[1] Visuvanathan fled to Malaysia but he was eventually arrested two months after the stabbing and charged with murder after his extradition to Singapore.
[11][12] During that same month, on 28 March 1976, the Royal Malaysia Police arrested Visuvanathan in his hometown of Batu Pahat, which was located in Kluang, Johor.
[13][14] On 18 November 1976, eight months after he was arrested, 24-year-old Visuvanathan Thillai Kannu stood trial at the High Court for murdering Madikum Puspanathan, and he was represented by state-assigned defence counsel Bevin Netto and Peter Pang, while the prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Sant Singh.
Justice Singh stated that both judges carefully scrunitized the submissions of both the defence and prosecution, and they determined that Visuvanathan's defence of alcohol intoxication was ought to be rejected, since Visuvanathan did not suffer from impaired mental responsibility as induced by the effects of alcohol intake, and he was fully conscious of his actions at the time of the stabbing.
They also accepted the eyewitness testimonies, and found that Visuvanathan had intentionally stabbed Madikum on the chest, such that the knife had penetrated Madikum's heart and hence the injury caused was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, and there was no possibility of accidental stabbing or the injury being unintended.
The death penalty was mandated as the sole punishment permitted for murder upon an offender's conviction under Singaporean law.
The case itself also scrunitized the Privy Council decision of Mohamed Yasin bin Hussin's case, in which Yasin was found not guilty of murdering an elderly woman due to the prosecution failing to prove if he had the intention to cause the fatal rib fractures per Section 300(c).
[35][36] In the aftermath of his execution, Visuvanathan's case became a case study inside the 1994 book Mental Disorders and the Law, co-authored by Lee Peng Kok, Molly Cheang and Kuan Tsee Chee, and one of his defences of alcohol intoxication was written in the book as an instance of murder defendants putting up their defence of alcohol intoxication to evade the murder charge during their trials.
Sivanandan stated that the case of Visuvanathan reminded him of many instances where a fight or even murder could arise from alcohol, and it was challenging for him and his colleague to interpret the witnesses' answers and cross-examination from both the prosecution and defence.