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Banker Rurik Jutting Jailed for 'Sickening' Murders in Hong Kong

A former Bank of America worker was jailed for life for the "sickening" murders of two women he tortured in his Hong Kong apartment.
Image: A rally n support of murdered women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih
A rally in support of murdered women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih outside the court on Tuesday.JEROME FAVRE / EPA
/ Source: Reuters

A British banker was jailed for life Tuesday for the "sickening" murders of two women he tortured in his Hong Kong apartment in what the judge said was one of the most horrifying cases the Chinese-ruled territory has known.

Rurik Jutting, 31, a former Bank of America employee, had denied murdering Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, both from Indonesia, on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to alcohol and drug abuse and sexual disorders.

Image: Ex-banker Rurik Jutting, pictured leaving court in 2014.
Rurik Jutting in 2014.JEROME FAVRE / EPA

He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a case that gripped world media due to graphic video footage seen by the jury and the brutality of the 2014 killings.

The jury unanimously found Jutting guilty of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison.

His lawyers have said he will apply to serve his sentence in Britain, the former colonial power in Hong Kong.

Judge Michael Stuart-Moore agreed for an application to be filed, but said he would inform the authorities in Britain exactly what they would be dealing with and urged caution against falling for Cambridge-educated Jutting's "superficial charm."

In closing remarks, the judge described Jutting as the "archetypal sexual predator" who represented an extreme danger to women, especially in the sex trade.

Image: Evidence in the Rurik Jutting case
Police display pieces of evidence used to convict British banker Rurik Jutting on Tuesday.Kin Cheung / AP

The murders were even more damning because Jutting had been given every possible material advantage in life from a very privileged upbringing to a great career and immense pay check, the judge said.

"They are sickening in the extreme and beyond a normal person's imagination ... There are insufficient superlatives to describe what he did."

In a statement read out by Jutting's lawyer, Tim Owen, Jutting said he was haunted daily by what he had done.

"The evil can never be remedied by me, nevertheless ... I am so sorry. I am sorry beyond words," Owen said, citing Jutting.

Jutting, the grandson of a British policeman in Hong Kong and a local Chinese woman, had argued cocaine and alcohol disorders as well as personality disorders of sexual sadism and narcissism had impaired his ability to control his behavior.

Image: A rally n support of murdered women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih
A rally in support of murdered women Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih outside the court on Tuesday.JEROME FAVRE / EPA