Jutting ‘deeply addicted to cocaine’

HONG KONG: British banker Rurik Jutting, who is accused of murdering two Indonesian women in his upscale Hong Kong apartment, was a cocaine addict who had developed drug-induced fantasies, a court heard yesterday.

The 31-year-old has pleaded “not guilty” to two murder charges, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Since the trial started on Monday, jurors have viewed harrowing mobile phone footage of Jutting torturing his first victim, Sumarti Ningsih, 23, for three days before he killed her at his apartment two years ago.

Days later, he killed Seneng Mujiasih, 26, cutting her throat. Her body was found in Jutting’s living room on Nov 1, 2014, while Sumarti’s body was discovered stuffed into a suitcase on his balcony.

In court yesterday, prosecutor John Reading said Jutting had become increasingly withdrawn and “deeply addicted to cocaine”.

Footage from police interviews showed Jutting saying he had started to take more cocaine at weekends for six weeks before the killings.

“I’ve had cocaine previously, but not in such a large amount,” he told police.

“When I started taking it, it started bringing out long and extended fantasies.”

Speaking calmly, he told police that he had killed the two women.

“These are the only two people who have been killed by me,” he said.

Jutting told police that he had met Sumarti on the website Craigslist.

He also said that he had begun to spend time at a hotel near his apartment for three weeks before the killings, and had paid for sex workers during those stays. – AFP