Hong Kong | Jutting, fit to plead, remanded 7 months for murder probe

Rurik Jutting

Prosecutors were granted seven months to further investigate charges against Rurik Jutting, a former Bank of America Corp. employee whose psychiatric reports said he’s fit to plead in a double-murder case in Hong Kong.
Prosecutor Louise Wong told the judge that the government lab needed 28 weeks to examine more than 200 items of evidence collected from the crime scene, but she added that investigators requested the case be given priority. Eastern Magistrates Court Magistrate Bina Chainrai, after Jutting’s lawyers said they had no objection, ordered the Briton to be remanded until the next hearing on July 6.
No trial date has been set yet and Jutting did not enter a plea. Jutting, who attended Cambridge University and had worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, appeared in court unshaven and wearing the same black T-shirt with the words “New York” from previous appearances. He spoke only once, calmly saying “I do” when the judge reminded him to continue giving instructions to his lawyers and asked him if he understood.
Jutting, 29 when he was charged earlier this month, faces life in prison if convicted of the murders of Indonesian women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih. He is accused of killing Ningsih, 23, on Oct. 27 and Mujiasih, 29, on Nov. 1 at his upscale apartment in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district. His lawyer Michael Vidler told reporters outside the court yesterday that he hasn’t been able to discuss the psychiatric reports with Jutting yet.
Jutting called police at about 3:42 a.m. on Nov. 1, requesting they come to his apartment, according to a police statement. Police found Mujiasih with cuts on her neck and buttock, and she was certified dead at the scene. On the apartment’s balcony, police found another dead woman with neck wounds inside a suitcase, who was later identified as Ningsih. A knife was seized at the scene, according to the statement.
The case has exposed the extremes of inequality found in Hong Kong’s expatriate community. Mujiasih, 29, remained in Hong Kong after her domestic worker permit had lapsed, and Ningsih, 25, had come to the Asian financial hub on a tourist visa.
Bank of America spokesman Paul Scanlon has said the second-largest U.S. lender previously had an employee named Rurik Jutting.
A person with the same name worked in Hong Kong at the Asian structured equity finance and trading division of the bank’s Merrill Lynch unit starting in July 2013, according to a LinkedIn profile. Bloomberg/AP