• Shu Man Poon was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of imprisonment of 19 years, for the murder of Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong. 
• Poon pleaded guilty to the November 2023 killings. 
• Suppression orders remain until co-defendant Lok Fung Lorrence Li’s retrial in August 2026. 

One of the two men charged with double murder following the high-profile deaths of an Ellerslie couple two years ago returned to court today as he was sentenced to prison. 

Shu Man Poon, 43, was ordered by Justice David Johnstone to serve a life sentence with a minimum term of imprisonment of 19 years before he can begin to apply for parole. 

Poon, wearing a tight black T-shirt, bowed his head throughout most of the hearing as he sat between a security officer and a translator in the High Court at Auckland dock. 

Lok Fung Lorrence Li, 27, is 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 

Poon pleaded guilty to the November 2023 killing of 66-year-old orthopaedic nurse Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and his wife Mei Han Chong, 67, late last month on what was originaly planned to be the first day of his trial alongside co-defendant Lok Fung Lorrence Li. 

The guilty pleas were suppressed for nearly two weeks as the trial for Li, 27, briefly continued without Poon. The trial was aborted after the Crown’s opening address. 

Shu Poon appears in the High Court at Auckland on the day he pleaded guilty to killing Ellerslie couple Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong. Photo / Michael Craig 

Wide-ranging suppression remains in place until Li’s retrial, scheduled for August 2026. The restrictions have left the media unable to report the vast majority of details from today’s hour-and-a-half-long hearing aside from the outcome. 

A police investigation was launched after Kwok was found stabbed to death by his son inside the couple’s home. Following an extensive search, police discovered his wife’s body in a bushy area in Greenhithe several days later. She had suffered blunt force injuries to her head. 

Police investigate the scene along Kereru Gr in Greenhithe where the body of Mei Han Chong, 67, was discovered in November 2023. Photo / Hayden Woodward 

The couple, originally from Hong Kong, immigrated to New Zealand in 1988. 

Chong had also been a nurse overseas before turning her focus once in New Zealand to raising their son, who would later become a physician. 

Mei Han Chong, Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and their son. The family released photos via the police shortly after the couple's murders. Photo / NZ Police 

The son attended today’s hearing and addressed the court, weeping through much of his 20-minute statement as Poon, seated behind him and out of eyesight, appeared also to quietly wipe away tears. 

His victim impact statement is also suppressed. 

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.