Man (42) goes on trial charged with murder of wife in Cork in 2023

Regin Parithapara Rajan denies murdering his wife at their home in Wilton, Cork

Deepa Dinamani had a seven-year-old son. Photograph: Cork Courts Limited
Deepa Dinamani had a seven-year-old son. Photograph: Cork Courts Limited

A mother of one from India had been in Ireland just three months when she was found dead in a blood stained bedroom of her Co Cork home, having sustained a 14 cm wound to the front of her neck, a trial has heard.

Regin Parithapara Rajan (43) has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cork charged with the murder of his wife Deepa Paruthiyezhuth Dinamani at Cardinal Court in Wilton on July 14th, 2023. He denies the charge.

Outlining the prosecution’s case, Sean Gillane SC told jurors that they would hear evidence that by the summer of 2023 difficulties had developed in the marriage of Ms Dinamani and Mr Rajan. Mr Gillane said that the marriage had “cooled”, that the couple were sleeping in separate bedrooms, and Ms Dinamani was considering divorce.

Ms Dinamani grew up in Kerala in India where her retired parents still live. Mr Gillane said the 38-year-old chartered accountant was “well regarded” and “well educated”.

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Mr Gillane said that Ms Dinamani and Mr Rajan were from the same general area but did not meet until 2015. They married the same year and had a son in 2018.

Ms Dinamani started working in a finance company in Cork in the spring of 2023 having secured accommodation for the family in Wilton.

One room in the property was sublet to a nurse at the nearby hospital.

Regin Parithapara Rajan pictured previously at Cork District Court, charged with the murder of his wife Deepa Dinamani. Photograph: Cork Courts Limited
Regin Parithapara Rajan pictured previously at Cork District Court, charged with the murder of his wife Deepa Dinamani. Photograph: Cork Courts Limited

Mr Gillane said on the evening of July 14th, a man who had been asked by Mr Rajan to collect the couple’s son from summer camp allegedly contacted the nurse as he could not reach the boy’s father.

Mr Gillane said that the nurse was in her room in the Wilton house and hadn’t noticed “anything untoward”. She said she thought the house was empty. The man told the nurse that he planned to bring the youngster back home.

Mr Gillane said that the jury will hear Mr Rajan told the man, after his arrival at the property, that “he had killed his wife and that she was inside. He also said he had stabbed her with a knife”.

The State case will be that a palm print of the accused was on a blood stained knife, recovered at the scene, and that the knife had been purchased by Mr Rajan two days prior.

The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.