Malaysian S. Karthigesu Dies At 81 Makes Headlines, But Who Is He?
The prime suspect in the murder of former beauty queen Jean Perera Sinnappa, S. Karthigesu escaped the gallows and was released from jail following insufficient evidence.
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At 8.40am on 27 August, former psychology lecturer S. Karthigesu drew his last breath at his home in Teluk Pulai, Klang.
As reported by The Star, the 81-year-old suffered from a heart ailment and dementia and has been discharged from the hospital after several days of being hospitalised.
Karthigesu leaves behind his wife, two daughters and a son. The family members declined to be interviewed and asked the public to give them privacy to grieve.
Who was Karthigesu?
Karthigesu previously made headlines as he was the prime suspect in a murder four decades ago which to this day remains unsolved.
For those unfamiliar with the case, Karthigesu was the suspect in the death of 31-year-old Jean Perera Sinnappa, a former beauty queen turned school teacher.
At the time, Jean was a widow with three kids from Negri Sembilan. Her husband, S. Sinnappa, a chemist, died in a road accident in Petaling Jaya the same year, four months before she herself was murdered.
After his death, she packed her kids and stuff and went to live with her in-laws in Klang, including Karthigesu, her brother-in-law.
They were rumoured to be dating at the time but Karthigesu found out about her cheating on him and his brother with a medical practitioner and that was his alleged motive to kill her.
A murder case that shocked the whole nation
As stated by NST, on 6 April 1979, two Malaysia Airlines employees found Jean brutally stabbed to death (she was stabbed more than 10 times, in the abdomen, hands, and chest) while still strapped to the passenger seat of a white Fiat 125. They also found Karthigesu, then aged 37, lying unconscious face-down on the ground next to the car.
The vehicle was found under a secluded underpass along the Federal Highway, near what is now the Skypark Terminal at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport. No one witnessed the murder and the murder weapon was never found.
Karthigesu claimed that he wanted to relieve himself and pulled over. But he was hit by an object from behind and could not remember what happened. In another claim, he said he was attacked by four men and they forced him to watch Jean stabbed to death.
His clothes didn’t have any traces of blood on them, which would mean that it was impossible for him to stab the victim repeatedly without getting the stains on his body.
However, police didn’t find any injuries on Karthigesu and there were no traces of urine in the area.
Citing Alex Josey in his book that recounted the whole case, according to the Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP), he deduced that the accused washed himself in the pond nearby after killing Jean which is supported by a police dog tracing his scent in the pond.
The probable motive
The police also found 19 lurid love letters between Jean and a Sri Lankan, Dr Narada Warnasurya. According to the letters, Narada was a happily married man but insisted on keeping Jean as his mistress.
They reportedly met at a YMCA function in Brickfields in 1978. Police tracked Narada and requested him to appear in court to give his testimony but he refused.
Many assumed that Karthigesu’s motive was either a crime of passion or to avenge his late brother’s honour, as it was learnt that she might have cheated on his brother while they were still married.
The case was investigated for four months.
He was charged and spent two years in prison
The trial which ran for 38 days with 58 witnesses concluded that Karthigesu was guilty of murdering Jean. He was to face the death penalty.
He was charged on 9 May at the Kuala Lumpur High Court and it was the first case to be charged based on circumstantial evidence and an extrajudicial confession in the country.
(Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence of facts that the court can draw conclusions from while extrajudicial confession is a confession made out of court, and not part of a judicial examination or investigation.)
He spent two years and four days in prison before a family friend of the defendant, Bandhulanda Jayathilake, retracted his testimony.
Key witness lied
Bandhulanda was the key witness, and he testified that Karthigesu confided in him before the murder that he believed Jean “deserved to die”. He confessed the truth and renounced his prior statement.
Bandhulanda was charged with perjury and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment but died two years while he was doing time.
As for Karthigesu, he was released on 20 May 1981 as the court had no choice over the insufficient evidence of the case.
The case remains unsolved to this day, with no new leads or evidence. It remains one of the most baffling murder mysteries in the nation.
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