Judges in Hong Kong are considering a British banker’s appeal over his conviction for the murders of two Indonesian women.
The three Court of Appeal judges on Wednesday concluded an appeal hearing for Rurik Jutting, who is serving a life sentence for the grisly killings.
They listened to a day and a half of submissions from defence and prosecution lawyers, and will issue their decision at a later, unspecified date.
Police officers stand guard next to prison bus carrying British banker Rurik Jutting (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
Jutting’s legal team argued that the trial judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury on deciding its verdicts.
Cambridge University-educated Jutting was convicted last year by a nine-person jury of the brutal 2014 killings of Seneng Mujiasih and Sumarti Ningsih.
During the trial, the court heard Jutting spent days torturing one of the victims while snorting cocaine.
Jutting initially attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter but the judge rejected it, though he told jurors they could still decide on their own between finding him guilty of murder or manslaughter.
The case shocked residents of Hong Kong, a Chinese financial centre with a reputation for safety, while also highlighting significant inequality and seedy aspects usually hidden from view.
Jutting was working for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch while Sumarti, 23, and Seneng, 26, went to Hong Kong as foreign maids but ended up as sex workers.