T Gayathry (left) and R Saravanan Kumar

MALAYSIA: APPEALS COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE ON LOVERS FOR MURDER TO 30 YEARS IMPRISONMENT

October 9, 2023:

A Malaysian Court of Appeal on October 5, 2023 commuted the death sentence imposed on a pair of lovers to 30 years in prison for the murder of a five-year-old boy, who is the son of the accused female, nine years ago.
A panel of three judges, consisting of Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk SM Komathy Suppiah, ordered R. Saravanan Kumar, 33, and T. Gayathry, 39, to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest.
"The appeal against the conviction is dismissed. The death sentence imposed by the George Town High Court against the two accused is set aside and commuted with 30-year imprisonment starting from the date of their arrest," said Judge Vazeer Alam on October 5. He also ordered Saravanan to be given 12 strokes of the cane.
Gayathry was spared the lashes as the law prohibits corporal punishment being meted out to women.
At the beginning of the proceeding, lawyer M Visvanathan, who appeared for Gayathry, informed the bench that the prosecution had accepted representations made on behalf of his client.
“They (prosecutors) have consented to withdraw the death penalty imposed and instead ask the court to impose a jail term,” said Visvanathan, who was assisted by V Sanjay Nathan.
Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Aziz confirmed the matter.
Lawyer N Selvarani, who represented Saravanan, then informed the court she had instructions to withdraw his appeal against conviction and sentence.
They were initially charged with committing the murder of S Kaviarasan at a house in Taman Keladi, Kulim, between Sept 20 and 27, 2014.
On Sept 24, 2020, the George Town High Court found the duo guilty and sentenced them to death.
Following the passing of a law by Parliament which came into effect last month, judges now have the discretion to substitute the death penalty with a custodial sentence ranging between 30 and 40 years.
Male offenders will also receive a minimum 12 strokes of the rotan.
According to the facts of the case, Gayathry had initially filed a missing person’s report claiming her son, Kaviarasan, had disappeared from the Esplanade grounds in George Town on Sept 20, 2014.
However, after questioning by police, she admitted that her son had been beaten up and, in panic, she and Saravanan dumped the body at an oil palm estate in Bukit Mertajam.
During the trial, Gayathry blamed Saravanan for beating Kaviarasan to death with the leg of a chair.
A post-mortem report revealed Kaviarasan died due to blunt force trauma to the head.
Trial judge judicial commissioner (now judge) Ahmad Shahrir Salleh also found that Saravanan was waiting in a car while she made the report, but did not make any attempt to alert police about his wrongdoing.
Based on Gayathry’s own admission, he said, she did not stop Saravanan from beating up Kaviarasan.
Saravanan, in his defence, said he was not with Gayathry at the time of the incident on Sept 20, 2014, as he was working on night shift as a security guard. He said he travelled to Klang to visit his parents the following day.
However, Shahrir rejected the defence on grounds that he had failed to give notice of his alibi as required under the Criminal Procedure Code.