Blood Lust Read online

  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 li
ghts, 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.

  Jean and I took the Fiat car and went to Abad Century and we went into the Coffee House. At the Coffee House I met two of my old classmates, Jamaluddin Hassan and Hashim Kadir who had come from Kuala Trengganu and Kuantan respectively to attend a conference in Kuala Lumpur. I invited them to join us but they told me they had other friends and so they left.

  At about 10:15 pm, Jean and I went up to the piano lounge of Century Hotel. There I had a few beers and we listened to music and also danced. At about 11:00 pm, we left Century Hotel to go back to Klang.”

  Karthigesu said that at the Jalan 222 traffic lights he saw Jean waving and she told him that it was Adrian and his wife. He said: “She told me what a coincidence because she was thinking of her husband when she had to see Adrian de Silva, who was a friend of her husband.

  As we came towards the Subang Jaya bypass I took the underpass because I wanted to urinate and as I stopped the car and opened the door, another car came beside my car and three men pulled me out of the car. And as I was being pulled, I noticed another man squeeze past me into the car. I could hear Jean shouting ‘Selvam! Selvam!’. These three men had weapons one of which was put near my hips. It was sharp and the other man, holding my collar, held something near my neck.”

  At that time the car, said Karthigesu, reversed and his head facing Klang was dragged along with it. He said: “I could see shadows of struggle inside the car and I struggled with these people. I could hear Jean screaming. I was shocked, I was frightened. I could not think or react because of this sudden change in what I had experienced and what I was experiencing. I pleaded and at that time I used abusive words. I was hit many times on my head by one of the men who was having a crash helmet.

  There were a lot of cars passing that way and I was wondering why none was stopping. Things were happening so fast but I can distinctly remember the warning given to me that I should not tell the police what I saw but just say that I was assaulted and that thereafter I knew nothing. They warned me that if I tried to seek police help they will get Jean’s children, my mother and finally me. They brought me towards the gate and asked me to lie down and when I did not do so they pushed me down and when I tried to get up, the man with the crash helmet continued to hit me. After this I could only remember when the police vehicle took me to hospital.

  When I was in hospital I began to experience something which I have never experienced in my whole life. I could hear people asking me questions. I could remember answering some questions. The next morning I remember going back to Klang with Brian and James Ritchie. I categorically deny that I told anyone of them that I was getting married to Jean on the 13. Looking back from now, my Lord, I could have said all our plans of moving house before 14 April were shattered. I could have just mumbled these words. I attended the funeral and the feast in Kajang and it was on this day that I met and saw Richard Jayatilake but I have heard of his name mentioned by Mrs Perera many times when I visited her in 1978 and 1979. Jean also mentioned his name and I was warned to be careful in my association with him.

  During the feast after the funeral, this Richard came and talked very kindly to me and asked me to drink beer with him but I told him that it was a tradition in our family, if anyone close passes away we go vegetarian for 31 days and abstain from taking any alcohol. Then on 16 April this Richard came to my house together with a detective, but Mr Richard came earlier than the detective. The detective came and told me that a police officer was coming to see me in the house that evening and that was why he was there. After about 10 minutes the detective asked permission to use my phone. He told me the officer who was supposed to come was not in and therefore he left. Mr Richard then told me his purpose of coming to see me. He wanted me to stand surety for a $3,000 loan that he wanted to take from MCIS. I told him I was not a member of MCIS but he told me he would pay the entrance fee and two months’ subscription and all I had to do was to sign the form. He gave me some Coates Brothers diaries.

  As soon as he left I rang up Mrs Perera in Kajang and told her what I had done for Richard and Mrs Perera told me that I was a fool for having signed the loan form because Richard was owing money everywhere and that he would not hesitate to put anybody into trouble. I categorically deny having uttered all that he has alleged that I have uttered. As far as I am concerned Jayatilake is a total stranger to me and that was the first time he had come to my house. I treated him decently and obliged by signing the loan form.

  On 13 April, my Lord, a police party came to my house which included ASP Ramli, DSP Cornelius and a few detectives and they inspected the room where Jean was staying. They took possession of many of her belongings including the love letters from Dr Narada. I saw these letters for the first time together with ASP Ramli and DSP Cornelius. I therefore categorically deny, my Lord, that I took 15 to 16 letters to Kajang and showed them to Brian and his mother in December 1978.

