Man accused of murdering his wife at their Cork home said it was a tragic accident

The lawyer for the man accused of murdering his wife by slashing her throat with a carving knife said it was not a cold-blooded killing but a tragic accident, but the prosecution lawyer said the accused was trying to sell the jury a pup.

43-year-old Regin Parithapara Rajan, denies the single charge of murdering his wife, 38-year-old Deepa Paruthiyezhuth Dinamani at their home at Cardinal Court, Wilton, Cork, on July 14, 2023.

Prosecution senior counsel Seán Gillane began his closing address today by quoting from the evidence of Ullas Dinamani, the deceased woman’s brother, who addressed the trial by video link from India. 

Mr Dinamani said: “My sister wanted a divorce and Regin was not ready to… He said in one conversation he would not let her go.” 

Jury

Mr Gillane told the seven women and five men of the jury in the trial presided over by Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford at the Central Criminal Court in Cork that what the accused gave in evidence from the witness box – and his claim that what happened on the day of his wife’s death was an accident – that this was “an attempt to sell you a pup.”

He referred to the defendant’s description of what he alleged happened on July 14, 2023, that it was a tragic accident where she picked up the knife to tell him to get out of her bedroom, that he took it, she grabbed his hand and the slashing of her own throat happened in a struggle.

Mr Gillane commented: “Weak and ineffective men have been blaming women for centuries and you do not need to go to Kerala to find that, it is not a cultural thing.” 

The prosecution senior counsel urged the jury to examine the evidence of the accused man purchasing the carving knife two days before his wife’s death and to consider the Google searches made by Regin Rajan, including searches in relation to carving knives and prison conditions in Ireland before July 14, 2023.

Defence senior counsel Brian McInerney said to the jury: “Whatever happens, it is a tragedy. Nothing you do can unwind that tragedy. What does the prosecution say? The prosecution is that this was a cold-blooded, intentional, deliberate, wilful killing, that he went into that room with a deliberate intention to take this life.”

Mr McInerney said the accused was presumed innocent and that even if the jury did not believe a single word Regin Rajan told them that was not the end of the matter, that they still had to examine the prosecution case, block by block.

Evidence

The defence counsel asked where the evidence was of the fatal wound being inflicted with a sweeping movement. He accepted: “Whatever happened, it happened quickly.” 

As for the prosecution case that it was premediated and planned, he asked: “If you were going to dispatch your wife or husband in this planned operation would you not with the minimum of effort stab them at night when they are asleep or stab them in the back – catch them unawares.

“Ask yourself why for such a planned operation he went to Tesco and bought a knife. If you were planning a murder would you go to a shopping centre that is peppered with cameras, buy a knife, a bottle of water and a bottle of whiskey, use your Revolut card and claim the Tesco points on your Clubcard. Or would you try to conceal the thing. Knives can be bought in any kind of place… And there is a block full of knives in the kitchen (of the deceased and the defendant’s home). Why would you buy one in Tesco when you have five or six?” he said.

He reminded the jury of the defendant’s evidence that his late wife had asked him to buy a carving knife for cutting fish.

Also reminding the jury of the defendant’s evidence that it was an accident that happened in a tussle, Mr McInerney said: “It is a tragic case, it an awful case, a human life has been lost but I would urge you to consider this is not a cold-blooded intentional killing, it is not murder. Whatever it is, it is not murder. I urge you not to find him guilty of murder.” 

The case continues.