The double murder trial for an Auckland man accused of killing an Auckland couple and conspiring to kill a third person has been aborted before any witnesses could be called. 

Justice David Johnstone made the decision just after the jury arrived at the High Court at Auckland today, expecting to hear from the first witness following an hour-long opening address from the Crown a day earlier. 

Lawyers for Lok Fung Lorrence Li, 27, had sought the adjournment for reasons that cannot yet be reported. 

“Proceeding in the present circumstances ... which I’m not going to divulge to you, there’s some prospect of the trial being unfair to Mr Li,” Justice Johnstone said as he thanked the jurors for their willingness to sit through what was scheduled to be a six-week hearing. 

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 

Li was ordered to remain in custody. A new trial date hasn’t yet been decided. 

Jurors were told yesterday that Li killed North Shore Hospital orthopaedic nurse Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok, 66, and his 67-year-old wife, Mei Han Chong, inside their Ellerslie home in November 2023. 

He had been involved in a minor traffic crash with Kwok 11 months earlier that had been elevated to the Disputes Tribunal. 

Kwok had asked that his personal information not be released, but the request was denied and Li received Kwok’s address just days before the killings, prosecutors alleged. 

Li was also accused of plotting to kill his former landlord. 

Co-defendant Shu Man Poon, 44, was not on trial this week for reasons that also cannot be reported. 

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.