Mathavakannan Kalimuthu

Mathavakannan Kalimuthu (Tamil language: மாதவக்கண்ணன் காளிமுத்து; born 10 May 1978) is a Singaporean who, together with his two friends, murdered a gangster named Saravanan Michael Ramalingam on 26 May 1996.

Mathavakannan Kalimuthu was born in Singapore on 10 May 1978.

He was the only son of his family and had one younger sister, who is two years younger.

He studied in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in 1993 before he dropped out of school to support his parents, who both suffered from poor health, and sister, who was a student.

Mathavakannan, who was arrested on 4 July 1996, was tried and convicted of murder by the High Court of Singapore.

On 26 May 1996, 16 days after celebrating his 18th birthday, 18-year-old Mathavakannan, together with his two older friends and secret society gang members, 23-year-old odd-job worker Asogan Ramesh Ramachandren (Tamil language: அசோகன் ரமேஷ் ராமச்சந்திரன்) and 24-year-old unemployed Selvar Kumar Silvaras (Tamil language: செல்வார் குமார் சில்வரஸ்), assaulted and murdered 25-year-old Saravanan Michael Ramalingam (Tamil language: சரவணன் மைக்கேல் ராமலிங்கம்), a secret society gangster from the Sio Ang Koon Secret Society and Lion Brothers.

Before that, Saravanan and Asogan had had conflicts with each other on three previous occasions.

According to court documents detailing the case, Mathavakannan had gone drinking with both Selvar and Asogan on the night of 25 May 1996.

It was not until the early hours of 26 May 1996 that the trio decided to head home.

On the way, the trio encountered Saravanan, who had been a schoolmate and friend of Selvar's at Anderson Secondary School before they fell out due to their rival gang allegiances.

Seeing him, Selvar, then a member of the "Tiger Rose" gang, shouted at Saravanan, beckoning him over for a talk.

In response, Saravanan allegedly shouted back some Tamil expletives and ran away.

The trio promptly gave chase, with Mathavakannan being the first to catch up with Saravanan at the void deck of Block 93, Whampoa Drive.

Saravanan pulled out a knife and slashed Mathavakannan on the hand.

As Mathavakannan and Saravanan fought, Asogan arrived and helped Mathavakannan overpower Saravanan.

Mathavakannan then took the knife and stabbed Saravanan several times.

Soon after, Selvar caught up with his two companions and swung a broken chair at Saravanan, fracturing his skull.

Saravanan then died.

After the murder, Mathavakannan was not arrested until 4 July 1996, when he was just beginning his two-year mandatory National Service.

As for Asogan and Selvar, Asogan was arrested in a hotel in Singapore while Selvar gave himself up to the police.

Within the next four months, all three were brought to trial before High Court judge Kan Ting Chiu in the High Court of Singapore for murder.

As murder was a capital offence in Singapore, a guilty verdict would result in a mandatory death penalty.

On 27 November 1996, six months after the murder of Saravanan, the three men were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

Despite losing his appeal on 14 October 1997, Mathavakannan was granted clemency by then President of Singapore Ong Teng Cheong, who commuted his sentence to life imprisonment on 28 April 1998 while his two friends were eventually executed on 29 May 1998 after they failed to obtain clemency from the President.

However, nearly a year later, on 14 October 1997, the Court of Appeal of Singapore dismissed the appeals of all the three accused and upheld their death sentences.

There have been no further cases where a death row inmate received clemency in Singapore since then (1998).

The rarity of any President in Singapore pardoning a death row inmate from execution in Singapore was another factor that made Mathavakannan's case notable in the city-state and beyond its borders.

His father, Muthusamy Kalimuthu (aged 50 in 1998), worked at the Public Utilities Board and suffered from both epilepsy and an unknown mental illness, requiring long-term treatment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

His mother Arumugam Angelay (aged 47 in 1998), suffered from hypertension and diabetes and worked as a junior officer at a production firm with a salary of S$1,100.

Mathavakannan worked various jobs to support his family, including as a cleaner at a hotel for eight months, a paint scraper at a aerospace company for one-and-a-half years, and a labourer before his enlistment for National Service.

His case had attracted media attention once again on 28 November 2011 when he filed an appeal regarding the issue of his life sentence, whether it should be 20 years' imprisonment (the old definition) or imprisonment for the rest of his natural life (the new definition) in accordance to a landmark appeal by Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah on 20 August 1997, which changed the definition of life imprisonment under the law.

The High Court then allowed Mathavakannan's appeal, and he became a free man soon after and led a low-profile life since his release.

As of 2024, Mathavakannan Kalimuthu continues to be known as the sixth and last death row inmate to have received Clemency from the President of Singapore.

Subsequently, Mathavakannan served a total of 16 years in prison (inclusive of the period he spent in remand and on death row) before he was released on 28 January 2012.

As murder was a hanging offence in Singapore and since he was 16 days past his 18th birthday when he committed murder, Mathavakannan was sentenced to suffer the mandatory sentence of death on 27 November of the same year he killed Saravanan.

Mathavakannan's two accomplices were also found guilty and sentenced to death in the same trial.

As Mathavakannan was 16 days past his 18th birthday when he killed Saravanan, his conviction for Saravanan's murder meant that he was automatically sentenced to mandatory execution by hanging under Singapore law.

Had Mathavakannan committed the crime more than two weeks (or at least 17 days) earlier, he would have been spared the death sentence and instead would have served indefinite imprisonment at the President's Pleasure.

It was reported that when Justice Kan delivered his verdict, among the 40 people present to hear the sentence, a female relative of one of the three men reacted badly to the death sentence, and her family had to restrain her as she made an emotional scene in court.

After their convictions by the High Court, Mathavakannan, Asogan and Selvar appealed against their sentences.