Mental disorders impaired Hong Kong double murder suspect’s ability to control actions, court hears in Rurik Jutting trial
Forensic psychiatrist diagnoses British banker with narcissistic personality disorder, stimulant cocaine use disorder, alcohol use disorder and sexual sadism disorder
A banker accused of murdering two young women in his Wan Chai flat did so because his “narcissistic personality’’ combined with cocaine, alcohol and sexual sadism disorders left him unable to control his actions, the High Court heard yesterday.
On the first day of the defence case, British banker Rurik Jutting, who denies murder but admits killing Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, the court heard from Dr Richard Latham, a consultant in forensic psychiatry in Britain’s National Health Service.
Latham said he had diagnosed Jutting, 31, with narcissistic personality, sexual sadism, cocaine and alcohol use disorders and that they had “substantially impaired” his ability to control his behaviour.
“I feel very confident these four diagnoses are correct,” Latham testified in his personal capacity as an independent psychiatrist. “I certainly didn’t think he was trying to exaggerate any mental disorder.”
The psychiatrist also told the jury of five men and four women that the cocaine and alcohol disorders contributed more than others at the time of the killings.
