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All eyes on Hong Kong jury as it retires to decide if British banker is guilty of murdering two women

Judge reminds them to use common sense in reaching verdict on Rurik Jutting, who has claimed diminished responsibility for killing Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26

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British banker Rurik Jutting in a prison van. Photo: AFP

A Hong Kong jury of five men and four women retired on Tuesday morning to decide whether a British banker was guilty of murdering two Indonesian women in his flat two years ago, with the judge calling on them to use their common sense in reaching a verdict.

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The nine-strong jury entered the deliberation chambers at 9.42am after the 10-day trial of Rurik Jutting, 31, who has admitted to the unlawful killings of Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, but denied that they were murders.

Among the questions they will have to consider is whether the Briton had failed to resist impulses to take alcohol or cocaine, or whether he was virtually unable to do so as a result of his addictions.

Jutting’s legal team had advanced the defence of diminished responsibility by arguing that his abnormality of mind, induced by mental diseases such as alcohol and cocaine use disorders, had substantially impaired his ability to control himself.

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