Authors: Alex Josey
And to Professor G. Devadass, Karthigesu
said he had stopped the car to urinate while another car pulled up and four men
appeared. He was held up and ruffled and forced to see the killing. He was then
dragged on the ground and when he noticed the car number, he was knocked on the
head.
The DPP said as the sand found on the seat
of the car was not identical to the sand found at the place where the car was
parked, this ruled out the involvement of a third person.
The DPP said 20 minutes is a long period and
within that time Karthigesu did so many things and he should be asked to
explain himself.
Defence Counsel’s Argument
In his submission on behalf of the
defence, Mr Ponnudurai argued that apart from the fact that the accused was
found behind the car in which Jean was murdered, there was no other evidence to
connect him to the crime. He asked the Court to direct the jury to return a
verdict of ‘Not Guilty’ because the whole prosecution case was ‘strewn with
suspicion’. Defence counsel said the prosecution had only one witness,
Bandhulananda Jayatilake, who went to Karthigesu’s house on 16 April 1979.
Karthigesu was alleged to have told him in front of his mother, ‘Worst come to
the worst I will admit it and go in.’ He was supposed to have stated this
because of harassment by the police and Karthigesu was alleged to have added,
‘The bitch did not deserve to live’.
Defence Counsel said according to the
prosecution this was an admission of guilt on the part of Karthigesu. But it
was the contention of the defence the words were never uttered, and even if
they were uttered they would not amount to an admission. At no time did the
accused say to the witness he had murdered Jean, or had any part in it.
Mr Ponnudurai said Jayatilake’s statement
was recorded by ASP Singara Singh on 16 April, but it was ‘hidden’ from the
police conference. DSP Godwin Anthony was the co-ordinator of the case and he
was also the chairman of the meetings but he knew about the statement only at
the preliminary inquiry. When the investigating officer, ASP Ramli, was asked
why DSP Anthony was not informed, he replied that he had nothing to say.
Defence Counsel alleged that Jayatilake’s statement was concocted.
Mr Ponnudurai said Jayatilake was a relative
of Jean. In fact after the funeral Jean’s mother and Jean’s children had gone
to live in Jayatilake’s house for a week. Counsel remarked: “Jayatilake is so
close to Jean’s family that I wonder if his evidence has any merit.” If the
statement was an admission, it would amount to an extra-judicial confession and
it only amounted to suspicion. There was no corroborative evidence to support
the statement alleged to have been made by Karthigesu.
The Judge called upon Karthigesu to make his
defence after ruling that there was a prima facie case at the close of the
prosecution submission.
Statement from the Dock
Karthigesu made a
two-and-a-half-hour statement from the dock, which meant that he could not be
cross-examined. Had he elected to go into the witness box he would have been on
oath and would have been cross-examined.
In his two-and-a-half-hour defence
Karthigesu spoke of his relationship with Jean, the events on the night of the
killing, how Jean screamed for help but he was too frightened to help. When he
began making his defence Karthigesu read from a prepared text. The Judge asked
him not to read, saying he could look at it to refresh his memory. Karthigesu
appeared to be calm. He spoke in a steady voice. Karthigesu said Jean moved
into the house where he was staying with his mother, his brother Thuriappa, and
his younger sister, Jayaletchumy on 1 January 1978—the day she lost her husband
(who was his elder brother) in a road accident at the Jalan 222 junction in
Petaling Jaya.
Karthigesu continued, “We lived as a happy
family unit and everybody in the house was happy and contented. Jean used to
tell me she is very fortunate to have a mother-in-law (that is my mother) in
the house because she had no problem with regard to looking after the children.
My mother, too, always tells me the advantage and beauty of having a
daughter-in-law in the house because Jean began to take part in all household
activities and decision-making.
From about April 1978 Jean used to receive
anonymous telephone calls in the school where she was teaching and also
anonymous letters. Most of these calls and letters simply emphasized and
advised her to move out of the Klang house and live with her children in
Petaling Jaya. They also threatened ill-luck that will befall her if she
continued staying with me, my mother and my unfortunate brother and sister.
These anonymous calls and letters invariably point out that my mother is an
evil lady and that no one should stay with her.
There was an occasion in April 1978 when
Jean collapsed in the school after she had received one of these anonymous
calls. The school clerk drove her home to Klang. On other occasions she took
refuge in her friend’s house in Petaling Jaya after she had received such a
phone call at school. On such occasions I would go to the friend’s house and
drive her back to Klang. Except for these disturbances we were a happy family
unit.
Sometime in September 1978 Jean had a
quarrel with her mother and was taken by Brian (Jean’s brother) to the YMCA
hostel at Brickfields because we were not in Klang at that time. The next day
when my mother and I had returned to Klang, we brought Jean to the house in
Klang. Jean narrated to me all that had happened in her mother’s house and she
also told me of her meeting with Dr Narada Warnasurya at the YMCA hostel. She
told me she wanted to keep in contact with him because he would make a good
match for her sister Merlyn. I told her to invite the doctor to our house in
Klang and also Merlyn so that there could be an informal introduction between
Merlyn and Dr Warnasurya.
Jean was very agreeable to my suggestion but
after a few days she told me that the doctor had a tight schedule and was only
to be in this country for two weeks. Therefore the dinner date that I had suggested
could not materialize. I did pick up a phone call from this Dr Narada when he
rang up my house in Klang. I, too, told him, or rather invited him to our house
in Klang but he told me he had other functions pertaining to his tour of this
country.
Towards the later part of 1978, that is
around November, I began to go out with Jean for social functions. We usually
spent Friday evenings going to either the movies or night clubs and our
favourite place was Abad Century. Fridays were our usual days because on
Saturdays and Sundays we had no work, we were on holiday.
