in Hamilton on the same night Chong was found, and Li was
later arrested at an address in Glenfield

Poon and Li face two murder charges each over the deaths, while Li is also
charged with unlawfully taking a vehicle belonging to Kwok.


They've denied the crimes and are set to go to trial in April next year.


Both Li and Poon have also been charged with conspiring to murder another
person in an earlier, separate incident. The pair entered not guilty pleas to
those charges as well this morning.


'Beyond comprehension'

Detective Inspector Scott Beard, the high-profile senior police officer who
took charge of the investigation, was in court today.


"It is beyond comprehension for the family as to how something like this
could happen to Mei and Joseph," he said last year, describing the pair as "a
loving couple whose careers involved helping other people".


Kwok was a theatre nurse. Sunday, the day before he was found, was Kwok's
birthday - and also the day police believe he was killed.


Beard has described Kwok's multiple stab wounds as "violent" and "brutal",
adding the nature of his injuries suggested more than one person may have
been involved.

Beard said "the circumstances" inside the house suggested Chong hadn't left
of her own accord.


Beard has said police are not looking for anyone else as part of their
investigation

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64)
 * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102)

.