Banker ruled fit for murder trial
British banker Rurik Jutting has been ruled mentally fit to stand trial for the murder of two Indonesian women.
Jutting, 29, originally from Cobham, Surrey, appeared in a short court hearing in Hong Kong today charged with the women’s murders after having undergone psychiatric tests.
A judge ruled he was fit to enter a plea and the case was adjourned until July after prosecutors said the government lab needed 28 weeks to examine more than 200 items of evidence collected from the crime scene.
Jutting, who spoke only once to answer “I do” to a judge’s question, did not enter a plea and his lawyers said he did not object to the request for the lengthy adjournment. No trial date has been set.
The bodies of the two young women were found at Jutting’s 31st floor apartment in the Wan Chai nightlife and red light district.
Cambridge-educated Jutting, who worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, appeared in court unshaven and wearing the same black T-shirt featuring the words “New York” from previous appearances.
Sumarti Ningsih, 23, was found dead in a suitcase at Jutting’s flat in the former British colony’s Wan Chai district last Saturday.
Police had been called to the property on Halloween night and first found 29-year-old Seneng Mujiasih with wounds to her throat and buttocks. She died a short time later.
Jutting moved to Hong Kong from London in July last year and is understood to have quit his highly-paid job in the days before the incident.
Before leaving he appeared to have set a sinister automatic response for his email account at the bank.
The email response read: “I am out of the office. Indefinitely. For urgent enquiries, or indeed any enquiries, please contact someone who is not an insane psychopath. For escalation please contact God, though suspect the devil will have custody (Last line only really worked if I had followed through).”