During the later part of November 1978 I too
began to receive anonymous phone calls speaking evil about Jean and her
association with Dr Warnasurya. I used to tell Jean about these calls but I had
no doubt about her sincerity to me because I knew this doctor was not in this
country and I believed sincerely that the allegations made against Jean were
baseless because of her devotion towards my mother, my crippled brother and my
mentally retarded sister. Jean began to perform all the functions and duties
that were previously done by my mother in so far as feeding my crippled brother
and dressing my mentally retarded sister.
Then, in January 1979 Jean got admission to
a one-year course in audio-visual teaching at the Specialist Teachers Training
Institute (where I worked). Both of us travelled from Klang to Cheras. We then
began to realise that both of us were out of the house at the same time and in
case of any emergency at the house in Klang we had to rush over 30 miles.
Therefore we decided it was best that we got a house nearer to the place where
we were working and for this purpose I made an application for government
quarters. In the meantime we had also planned to get married and this was with
the blessings and whole-hearted support of my mother. I was thinking I would be
able to get government quarters after one or two months from the day of
application.”
Karthigesu said he learnt by March 1979 it
would take about eight months before he could get government quarters.
“Therefore we decided to rent a house either in Petaling Jaya or in Kuala
Lumpur.”
“Jean by nature is a very superstitious lady
and she consults astrologers for any auspicious occasion. She therefore told me
that we should move house before the Hindu New Year, which began on 13 April.
She also became very involved in the course she was doing at the Institute.
So her plans for the April holidays were
during the first week of the holidays to move into her new house with our whole
family and to spend the second and third weeks of the April holidays with my
younger brother in Jasin. My brother is working in an oil palm estate in Jasin
and Jean wanted to go there in order to take photographs of every stage in oil
palm production and rubber production and these photos were later to be turned
into teaching material, and teaching aids for lower secondary school children.
On 31 March 1979 and 1 April 1979, Jean and
I went to Pangkor Island for a holiday and also for her to do some photography or
fishing in relation to her audiovisual education course. I handed the camera
and undeveloped film inside to the investigating officer ASP Ramli.
After coming back from Pangkor Island, Jean
and I went out looking for a house. Jean sometimes went on her own. This is
when I had work to do at the college. Jean and I had always wanted a house that
would be a single floor house so it would be convenient for the children and my
crippled brother.
On 5 April Jean wanted to introduce her
sister, Merlyn to a gentleman who happened to know one of Jean’s friends. We
requested Merlyn and her mother to come and meet us at Brickfields, and
together we proceeded to one of Mrs Menon’s houses in Bangsar Park. After
visiting Mrs Menon we went to see a house that was for rent in Bangsar Park
which had been seen by Jean alone earlier. We inspected the house. It was a
two-floor house and before I could say anything Jean herself had made up her
mind not to take that house because it was a two-floor house and had very
little security and protection for small children.
On Friday 8 April, Jean had made
arrangements to see two more houses in Petaling Jaya in the afternoon, but on
that day I had to lecture teachers who were doing their in-service course in
the Institute. So I told Jean to drive down to Petaling Jaya and wait for me at
about 4:15
pm
at the Diana
Restaurant in front of the University Hospital in Petaling Jaya. I finished
work at 4:00
pm
and met Jean as
arranged at the Diana Restaurant. We waited for a housing agent who was
supposed to come and fetch us from the Diana Restaurant to show us a house in
Section 16 at 4:30
pm
. We waited
until 4:45
pm
, after which we
left for Taman Seputeh where a house was available for rent. We saw the house
in Taman Seputeh and came over to Jalan Mewa in Petaling Jaya where we had
agreed to meet a housing agent who would take us round the house which was
available for rent.
We waited outside in our car for the housing
agent to arrive. It was 6:00
pm
and it was drizzling. We waited in the car and at about 6:30
pm
, the agent arrived in a taxi. He
opened the gate and Jean ran to the porch of the house as it was drizzling at
that time. I wound up the side glasses of my car and closed the door,
forgetting to take my ignition key. We inspected the house and were quite happy
with the house except that the rental was a bit high. The agent told us he was
in no position to come to a conclusion about the rental of the house and he
told us to ring up the owner of the house the next morning.
After inspecting the house I asked the agent
to help me unlock my car door, but both of us failed after several attempts. So
I asked the agent to give us a lift in the car that had arrived to take the
agent home to Diana Restaurant where Jean had parked the Fiat 125. We drove
back to Klang in the Fiat with the intention of taking the spare key for the
Mazda car. We reached Klang at about 7:30
pm
and we had our bath and wash and had our dinner.
I received a phone call from a friend called
Jayachandran requesting me to join him and two other friends, K.N. Chandran and
Doraiaj who were having some drinks at a pub called Fook’s Corner in Klang. I
did not want to go because of the problem I had at hand, but because of their
insistence I joined them at Fook’s Corner. I had a few drinks with them and
also suggested to them that I needed help because my car was locked up in
Petaling Jaya and that I needed someone to drive it back. They were very
agreeable and so they came over to my house and got into the Fiat car to drive
to Petaling Jaya. We left Klang at about 9:00
pm
and arrived at the spot where my car was parked. At about 9:30
pm
, I gave the Mazda spare key to
Jayachandran and invited them for a few drinks with me and Jean at Abad
Century. They, however, politely turned down my offer and told me they would go
back to Klang straight. I was very grateful to them because if they had not
come to drive the car back then I would have to get Jean to drive me in the
Fiat car to one of her friend’s house in Petaling Jaya, park it there and
collect it the next day. This would have to be done because Jean never would
want to drive her car at night, especially if she would have to drive through
the Jalan 222 junction traffic lights, because that was the spot where her late
husband met with a fatal accident. She always tells me when I pass that spot
with her at night, she could see her husband lying on the ground.