Story highlights
NEW: The suspect, Rurik Jutting, appears before a Hong Kong court
The 29-year-old British banker faces two murder charges
One of the victims, whose body was found in a suitcase, is reported to be Indonesian
Police describe a violent and bloody scene inside a luxury highrise building
A British banker is facing murder charges in Hong Kong over the killing of two women in an upscale apartment in the city’s central district of Wan Chai – where one of the victims was discovered stuffed inside a suitcase on the apartment balcony.
The suspect, a 29-year-old man identified as Rurik Jutting, appeared before a magistrates’ court in Hong Kong on Monday facing two charges of murder.
Wearing black-rimmed glasses, a black t-shirt, and dark jeans, he was not handcuffed and responded “I do” when asked by the court clerk if he understood the charges against him. He didn’t enter a plea.
Authorities said they were called to the highrise apartment in the popular nightlife district of Wan Chai early Saturday morning by the suspect.
They first discovered a woman lying inside the residence, identified by local media as a disc jockey at a neighborhood pub who is 25 to 30 years old. She had visible cuts on her body and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a police statement.
Officers then discovered the body of another woman, with wounds on her neck, stuffed inside a suitcase on the apartment’s balcony.
The second victim was identified as Sumarti Ningsih, according to court documents, which said she had been killed on October 27. Sumarti was a 25-year-old Indonesian woman who entered Hong Kong last month on a tourist visa, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
The other woman wasn’t identified. Court documents said she’d been killed on Saturday.
When they arrived at the apartment, police discovered a gruesome scene with the residence covered in blood, the newspaper reported. One of the victims was found with “her throat slashed.”
Police said they arrested the suspect after finding a knife at the scene.
Court documents gave his occupation as a “banker” for Bank of America in Hong Kong.
Paul Scanlon, a spokesman for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, said that a person named Rurik Jutting had worked there but left the bank recently. He declined to comment further on the case.
The British Foreign Office confirmed that a British citizen was arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of murder, but did not release the name, citing regulations.
Autopsies will be performed on the victims to determine the cause of death, authorities said.
Jutting didn’t apply for bail on Monday. He will remain in jail until his next court appearance on November 10.
Such cases are unusual in Hong Kong, which has a low rate of violent crime for a city its size.
The upscale apartment building where the bodies were found is described by real estate sites as popular with expatriates for its luxurious facilities, including a heated rooftop swimming pool.
The Wan Chai district, in a central area of Hong Kong Island, is known for its high number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, as well as strip clubs.
CNN’s Shelby Lynn Erdman, Phillip Taylor and Anna-Maja Rappard contributed to the this report