A man on trial for his wife’s murder testified that he accidentally cut her throat with a carving knife he had purchased from Tesco two days earlier during a struggle in their Cork home, reports RTE.
Regin Parithapara Rajan, 43, told the jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork that he wished his wife, Deepa Dinamani, 38, was still alive.
“I never had an intention to harm her in any way, not even to give her a slap. I wish I can turn back the clock. I wish she is alive,” he stated, reports RTE.
The couple had been living in Wilton, Cork, with their five-year-old son for just four months when Deepa Dinamani’s body was discovered under a duvet on a blood-soaked bed on July 14, 2023.
The Indian mother, who had relocated to Ireland for a job in the finance sector, died from significant blood loss after suffering a 14cm “single swipe” cut to her throat, reports RTE.
In his testimony, Regin Rajan acknowledged that the couple had marital difficulties but denied claims that Ms. Dinamani had ever asked for a divorce.
He recounted that on July 14, 2023, they argued over pension money, after which his wife went to the bedroom. He claimed he went there to retrieve his passport, but Ms. Dinamani refused to give it to him until she returned from a trip to Dublin.
“I was a hostage. I left the room and went to my son’s bedroom. I was crying. I was depressed. I didn’t know what to do in my own home. I drank a few drinks,” reports RTE.
Mr. Rajan stated that he later entered his wife’s bedroom at their residence in Cardinal Court, Cork, to retrieve his passport. He said she was holding her phone and was only wearing a t-shirt.
“I thought: ‘What is she doing?’ As soon as she saw me, her face went (he made an expression) and she asked me: ‘What do you want?’ I didn’t say anything,” reports RTE.
He claimed that Ms. Dinamani then picked up a carving knife, which he had bought a few days prior for cutting fish.
“She took the knife from the table, I think, I am not sure, and told me to go back. The knife was the one I purchased two days back. My immediate reaction was to take the knife from her.”
Mr. Rajan told the jury and Ms. Justice Siobhan Lankford that he tried to take the knife from his wife.
“I took the knife. We had a struggle. The knife was in my hand. And falling down, her throat got cut,” he explained, reports RTE.
“There was blood everywhere. It was a shock to me. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to stop the blood from the neck. My mind was blank. I cannot think straight,” reports RTE.
Defense counsel Brian McInerney, SC, asked Mr. Rajan if he had told a 999 operator, the gardaÃ, and a friend that he had stabbed his wife. Mr. Rajan admitted that he had.
He also said he had grown “suspicious” of his wife in the weeks leading up to her death, as “she was always on her phone” and often argued with him over “silly reasons,” reports RTE.
Mr. McInerney questioned him about why he had searched for information on Irish jail conditions before his wife’s death. Mr. Rajan claimed it was due to watching a Netflix documentary about prisons worldwide, which led him to look it up.
During cross-examination, Prosecutor Sean Gillane SC asked Mr. Rajan if he had attacked his wife, to which he responded that the opposite was true.
“She attacked me. I didn’t attack her,” reports RTE.
Mr. Gillane then questioned, “All five feet of her?” to which Mr. Rajan replied that Ms. Dinamani had ordered him to “go out of the bedroom.”
Mr. Gillane asked if Mr. Rajan had done anything to help his wife as she lay bleeding, reports RTE.
“Your wife began to die from the amount of blood she was losing. From the amount of blood she was swallowing. What did you do to help?”
Mr. Rajan stated that he attempted to stop the bleeding with his hand.
“My mind was blank. I was in shock,” reports RTE.
Mr. Gillane argued that while Ms. Dinamani was still alive and struggling to breathe with blood filling her lungs, Mr. Rajan was “feeling very sorry for himself and shocked.”
He also questioned why Mr. Rajan had placed a duvet over his wife’s body after her death. Mr. Rajan replied that she was partially unclothed and that he wanted to “protect her dignity.”
Mr. Gillane countered by saying that “the last thing” Mr. Rajan “ever cared about was the dignity” of his wife, reports RTE.
The prosecutor then asked if Mr. Rajan was claiming that his wife’s death was a “tragic accident,” to which he responded, “Yes.”
Mr. Gillane demanded an explanation for how Ms. Dinamani suffered a deep, precise cut from her earlobe to the midpoint of her neck in a single motion, reports RTE.
Mr. Rajan stated that his wife had been “really mad.”
“She would do anything to get the knife from me. It just happened in a fraction of a second. She pulled my hand, it happened during the fall,” he explained.
Mr. Gillane accused Mr. Rajan of telling a garda at the scene that his wife had been unfaithful and that he could not tolerate it, adding that Mr. Rajan had not mentioned any accident to authorities. Mr. Rajan claimed that after his arrest, he feared the gardaà would beat and torture him, reports RTE.
The prosecutor also questioned Mr. Rajan about a note found in the bedroom, which asked for forgiveness for what had happened. When asked if it was his handwriting, Mr. Rajan replied, “I never had bad handwriting like that.”
Mr. Gillane also pressed Mr. Rajan on whether he had sent messages to a man named Jay from his wife’s phone while she lay dying. Mr. Rajan responded, “I don’t know,” reports RTE.
He further stated that he had no idea how the carving knife, which he claimed Ms. Dinamani had chosen for him to buy in Tesco, ended up in the bedroom.
Mr. Gillane concluded that Mr. Rajan’s account was a fabricated attempt to avoid responsibility, reports RTE.
“You purchased the knife. You researched knives. You removed your child from the house. You cut your wife’s throat in a single swiping movement which brought her life to an end and what you said is untrue.”
Mr. Rajan disagreed with this assertion.
The trial will continue tomorrow, reports RTE.
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