'Jutting should support my grandson after taking his mother away'
The British investment banker Rurik Jutting once again appeared in a Hong Kong court this morning over the deaths of two Indonesian women - 25-year-old Sumarti Ningsih and 29-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, who was also known in the city as Jesse Lorena.
More than two thousand miles away and far from the neon lights of Hong Kong, is a small village on the Indonesian island of Jogja where the son of Sumarti Ningsih is learning to fly a kite.
Muhammed Hafids has little or no comprehension of the fate that befell his mother three weeks ago.
He last saw her in July, and he will never see her again.
The remains of her body were discovered inside a suitcase on the balcony of Jutting’s apartment on November 1st.
The four-year-old’s mother paid for his upkeep, sending the money she earned in Hong Kong back home. She also supported the rest of her family whilst living away.
Her own mother now believes her killer should pay for Muhammed's future.
"I cannot accept my daughter was murdered. The person who killed her must be punished. I am in so much pain. Why has this happened to us? Sumarti worked to provide for her son. Her killer should take on that responsibility, that financial burden."
As Suratmi spoke to ITV News, she clutched a jumper that belonged to her daughter.
"I can’t comprehend my feelings. My sadness and pain are immeasurable. I still can’t believe what has happened, that it happened to her. She was never involved in any trouble at home.”
She is now calling on the Hong Kong authorities to return her body to them as soon as possible.
“I feel lost because my daughter has gone. I have other children but I feel so different without her.”
Sumarti's brother Suyitno learned about his sister’s death on the internet.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” he told us, “I can’t understand what happened to her. It’s something you cannot imagine.”
They talked all the time but he says, “I had no idea about her life in Hong Kong. She never told me she was having any problems."
The 25-year-old’s body was discovered by detectives, along with that of Jesse Lorena.
Police had been called to Jutting’s apartment by the former banker.
Jesse was lying naked inside the flat with multiple stab wounds, but Sumarti wasn’t found for several hours afterwards. It’s thought she’d been dead for days.
Both women have been described as sex workers but people who knew them in Hong Kong say they were domestic helpers.
Just like many Indonesian and Filipino women who come to the city to make their fortune, they worked as maids, and at weekends they went out in Wan Chai, where the city’s red light district is.
Women, like Sumarti and Jesse, mixed and blended in with prostitutes in these bars, and sex here, near the financial centre of Hong Kong, is a saleable commodity, and the lines are blurred.
Prostitution is legal in the city, but you’re not allowed to ‘organise’ it or run a brothel.
Many of these women also have other sources of income. They may work six days a week in the homes of the wealthy, cooking and cleaning but they also have ‘arrangements’ with bar owners that if they take Western men into clubs and persuade them to buy overpriced drinks then they get a cut of that money.
They return at the end of the week with 'tokens’ to redeem what they’ve earned for the bar.
For many and probably most, this money is often sent home to their families, to help support their parents and siblings, and improve their lives.
But there is no hope for a better life for both of these women now.
The man accused of their murders has had his case put back for two weeks, pending psychiatric reports.
Today, he spoke only once in the courtroom when asked if he understood the adjournment. He said solemnly, 'I do.’
The hearing lasted barely ten minutes, and the 29 year old didn't enter a plea.
His lawyer has requested copies of the interviews police conducted with Jutting, who’s been remanded in custody once again.
He will next appear at the Eastern Law Court on the island on November 24th.