Bodies of Indonesians murdered in Hong Kong arrive home

JAKARTA - The bodies of two Indonesian women allegedly murdered by a British banker in Hong Kong arrived back home Tuesday, 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 the Indonesian capital Jakarta on a Cathy 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.

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

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

The mother of Ningsih, 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, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, 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 Nov 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 Oct 27.

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.

Hong Kong police are investigating whether the victims were sex workers, although their parents say they believed their children had been working at restaurants.