Rurik Jutting guilty of Hong Kong double murder

A British banker has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong.

Rurik Jutting, a former securities trader for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, tortured and killed Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, in October 2014.

His claims of diminished responsibility was roundly rejected by a Hong Kong jury, who found him guilty of both murders after a two-week trial.

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Jutting did not testify during the trial, but his lawyer read out a statement on his behalf in which he called the guilty verdict "just and appropriate", the South China Morning Post reports.

"The evil I have inflicted can never be remedied by me in words or by action," Jutting wrote.

During the trial, the jurors heard how Jutting recorded himself his actions on his mobile phone after the murder of Ningsih.

"My name is Rurik Jutting," he says in the clip, which was shown to the court. "About five minutes ago, I just killed, murdered, this woman here."

In the footage, he described how he had cut her throat in the bathroom of his luxury apartment before panning the camera down to show her body on the floor.

He added that treating Ningsih as a "non-person, a sex object" had "turned [him] on".

Jutting recorded himself again before committing his second murder, displaying items such as a "hammer, blowtorch, pliers and plastic ties", Sky News reports.

"I am going to use these to torture someone in the most inhumane way possible," he said.

He met Mujiasih in a bar on 31 October and lured her to his apartment before torturing and killing her. He then called the police to report that "something had happened" at his apartment.

Police said Jutting was "delirious" when they arrived. They found Mujiasih lying in a pool of blood with her throat slashed and Ningsih's body wrapped in plastic and stuffed into a suitcase on the balcony.

Jutting's defence claimed he had cracked under the stress of his banking job and turned to abusing large amounts of alcohol and cocaine, which had "substantially impaired" his state of mind.

Handing down a life sentence, Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore said that this was "one of the most horrifying cases that have come to the courts of Hong Kong".

Rurik Jutting trial: Judge warns jury about 'horrifying' torture images

24 October

The judge trying British banker Rurik Jutting for the brutal murders of two Indonesian women in Hong Kong has warned jury members they will have to view "horrifying" torture images.

Deputy high court judge Michael Stuart-Moore told jurors they should not take part if they were unable to cope with viewing extreme violence. He said the defendant had even filmed himself torturing one of the victims.

Jutting this morning pleaded not guilty by reason of diminished responsibility to the killings of Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih, 23 and 26 respectively, whose bodies were found in his apartment in 2014.

The judge said that the defence and prosecution were largely in agreement over the physical evidence against the 31-year-old. The real argument will be whether the case is murder or manslaughter, depending on psychological evidence.

Jutting's lawyer, Tim Owen QC, says his client suffers from a "personality disorder"; prosecutor John Reading says psychopathic behaviour does not provide grounds for diminished responsibility.

Jutting was "looking trim and... clean shaven with short-cut hair" today, says Reuters, in contrast to his appearance immediately after the arrest when he was "heavily overweight and wore a thick, dark beard".

The Briton lived in a luxury high-rise apartment, says the news agency, and cocaine was found there by police. According to Reuters, the case has "cast a harsh light on the seamy side of Hong Kong".

It has also illuminated the conditions of domestic staff in Hong Kong, where there are around 330,000 migrant workers, mostly women from the Philippines and Indonesia.

The two victims were migrant workers who "frequented bars" in the "seedy" Wanchai area where Jutting lived, says The Guardian.

Outside the court this morning, domestic workers and activists for the rights of migrants gathered to protest. Some carried placards that read: "Stop violence against women" and "No-one has the right to kill".