Chitchat Guess the race: Man murders 2 indon women in HK

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

HONG KONG — A British banker charged with murdering two Indonesian women was using cocaine when he slit their throats and then used his phone to film himself talking about it, a Hong Kong prosecutor said as a trial for the 2014 killings opened on Monday (Oct 24).

The case is “particularly horrifying” because it includes “very shocking” photographic evidence of one victim’s torture for three days, the judge told prospective jurors as the trial got underway.

Rurik Jutting, 31, a Cambridge University graduate who worked for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in structured equity finance and trading, is accused of murdering Sumarti Ningsih, 23 and Seneng Mujiasih, 26.

Their bodies were found in his upscale apartment near the Wan Chai red-light district, in a case highlighting the Asian financial hub’s inequality and privileged lifestyle of its wealthy expat elite.

If convicted, he faces life in prison.

In opening remarks, Prosecutor John Reading told jurors that according to the facts agreed on by both sides, Sumarti went home with Jutting after he offered her “a large sum of money” on Oct 25, 2014. Sumarti, who was in Hong Kong on a tourist visa, had a five-year-old son living with her parents in Indonesia, he said.

Jutting subjected her to “increasingly cruel acts of violence using his belt, sex toys, a pair of pliers and his fists”, Mr Reading said. He said the pair had previously met when he paid to have sex with her. But on that occasion, because he had been so rough, she offered to give back half the money if she could leave early, which he agreed to.

“After torturing her for three days, he took her into the bathroom, had her kneel in front of the toilet bowl with her hands tied behind her back, made her lick the toilet bowl and then he cut her throat with a serrated-edged knife,” he continued. Jutting continued to saw through her neck when she didn’t immediately die, he said.

Jutting used his phone to film himself talking about the killing, how he enjoyed dominating Sumarti and how he watched pornographic videos involving extreme violence. He also said he “definitely could not have done that without cocaine”. In some shots, Sumarti’s body can be seen on the floor of the shower. At one point he wrapped it up in plastic sheets and blankets and put it in a suitcase that he left on the balcony.

Late on Oct 31, 2014, Jutting brought Seneng back to his apartment. She was officially in Hong Kong as a foreign maid but was working at a bar when Jutting offered her money for sex, Mr Reading said. After they undressed, Seneng spotted a gag made of some rope that he had left next to the sofa and started to shout, Mr Reading said.

Jutting grabbed her, took a knife he had hidden under a cushion, held it to her throat and told her he would cut her throat if she didn’t stop.

“She continued to struggle and shout, and he cut her throat,” Mr Reading told the jurors.

Jutting made more video recordings, including one that showed Seneng’s body, and told police he used up the rest of his cocaine. He apparently started hallucinating and, believing that the police were coming to get him, called the emergency number. Officers who arrived found the body and arrested him.

Mr Reading said traces of cocaine were detected in more than two dozen small plastic bags found in Jutting’s apartment.

Jutting, who watched from the glass-screened dock, wore a dark blue shirt, dark-framed eyeglasses and looked much slimmer than in court appearances last year. When the clerk asked what his plea was to the two murder charge, he replied “not guilty to murder by reason of diminished responsibility but guilty of manslaughter”, which the prosecutors refused to accept, meaning the trial on the murder charges will proceed.

A third charge was also read out, unlawful burial of Sumarti’s body, to which he pleaded guilty.

Judge Michael Stuart-Moore told jurors before the selection began that the evidence includes “extremely upsetting” color photos.

“Much of what the jury will see or hear is very disturbing indeed,” he said, but added that Jutting is entitled to a fair trial.

Outside the court, a small group of protesters from Indonesian migrant worker organisations called for a “speedy and fair trial” and for compensation for the victims’ families. AGENCIES


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