Man accused of murdering his wife claims he accidentally cut her throat
Olivia Kelleher
A man who is on trial charged with murdering his wife has claimed that he accidentally cut her throat after a struggle ensued between them over a knife.
Regin Parithapara Rajan (43) has denied the murder of his wife, Deepa Paruthiyezhuth Dinamani (38), at the home they were renting in Wilton in Cork city on July 14th, 2023. She died from massive blood loss after she sustained a 14cm cut to her throat.
Mr Rajan went into the witness box at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Wednesday. He said he loved his wife and wished he could turn back time.
He said he and Ms Dinamani had had an argument about pension money earlier in the day on July 14th and that his wife had gone to a bedroom. Mr Rajan claimed he wanted to get his passport from her. He said Ms Dinamani refused to give him his passport 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.”
Mr Rajan then said that he went into his wife's bedroom at their home in Cardinal Court in Cork in a further bid to retrieve his passport. He said that Ms Dinamani was holding her phone while only wearing a T-shirt.
“I was stunned. She was semi-nude. 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.”
Mr Rajan said Ms Dinamani picked up a carving knife he had purchased a few days earlier for cutting fish and asked him to “go back.” He told the jury and Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford that he tried to get the knife from her but that they had a “struggle” and ended up on a bed. He said he had retrieved the knife from Ms Dinamani at this point and that she got cut by the knife in a tussle.
“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 can’t think straight.”
Defence counsel Brian McInerney SC asked Mr Rajan if he had accepted that he had told a 999 call taker, the gardaí and a friend that he had stabbed his wife. The father of one said he accepted this was the case.
Mr Rajan insisted that he simply went into the room to get his passport and never intended to harm his wife.
“What happened that day I wish I could turn back the clock. I wish she was alive.”
Cross examination got underway shortly before lunchtime with prosecution senior counsel Sean Gillane asking Mr Rajan if he had done anything to help his wife in the aftermath of what happened.
“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 said he tried to make the blood stop with his hand.
“My mind was blank. I was in shock.”
Mr Gillane said that when Ms Dinamani was still alive and struggling to breathe with the blood going into her lungs, Mr Rajan was “feeling sorry for himself and shocked.” Mr Rajan said this was the case.
The case continues on Wednesday afternoon.
