British banker yelled into streets and brandished a knife at people from his balcony 31 floors up, murder trial is told

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Moments after killing two Indonesian women in his Hong Kong apartment, British banker Rurik Jutting shouted and waved a knife at pedestrians on the streets far below, a court heard on Thursday.

In police video interviews shown on the fourth day of the murder trial, Jutting calmly detailed the last moments before calling police to end his nightmarish cocaine- and alcohol-fuelled descent into torture and killing.

Collapsing exhausted on his balcony after struggling to cut the throat of his second victim, the Cambridge University-educated former investment banker told how he then brandished a knife at people walking below.

The video evidence did not reveal what he shouted from the 31st floor of his apartment building.

“When I decided to surrender, I dropped my knife,” Jutting said, describing how he barricaded himself into his bedroom and called police. He also dropped and smashed a bottle of vodka.

Dressed in a light blue shirt, Jutting, 31, sometimes shut his eyes and tilted his head upwards when confronted with the video evidence on Thursday.

Jutting has admitted killing Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and another Indonesian woman, Seneng Mujiasih, 26, after six weeks of rapidly escalating cocaine usage in 2014.

But he has pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility, while pleading guilty to the lesser crime of manslaughter.

After surrendering, Jutting gave police his phone, which contained photographs of both victims as well as four hours of video footage.

“I told them there’s evidence in there,” he said during the police interview.

The jury was earlier shown footage that Jutting filmed himself during the sexual torture and killing of Ningsih, capturing his taunts and boasts as well as his remorse.

A toxicologist, called as an expert witness by the prosecution on Wednesday, described the quantities of cocaine consumed by Jutting during a six-week binge as unbelievably high.

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Hong Kong, while manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life.

The high court trial is due to continue next week.