  In fact on the evening of the 13 when I went to Kajang with my mother to attend the prayer service for Jean, I told Brian about the police findings. Brian then invited me out to a coffee shop to talk in more detail about these letters as there were many visitors in the house then. I was however unable to give him much detail because ASP Ramli did not allow me to read them. And when we came back from the coffee shop, Brian’s mother asked me what the secret was between me and Brian, and after some hesitation I told her. Mrs Perera asked me why I had not destroyed them, why I had not made a search of the room before the police arrived and destroyed all such things because they would subsequently cause a lot of embarrassment for our families. Therefore my Lord I had no knowledge of Jean’s intimate love for Dr Narada before April 13 1979.”

  Karthigesu said he was arrested on 26 April and was kept at Petaling Jaya police station where he was subjected to interrogation and also given much information by the police about Jean.

  They told me that Jean was unfaithful to me. They told me she was unfaithful to many other men. They told me she was even unfaithful to my brother and they subjected me to all forms of humiliation and they drummed into my mind that there is a name which I should be able to recall, that I’m having a mental block and that this would come out if I subjected myself to narco-analysis. My Lord, in my own studies I know a little bit about narco-analysis and this little bit, unfortunately, is about the ill-effects of narco-analysis. They told me if I agreed willingly to narco-analysis that it would be a strong point for me for showing co-operation with the police. I was unable to make up my mind and I was constantly reminded that I could remember a name and that I should remember a name and that if I go through with narco-analysis I am co-operating with the police.”

  Karthigesu said he told the police officers to allow him to speak either to Mr Ponnudurai or his friend Dr Chan Hong Leng but he never got the privilege.

  He said on 3 May he went to see Professor G. Devadass accom-panied by ASP Ramli, DSP Godwin and a detective.

  “I explained to Professor Devadass the humiliations and torture that I was undergoing and told him all that the police had told me about Jean. I did not tell the professor that I had consulted Mr Ponnudurai and Dr Chan. I told him I had asked police permission to meet either one of them in relation to the narco-analysis. I did not tell the professor that Jean was unfaithful to my brother but I told him the police are telling me things to this effect. I complained to the professor about the treatment I was getting from the police. He was just listening to me. If he said I was with him for one hour and ten minutes, I would have spent the major part of the time telling him about the treatment I was getting from the police, the humiliation I was undergoing and very little time was spent about the narco-analysis or my description about the incident. My Lord, when I saw him I thought it was a right opportunity for me to tell somebody about the way the police was treating me. That was my main point of conversation with the
professor.

  The DPP’s Claim

  The DPP claimed that the prosecution had adduced overwhelming evidence against Karthigesu, the cumulative effect of which pointed a finger to him as the murderer. Karthigesu should be called upon to make his defence. Karthigesu, he said, must explain all the contradictions in his behaviour and the contradictions in his statements to various people. The DPP argued that there was a ‘tactical onus’ on Karthigesu either to produce evidence on his own or point out something in the prosecution evidence that at the very least made the Court less than sure of any conclusions it might otherwise be prepared to base on the prosecution’s evidence.

  “If the accused fails to discharge that tactical onus he will be convicted,” the DPP said. “The prosecution,” he added, “had to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, but it did not have to prove beyond a shadow of doubt.”

  Mr Sambanthamurthi traced the movements of Karthigesu from the time he had been seen at the junction of the Federal Highway and Jalan 222 at about 11:10 pm on 6 April 1979. According to the investigating officer ASP Ramli, it took about three minutes to go from the junction to the scene of the crime.

  The DPP said prosecution witness Encik Abdul Wahab bin Abu Amin had passed the spot at 11:30 pm. followed shortly after by another witness, Encik Ramli Othman. The first person to see the car and Karthigesu on the ground was MAS maintenance engineer Cheah Wei Keong who passed at 11:40 pm. Between 11:30–11:40 pm, a period of 10 minutes, Karthigesu was not seen lying behind the car.” The DPP said this meant Karthigesu had about 27 minutes for the killing and seven minutes for cleaning up. There was a pond nearby where Karthigesu washed himself.