Point Cook couple Chee Kit Chong, Angie Liaw’s slavery case delayed

A man accused of enslaving a woman in his Point Cook home has thrown up a peace sign and done a jig at court, after being granted an adjournment. Watch the video.

A man accused of enslaving a woman in his Point Cook home has thrown up a peace sign and done a jig at court, after being granted an adjournment, as his alleged victim was given 30 months to live.

Chee Kit Chong, 44, gave a little jig when threw two peace signs to reporters waiting outside Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday as his slavery case was further delayed because he got a new lawyer.

“I got no slave,” he said after being asked if he realised how serious his charges were.

“What serious, nothing serious, look at the evidence before you interview me.”

His wife, Angie Yeh Ling Liaw, 29, had also been in court but did not leave the William St building with her husband.

The pair face three charges each for keeping a woman as a slave between January and October 2022.

The alleged victim has since been diagnosed with a terminal illness and has been given a median survival rate of just 30 months, with cognitive decline also likely.

Her oncologist prepared a three-page statement for the court outlining her dire circumstances.

“The effect of the diagnosis is that there is a real imperative to progress this matter,” prosecutor Michael Keks said.

\Chee Kit Chong, 44, gives the peace sign to reporters. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Despite having had multiple court hearings the couple again changed their legal counsel, with their new defence lawyer Sean Kelly asking for a short adjournment to get across the brief of evidence, which he had not yet received.

Magistrate Belinda Franjic granted a three-week delay only because Ms Liaw hadn’t been given as much time to deal with the case having been charged months after her husband.

Her Honour warned she would send the pair straight up to the County Court for trial in three weeks if their case did not progress, as she found “the evidence is of sufficient weight to commit”.

Chee Kit Chong and wife Angie Yeh Ling Liaw are accused of possessing a slave. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

That outcome would mean a fast tracking of the case, rather than having the evidence first tested in the lower magistrates’ court before it was sent up for trial.

“The complainant in this matter is terminally ill so that creates a very real prejudice to the prosecution if this matter is further delayed,” Her Honour said.

Ms Franjic said after reading the oncologist’s report it had “enabled the court to get some sense of how urgent it is that the matter progress to trial”.

“Time is of the essence here,” she told Mr Kelly, noting that it was a “lengthy brief (of evidence) but it is digestible”.

Mr Chong and Ms Liaw were ordered to return to court in person on August 7.