A man on trial for murdering his wife has said he accidentally cut her throat with a carving knife he bought in Tesco two days earlier, after a struggle broke out between them at their home in Cork.
Regin Parithapara Rajan, 43, told the jury at a sitting of 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 said.
Deepa Dinamani, her husband Regin and their five-year-old son were living in Wilton in Cork for just four months when her body was found under a duvet on a blood soaked bed on 14 July, 2023.
The Indian mother of one, who had moved to Ireland to take up employment in the finance industry, died from massive blood loss after she sustained a 14cm "single swipe" cut to her throat.
In his evidence today, Regin Rajan said the couple had been experiencing difficulties in their marriage. However, he denied that Ms Dinamani had ever asked him for a divorce.
He said that he and Ms Dinamani had had an argument about pension money on 14 July, 2023 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 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."
Mr Rajan said he then went in to the bedroom of his wife at their home in Cardinal Court in Cork in order to retrieve his passport. He stated that Ms Dinamani was holding her phone whilst only wearing a tshirt.
"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.
"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."
He told the jury and Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford that he went to take the knife from Ms Dinamani.
"I took the knife. We had a struggle. The knife was in my hand. And falling down, her throat got cut," he said.
"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."
Defence counsel Brian McInerney, SC, asked Mr Rajan if he had told a 999 call taker, the gardaí and a friend that he had stabbed his wife. Mr Rajan said that this was the case.
He said he had become "suspicious" of his wife in the weeks prior to her death because "she was always on her phone" and arguing with him for "silly reasons".
Mr McInerney asked his client to explain why he made searches on his phone about jail conditions in Ireland in a period before the death of his wife. Mr Rajan said he had been watching a Netflix documentary about prison conditions around the world and the search followed from his viewing.
Under cross examination by Prosectution Senior Counsel Sean Gillane, Mr Rajan was asked if he had attacked his wife. He replied that the opposite was the case.
"She attacked me. I didn't attack her."
When Mr Gillane asked: "All five feet of her?" Mr Rajan stated that she (Ms Dinamani) had threatened him to "go out of the bedroom".
Mr Gillane asked Mr Rajan if he had done anything to assist Ms Dinamani as she lay bleeding on the bed.
"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 that the tried to make the blood stop with his hand.
"My mind was blank. I was in shock."
Mr Gillane said that whilst Ms Dinamani was still alive and struggling to breathe with blood going in to her lungs, Mr Rajan was "feeling very sorry for himself and shocked".
He asked him why he put a duvet over his wife after her death. Mr Rajan said that she was partially naked and he wanted to "protect her dignity".
Mr Gillane said that the "last thing" that the accused "ever cared about was the dignity" of his wife.
He asked Mr Rajan if his account of events was that it (the death of Ms Dinamani) was a "tragic accident", to which he replied: "Yes".
Mr Gillane asked Mr Rajan to furnish an explanation as to how Ms Dinamani was cut from earlobe to mid point on her neck in a single swiping action.
Mr Rajan said that Ms Dinamani was "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 said.
Mr Gillane put it to Mr Rajan that he told a garda at the scene that his wife was cheating on him and that he could not tolerate it. He said that Mr Rajan had not breathed a word about an accident to the garda. Mr Rajan said that following his arrest, he thought gardaí would beat and torture him.
Mr Gillane also asked Mr Rajan if he had written a note which was found in the bedroom. The note asked the reader for forgiveness for what had been done. When asked if it was his handwriting, the accused replied: "I never had bad handwriting like that".
Mr Rajan was asked by Mr Gillane if he had sent texts to a man called Jay from his wife's phone as she lay dying on a bed. He replied "I don’t know".
Mr Rajan also said that he had no idea how the carving knife, which he claimed Ms Dinamani had selected for him to buy in Tesco, had ended up in the bedroom.
Mr Gillane stated that the account the accused had given was a "contrivance" by him to avoid responsibility for what he had done.
"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 his assessment.
The case will continue tomorrow.
