Mathavakannan Kalimuthu[a] (Tamil language: மாதவக்கண்ணன் காளிமுத்து; born 10 May 1978) is a Singaporean who, together with his two friends, assaulted and murdered a gangster named Saravanan Michael Ramalingam on 26 May 1996.
[clarification needed] 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
The trio promptly gave chase, with Mathavakannan being the first to catch up with Saravanan at the void deck of Block 93, Whampoa Drive.
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.
After losing their appeals against the death sentence, all three men petitioned to Mr Ong Teng Cheong, then President of Singapore, for clemency on 13 January 1998.
This information was revealed by the lawyer himself during an interview in 2013 or 2014 when he recounted the case of Mathavakannan (without naming him directly) while explaining the presidential clemency process in Singapore.
There were five precedent cases of death row inmates (including drug trafficker Sim Ah Cheoh) who had successfully obtained clemency petitions from the President before him.
Soon after, two death warrants were issued for both Asogan and Selvar, who were scheduled to be hanged in Changi Prison at dawn on 29 May 1998, according to a 1998 Amnesty International Report.
While they do concede that both Asogan and Selvar deserved to be punished for Saravanan's murder, they said that the death penalty violated the rights to live and was not an effective deterrent to crime.
After his successful clemency outcome, Mathavakannan was removed from death row and he began to serve his life sentence since the date he was pardoned.
It was on 20 August 1997, due to the appeal of Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah, a Malay Singaporean who was serving 18 years' imprisonment and a consecutive life sentence (in total 38 years' imprisonment) with caning for robbery with hurt resulting in death (see Oriental Hotel murder for more information) and kidnapping, the Court of Appeal, which dismissed Abdul Nasir's appeal for a concurrent aggregate sentence, decided to amend the interpretation of life imprisonment as a term of incarceration for the rest of the convicted prisoner's natural life instead of 20 years in prison, and the new interpretation will apply to future crimes committed after 20 August 1997.
In response to Subhas Anandan's arguments, the Attorney-General's Chambers, argued that Mathavakannan's life sentence had taken effect on 28 April 1998, the day he received presidential clemency from President Ong.
The appeal ruling had already made it clear that those committed crimes or those pending trials in Singapore before 20 August 1997 would not be affected by the verdict.
Another lawyer named Amolat Singh - who was not involved in this case - said the judgment illustrates a "cardinal principle in criminal law."
As of 2024, Mathavakannan Kalimuthu still remains as the last death row inmate who was spared the gallows after being granted Clemency from the President.
Significantly, in Singapore's legal history, Mathavakannan Kalimuthu was the sixth and till today, remains as the last case of a death row inmate successfully receiving clemency from the President of Singapore, not including the successful clemency pleas of detainees of TPP (who committed capital crimes under the age of 18).
These cases include notorious murderers like Anthony Ler (2002), Took Leng How (2006), Leong Siew Chor (2007), Tan Chor Jin (2009), Kho Jabing[e] (twice in 2011 and 2015 respectively), Micheal Anak Garing (2019), and Iskandar bin Rahmat (2019); and notable drug traffickers like Yong Vui Kong[f] (2009), Van Tuong Nguyen (2005) and Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi (2007).
Such people include convicted killers Kho Jabing[g] and Took Leng How;[h] and drug traffickers Prabu Pathmanathan and Prabagaran Srivijayan.
He said it was hard when it involves the death sentence and it had to be decided to ensure that justice is served and he cannot go by human emotions to make these decisions and was in no position to contradict the submission when he have not heard the case.