Man accused of murdering wife by slashing her throat in Wilton found guilty
Regin Parithapara Rajan has been found guilty of murder. Picture: Dan Linehan
Seven women and five men took five hours and seven minutes of deliberations across two days to reach their unanimous verdict that 43-year-old Regin Rajan murdered his wife — 38-year-old Deepa Dinamani by slashing her throat at their home in Wilton — only four months after their arrival in Ireland.
Regin Parithapara Rajan now faces the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for murdering his wife, Deepa Paruthiyezhuth Dinamani at their home at Cardinal Court, Wilton, Cork, on July 14, 2023.
In the short time they spent in Cork before July 2023 and for a period before that again in their home state of Kerala in India, Deepa wanted a divorce but Regin would not let her go, according to the evidence in the trial.
Because no sentence is possible other than life imprisonment, it might have been imposed on Tuesday but prosecution senior counsel Seán Gillane indicated the deceased woman’s only sibling — her brother Ullas Dinamani — made it known that he wanted to be present by video link from India for the sentencing.
Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford understood this was very important and said: “He needs to be here.” For that, and for other logistical reasons, sentencing was then adjourned until May 2.
There was no discernible reaction to the verdict from the accused who appeared in court on Tuesday — and every day of the trial — in a navy suit with collar and tie.
Regin Rajan had an A4 pad on the bench in front of him throughout the trial and he took notes a great deal of the time, passing many pages to his legal team throughout the case.
The one note he wrote which took a central place in the prosecution evidence was the one he left on the bedside table where gardaí also found the bloodstained murder weapon and wedding ring, as the body of the deceased lay on the bloodsoaked bed at her home, wrapped in a duvet.
Crime scene examiner Detective Garda John Twomey read the note which was found and it was addressed to the couple’s five-year-old child: “I love you so much. Please forgive me for what I did as your mum was having…”
The detective said at this point in his reading of the note it said something he could not make out and he then read “and his name was Jay”.
And there were other confessions made by the accused on the day of the murder. A recording of the 999 call was played to the jury. As soon as the 999 call was answered by the person who would allocate it to gardaí or other emergency services, the caller is heard saying: “I killed my wife, that is why I am phoning you.” The call was immediately referred to gardaí.
When he was put through to the Garda control room, the caller said: “I killed my wife.” He told two friends and a housemate the same thing.
And outside the house that evening as he knelt on the ground in handcuffs, he had this to say to Detective Garda Kenneth Lawton: “She was cheating on me. She was having an affair and he lives in London. I just found out today. I saw the messages that were on her phone [details of passwords] and I could not tolerate it. It was very ugly messages.
“And this is the second time, sorry to say. I was in depression and family life was not good. I lost 15kgs in the last two months.
“It was good until two months ago. When I knew she was chatting with someone, that is when I became depression.
“I did not do it deliberately. After seeing those messages I did that, sorry to say.”
The man with whom the late Ms Dinamani was texting for a few weeks before her death said they had never met each other. And on the website through which they met,she openly described herself as a mother of a five-year-old boy who was separated but not divorced.
CCTV evidence was also given of what Detective Garda Dave Hickey described as the purchase of “the potential murder weapon” two days earlier.
On Tuesday, the jury asked to see this CCTV evidence again. It showed the accused man at lunchtime on Wednesday July 12, 2023 — two days before the murder — purchasing in his local Tesco at Wilton Shopping Centre a Go Cook brand kitchen knife for €16, along with a bottle of Jameson whiskey and a bottle of flavoured water. He brought a re-usable plastic shopping bag, paid by Revolut and tapped his Tesco Clubcard.
State pathologist Linda Mulligan said the main injury was a 14cm horizontal cut across the neck of the deceased, gaping to 4cm,. and she concluded death was due to blood loss, complicated by inhalation of blood due to an incised wound to the neck.
But as well as the prosecution evidence, the jury also had to consider the testimony of the accused man who opted to give evidence.
Despite his admissions on the day of the murder and even the reasons he gave for his brutal actions, he pleaded not guilty and described what happened as a tragic accident.
“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. I took the knife. We had a struggle. The knife was in my hand. And falling down, her throat got cut. There was blood everywhere. Such a shock for me. I don’t know what to do.
“I never had any intention to stab her… I never thought my wife was going to hide my passport [which he wanted in order to travel back to India] and tells me I can go back to India when she comes back from Dublin. I never had an intention to harm her in any way, not even to give her a slap.
“To get the passport back I went into the room, just my passport, nothing else. I wish I can turn back the clock. I wish she is alive,” he said, and cried.
He claimed when he entered his wife’s room that day, she was dressed only in a T-shirt and was holding her phone in her hand and then picked up the knife and told him to get out. He said during his evidence he always loved her.
The jury did not accept this version of events and instead were unanimous in accepting the evidence of the Garda investigation, led by Detective Inspector Jason Lynch, as they found Regin Rajan guilty of murdering a woman who was variously described during the trial as outgoing, successful, confident and bubbly.
Ullas Dinamani described his only sibling as ambitious, very studious, really good-humoured and a great sister.
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