已故香港社交名媛蔡天凤的前婆婆曾试图阻止其家人向警方报案其失踪，而是建议他们等待所谓的“绑匪”提出赎金要求，法庭周三获悉。
The former mother-in-law of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung tried to prevent her family from reporting her disappearance to police by suggesting that they wait for her “kidnappers” to issue their demands, a court has heard.
蔡天凤的伴侣谭方俊在高等法院作证时表示，李瑞香曾试图将蔡天凤的失踪描述为一起绑架事件，并建议他在绑匪联系他之前不要报警。
Choi’s partner, Chris Tam Fong-chun, told the High Court on Wednesday that Jenny Li Sui-heung had tried to paint the influencer’s disappearance as an abduction, saying he should delay calling police until after the perpetrators contacted him.
“李瑞香对我说：‘也许他们只是想要钱。他们还没有打电话给你。如果你现在就报警，他们怎么向你勒索钱财？’”谭方俊在作证第二天这样说道。
“Li Sui-heung said to me: ‘Maybe they just want money. They still haven’t called you. If you report to police now, how can they extort money from you?’”Tam said on the second day of his testimony.
这名28岁的模特儿最后一次被看到活着是在2023年2月21日，三天后，她的肢解残骸被发现于大埔龙尾村的一间住宅单位内。
The 28-year-old model was last seen alive on February 21, 2023, before parts of her dismembered remains were discovered at a flat in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Village three days later.
蔡天凤的前夫、31岁的邝江志、其父68岁的邝球以及其兄35岁的邝江杰因共同被控一项谋杀罪而未认罪，目前正接受审判。李瑞香并非本案被告。
Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, his father, Kwong Kau, 68, and his elder brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, are on trial after pleading not guilty to a joint count of murder. Li is not a defendant in the trial.
年长的邝球，一名退休警司，也否认曾阻止蔡天凤遗体的安葬——这一罪名他的两个儿子在上个月审判开始前已认罪。
The elder Kwong, a retired police sergeant, has also denied preventing the burial of Choi’s body, an offence to which his two sons pleaded guilty before the trial began last month.
检方称，此案源于一场因拟售价7200万港元（约920万美元）的何文田嘉道理发展项目豪宅单位而引发的家族纠纷。
Prosecutors argued the murder arose from a family feud over the proposed sale of a HK$72 million (US$9.2 million) flat at the upscale Kadooria development in Ho Man Tin.
该单位的所谓所有人邝球 allegedly 蔡天凤试图出售该单位而怨恨她，并拉拢其两名儿子协助杀害这位网红，以便他能独自保留该物业。
Kwong Kau, the property’sed owner, allegedly resented Choi for trying to sell the flat and enlisted his two sons to help kill the influencer so he could keep it for himself.
谭方俊表示，蔡天凤在2月21日下午2点06分发给他最后一条消息后，便无法通过电话联系上她。他起初以为她的手机出现故障，但后来发现她的手机似乎被反复开关，而定位数据显示设备当时位于大埔，这让他觉得异常。
Tam said his partner became unreachable by phone after she sent him the last message at 2.06pm on February 21. He initially thought her phone was malfunctioning, but later found it unusual that her phone appeared to have been turned on and off when location data suggested the device was in Tai Po.
谭说，当晚他到嘉道理大厦探访时，看到黄兄弟及其母亲神情平静，对蔡的失踪似乎毫不在意。
Tam said the Kwong brothers and their mother appeared calm and unconcerned by Choi’s disappearance when he visited them at the Kadooria flat that evening.
法庭听取证词时得知，谭和蔡的母亲张燕霏当晚较晚时前往长沙湾警署报失踪人士。
The court heard Tam and Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, filed a missing-person report at Cheung Sha Wan Police Station later that night.
张还致电黄兄弟询问女儿的下落，但最终与他们发生争吵，谭如是称。
Cheung also called the Kwong brothers to ask about her daughter’s whereabouts but ended up quarrelling with them, Tam said.
次日，谭要求当时担任蔡临时司机的黄安东带他前往黄安东前一天在大埔放下蔡的地点。
The next day, Tam asked Anthony Kwong, who was serving as Choi’s stand-in chauffeur at the time, to show him where he dropped off the socialite in Tai Po the previous day.
证人表示，黄安东（他也称其为达蒙）说话“绕弯子”，声称蔡是在“大埔中心附近”下车的，暗示她可能进入了该区众多购物中心之一。
The witness said Anthony Kwong, whom he also referred to as Damon, “beat around the bush” and claimed that Choi got off “around the area of Tai Po centre”, suggesting that she might have gone into one of the many shopping centres in the district.
蔡的前姐夫也据称假装开车带谭于2月23日前往大埔协助寻找蔡，但当天下午警方致电谭称，警方严重怀疑黄家族与模特儿失踪案有关联。
Choi’s former brother-in-law also allegedly put on an act by driving Tam to Tai Po on February 23 to help him look for Choi, before a police officer called Tam that afternoon saying the force seriously suspected that the Kwong family was linked to the model’s disappearance.
谭说，黄安东随后表面上是去警局提供帮助，但次日清晨便被警方逮捕。
Tam said Anthony Kwong subsequently met police ostensibly to offer help before he was arrested in the early hours of the following day.
证人在陈述时情绪激动，他痛惜自己未能及时意识到身边亲近的人可能涉案。
The witness appeared emotional as he lamented his failure to realise sooner that those close to him could have been behind the crime.
他说道：“所以当我回顾当时的对话时，才发现你们一直在把我引向另一个方向，你们一直在对我撒谎、欺骗我。”他这话是对黄安东说的。审判仍在副法官布赖恩·基思及九人陪审团面前进行。
“So when I look back at the conversations, it turns out that you were taking me in another direction, and all along you were just lying to me and deceiving me,” he added, addressing Anthony Kwong. The trial continues before Deputy Judge Brian Keith and a nine-member jury.