A MAN will go on trial later this month charged with the murder of his wife whose body was found in her home in Cork city in July 2023.
Regin Parithapara Rajan, who is in his 40s, is charged with murdering his wife Deepa Paruthiyezhuth Dinamani at their home in Cardinal Court in Wilton on July 14, 2023.
The 38-year-old chartered accountant, from Kerala in Southern India, had been living in Cork for just three months at the time of her death.
At a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork today a date of March 24 was set for the trial, which will take place in the Anglesea Street Courthouse. It is expected to last about three weeks.
Defence counsel, Paula McCarthy told Judge Paul McDermott that experts are analysing the phone of the mum-of-one.
She said: “They are in the process of doing this now and hopefully it will be done by March 24.”
She also stated the accused had been given access to a to a laptop in custody to view documentation.
The judge warned: “The deadline for the trial is in sight.”
The prosecution is also weighing up whether witnesses will travel from India to give evidence or do it over Zoom. The cost of the two options is being considered.
Inspector Jason Lynch, of Anglesea Street Garda Station, previously told Cork District Court that it was a very “complex” investigation which involved international enquiries, the analysis of 850,000 pages of data, substantial forensic evidence as well as the taking of 110 statements.
At the first hearing of the case on July 16, 2023 Det Garda Alan Johnson gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.
He said that at 2.45am on that day at Togher Garda Station he formally charged Mr Rajan with the murder of his wife.
NO REPLY
The defendant, who is a native of India, made no reply when the charge was put to him after caution.
Deepa Dinamani worked as a senior manager in fund services at a company based in the Airport Business Park in Cork.
She was pronounced dead at her family home in Wilton on the southside of the city on the evening of July 14, 2023.
The alarm was raised when she failed to pick up her son at the house of a friend.
FORENSIC EXAMINATIONS
She was found in a bedroom of the property which she shared with her husband and son.
Her body was transferred to Cork University Hospital where a post-mortem examination was carried out.
A forensic examination also took place at her home in Wilton.
An idonate page raised sufficient funds to pay for her repatriation to India for burial.
Deepa is survived by her five-year-old son Reyansh, her parents and a brother.
