Bodies of Indonesians murdered in Hong Kong arrive home

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The bodies of two Indonesian women allegedly murdered by a British banker in Hong Kong arrived back home Tuesday, November 11, as one victim’s mother tearfully spoke of her “torment”.

The mutilated corpses of Seneng Mujiasih and Sumarti Ningsih, both in their 20s, were found in the apartment of a 29-year-old securities trader earlier this month. 

Rurik Jutting, who until recently worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was arrested after calling police to the scene, and has been charged with the women’s murder. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the women’s bodies arrived in Jakarta on a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong, an AFP reporter at the city’s airport said. They were taken off the plane in wooden coffins and placed in ambulances. 

Sumarti’s body was being taken to her home town of Cilacap, in southern Java, accompanied by her brother, said foreign ministry official Krisna Djaelani.

The mother of Sumarti, whose decaying body was found stuffed in a suitcase, wept as she told how the whole family was waiting to receive the body. 

“I’m so tormented,” Suratmi told AFP from Cilacap. “I will never accept that my daughter was tortured until she died.

“Why must this be my daughter’s fate?”

The victims were discovered in Jutting’s flat in the city’s Wanchai district in the early hours of November 1.

Seneng was found naked in the living room, with knife wounds to her neck and buttocks.

Sumarti’s decaying body was found hours later by police, stuffed into a suitcase on the apartment’s balcony. According to court documents, she was killed on October 27.

Stunned  

Seneng’s body would remain overnight at the airport before being flown to her family’s home on Muna island, in central Indonesia, on Wednesday, said the official.

Seneng’s father, Mujiharjo, said that the family had been stunned by news of the death of his daughter, adding that her killer “doesn’t deserve to live”.

“Words cannot describe how we feel now, we are all shocked,” the 57-year-old told AFP from the family home in Sidomakmur village on Muna island.

“We never imagined this could happen to my daughter. She is a lovely person, has many friends and was always making jokes.

“My wife is in deep shock and cannot eat anything. She keeps crying remembering our beloved daughter.” 

“The killer must be given the death sentence. He doesn’t deserve to live,” he added.

Mujiharjo said the family found out about Seneng’s death when they tried to call her in Hong Kong and a friend answered. 

The friend passed on the news that she was dead but said it was due to an unspecified illness, and the family only found out what really happened later.

He said Seneng had told her family she was working in a restaurant and refused to respond to questions about reports that she had been a sex worker.

Her last contact with her parents was two days before her death, when she called them asking how they were, he said.

On Monday, Jutting appeared in court for the second time since his arrest – and flashed a grin as he left the hearing in a prison van after his case was adjourned for psychiatric reports. – Rappler.com